{"id":855,"date":"2019-08-14T08:08:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T08:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=855"},"modified":"2019-08-14T08:08:43","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T08:08:43","slug":"18-august-2019-c-twentieth-sunday-of-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=855","title":{"rendered":"18 August 2019 (C) Twentieth Sunday of Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life\nand Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection\n& Dialogue: <\/strong>The Church in dialogue with division.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life\nand Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading\n<\/em>(Jeremiah 38:4-6,\n8-10), You have borne me to be a man of\ndissension for all the land. <\/em>This Old Testament reading has been chosen to\nmatch the passage in today\u2019s Gospel reading in which Jesus speaks of his\nmission and of the divisions that will accompany his coming on earth. The prophet\nJeremiah was in his time a man of dissention. He proclaimed the prophetic word\nof God without fear, and his preaching brought about division and persecution\non the prophet himself. Jeremiah symbolized the prophetic calling and was a type\nof Jesus as well. Jeremiah\u2019s activity spanned a long period during the last\ndays of the kingdom\n of Judah. The Babylonian\nempire had already taken control of the country and the city of Jerusalem itself was in\ndanger. Jeremiah\u2019s constant message was to submit to Babylonian rule. In God\u2019s\nplan its kingdom would be short lived \u2013 seventy years or so. Egypt, however, for its own political reason was\ninciting the army of Judah\nto rebel, and for this the army was willing and ready. The ruling king Zedekiah\nwas weak and had little control over the course of events. It was quite clear\nthat rebellion spelt only one thing: the destruction of the city and the end of\nJudah\nas an independent or semi-independent state. The background to this present\npassage is that it was clear that the Babylonian army would soon besiege the\ncity. The anti-Babylonian army considered the activity of the prophet Jeremiah\nas demoralizing, and wanted rid of him. The weak king Zedekiah was powerless to\nintervene. The army leaders did not want to kill Jeremiah directly, but rather to\nlet him die in a well with mud, but no water. The month was most probably\nAugust 587-586 B.C., shortly before the Babylonian forces reached the city.\nJeremiah was saved by the good offices of the Ethiopian Ebed-Melch, an official\nin the king\u2019s palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 39[4]). Lord, come to my aid.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Hebrews 12:1-4). We shall keep running steadily in the race\nwe have started. <\/em>The author of this letter of encouragement has just\ncompleted listing his great \u201ccloud of witnesses\u201d, from Abel to the prophets and\nothers, who have borne witness to God\u2019s plan over the centuries without having\nreached the awaited goal, the fulfilment of the promises. In this present reading\nhe turns to the lesson to be drawn for all this by his readers, whose belief in\nChrist seems to be under pressure. As an image for his message he chooses the\nrace. The Christian life is a race to be run. In this race a handicap, the\nburden of sin, is to be cast aside and the course finished. This means\nperseverance, and keeping one\u2019s eye on the goal, Jesus who in this race both\nleads us in our faith and also brings it to perfection. Jesus is also presented\nas the one who has, so the speak, run the race and endured the cross, knowing the\njoy to follow. Jesus, having run the course, is already perfect, and can also\nbring our faith to perfection. He is the \u201cpioneer\u201d, the forerunner, in the race\nand sets the example. The author of this letter lays stress on the trials and\nsufferings Jesus endured during his life and passion. Meditation on these\nsufferings of Christ should strengthen against faintheartedness and lack of\ncourage in time of trails. At the end of his exhortation the author changes the\nimage from the race to the boxing ring, and the shedding of blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel<\/em> (Luke 12:49-53). I am not here to bring peace, but rather\ndivision. <\/em>The meaning of the first two sentences of this passage is not\nclear because of the metaphorical language used. It is clear, however, that in\nthem Jesus is speaking of why he came on earth, on the central position of his\nperson in the Father\u2019s plan and of the divisions to arise because of his\ncoming, and of the demands he makes. He came to cast fire on the earth. Fire is\na metaphor for judgment and cleansing, Jesus wishes that that fire were already\nblazing. It would arrive and become active with the coming and work of the Holy\nSpirit. The baptism he mentions