Sunday reflections

What to do with Wally? Wally was an awkward and shy child at his local primary school. It was time to hand out roles for the Christmas play, but what role could the teacher give Wally? She decided on the innkeeper. It wasn’t a key role and only required Wally to shake his head and say one line, “Sorry, we’ve no room.” Wally grinned from ear to ear when he learned of his role, and he couldn’t wait for the big night.

When there is a major announcement of a forthcoming event, it is usually accompanied by a media statement and even a press conference. Sometimes social media influencers are also invited to create some excitement and “buzz” around the announcement. Companies like Apple, Tesla and Boeing spend millions of dollars to launch their latest products worldwide. 

What are you like at waiting? As one person said: “I’m no good at waiting, but one day as I stood in line at a local supermarket I realised I was waiting. Waiting! I was doing what Advent is all about.”  

John the Baptist was quite a celebrity around Jerusalem. People came from everywhere to see this strange man who lived on locusts and wild honey, dressed in camel hair, and preached the need for repentance. He even instituted a new ritual of baptism – pouring water on people’s heads – as a sign of forgiveness for those who confess their sins and genuinely seek a new way of life.

The opportunity to make a fresh start is something that we all value, especially if we have been struggling with problems which have weighed us down. The tradition of making New Year resolutions illustrates this deep desire to put the past behind us and move on. 

We often associate the word ‘king’ with power and majesty. Also, a king’s position is often not dependent on his personal abilities, virtues or goodness, but on family lineage: power and status through inheritance.  But Jesus never displayed that kind of power or majesty; after all, he was born in a stable!  

Jesus’ disciples would have had the words of prophets like Malachi in today’s first reading inscribed onto their hearts. Malachi, speaking centuries before the birth of Jesus, describes the day of God’s judgement when “all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble” and, for God’s people, “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” 

What difference would it make to the way we live if we embodied in our lives the reality of the resurrection. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, tried to trap Jesus into a flawed answer in today’s Gospel reading. Their focus was limited to the framework of traditional laws which prescribed the rules of marriage at that time. 

Today’s readings focus on the theme of “mercy”. The author of the Wisdom of Solomon reflects on the expansive nature of God’s mercy, which is extended to all creation. The Psalmist sings of the divine being’s graciousness and compassion: “slow to anger and abounding in mercy” (Ps 145:8).

Today’s reading from Luke’s gospel continues Jesus’ teaching on prayer. It relates one of Jesus’ best-known parables, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. As with all of Jesus’ parables, it turns our expectations upside down!