is not the future sacrament, but a metaphor for\ndisaster, the plunging into the passion and the pains of the cross. Jesus had\nalready referred to that baptism to the apostles James and John (Mark\n10:38-39). In the early church a connection was seen between that baptism of Jesus\nin his passion and death and the Christian sacrament, in which the newly baptized\nbelievers were plunged into the mystery of the baptism of his passion and\ndeath. The \u201cdistress\u201d, \u201cconstraint\u201d, \u201ctension\u201d felt by Jesus to have his\n\u201cbaptism\u201d over, probably means the same as the desire he felt to have the fire\nalready blazing. He was anxious that his death come and was aware of the\nconsequences to follow, which he said would be division rather than peace.\nJesus is the prince of peace. His usual greeting to his own was \u201cPeace be with\nyou\u201d. He left his peace as a heritage with his disciples. But an inevitable\nconsequence of his coming would for a number be division, rather than peace,\ndivision between those who would become his followers and those who would\nreject him and his teaching, division even within the same household. Already\nin the Temple,\nwith Jesus as a child, Simeon had told he mother that this would be the case.\nJesus was set for the falling and rising of many in Israel (Luke 2:34).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection &\nDialogue: The Church in dialogue with division.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection.<\/em> Today\u2019s readings give us rich material\nfor reflection. We, present-day Christians, are heirs to a great cloud of\nwitnesses. From the very beginnings of the Church\u2019s history the followers of\nChrist experienced persecution of one kind or another. Early in his ministry we\nfind Paul and his fellow missioner Barnabas encouraging new converts and\nexhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that \u201cthrough many\ntribulations we must enter the kingdom\n of God\u201d (Acts 14:22). In\nthe passage from the Letter to the Hebrews read today strong stress is laid on\nperseverance.  The same messages holds\ntrue for our own day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dialogue<\/em>. What Jesus says in today\u2019s Gospel\nreading on the connection between his person and division, even the absence of\npeace, provides us with a strong invitation for dialogue. Christ is the Prince\nof Peace who has made a strong plea for unity. All are well aware of his words\nthat he is the good shepherd and that there were other sheep that were not of\nhis fold, sheep that will heed his voice, so that  there will be one flock and one shepherd\n(John 10:14-16). These words are often cited. But this does not permit us to\nforget the divisions connected with the person of Jesus by reason of the\ndemands he makes and the mystery that is his person, continued in the Church\nwhich is his body. And indeed, already after his statement about himself as\ngood shepherd, the Gospel text goes on to say that there was again a division\namong the Jews because of these words. Jesus came to the world and the world\ndid not know him; he came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.\nIn the early Church there was division between the Jewish and Gentile Christians.\nDivision continued between Christians over the centuries, the major division in\nthe West coming with the Reformation, and remaining with us today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nexamples we have considered concern divisions among Christian believers. The\ndivisions today between Christ and what he stands for and much of contemporary\nsociety run far deeper, between the Christian vision and that of atheism,\nhumanism, liberalism and other movements. For believers, Christ is the saviour\nof the world, and the Christian vision of personal and public morality covers\nmany aspects of human behaviour. These other ideologies mentioned also have a\nvision of life and human society which they believe should be governed without\nany reference to, or influence from, the voice of God or of Jesus. The Church\nand believers must, as far as possible, engage in dialogue with the new\nreality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It\nis a question of dialogue, not criticism. Both Christ, the Church and humanism\nhave a rather absolute vision of the world, the human person, and matters\nrelating to them. In the view of philosophical humanism faith is an impediment\nto human development. For Christ himself and his followers, Christ is the\nSaviour of the world. This dialogue implies that the arguments of humanism be\nexamined and responded to by the Christian position. Believers should not be\nafraid of such dialogue. In a sense, fidelity to Christ and the Christian inheritance\nindicates it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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