Scripture Reflections Seeking Understanding

Last week Jesus' teaching about prayer highlighted for us the intimacy of the relationship that God desires to share with us. This Sunday we are presented with the image of a man whose relationship with his brother has descended into the transactional - a dispute over the fair share of an inheritance. In frustration he turns to Jesus, suggesting that Jesus has become a figure that people listen to. But have they understood and taken to heart what He says?  In response Jesus shares a parable about a man whose primary concern in life is the accumulation and preservation of wealth, to guarantee his own material comfort. Unable to house all of his good fortune, he tears down and builds bigger barns to secure his fortune and his future. It’s a tale of self-interest and, in Jesus own words, foolishness. Despite having more than he needs, his first thought is still for himself.  Why does Jesus tell this story? Is it to convince the man that has sought him out that riches are wrong? O...

In the opening of this Sunday's Gospel we hear the plaintive cry of the disciples, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'    As the starting point for teaching about prayer for over thirty years in schools, I've reflected on this passage from Luke's Gospel many times. Here is a group of men, raised in the tradition of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Men familiar enough with the Psalms and the prophets that Jesus uses these texts often as he teaches them. Men that have attended Synagogue and prayed the blessings of Passover their whole adult lives.  And yet they are asking Jesus,  ' Lord, teach us to pray.'   So what do they see in Jesus' prayer life that they are so hungry for?  This is not the only time that we see Jesus praying in the Gospel. Often, He takes time in a quiet place and, even when he is in anguish, exhausted or drained by the demands of his public ministry, he finds strength and peace in prayer. For Jesus, prayer is not routine, it is renewing. Perhaps this...

 In this Sunday's Gospel we hear the story of Mary and Martha. It is Martha, we are told, that welcomes Jesus into her house, and immediately she sets about doing exactly what is culturally expected of her. She begins to serve the Lord.  We aren't given the details but we can imagine that she is preparing food, drink and welcome for Jesus. And that she would have come to wash his feet.  Yet when she does, she finds that her sister Mary is there 'sat at the Lord's feet and listening to Him.'   The Gospel tells us that Martha is frustrated - upset that she is doing all the work while her sister assumes the posture of a disciple. And it tells us that she directs her frustration  at Jesus,  not Mary. "Don't you care..."   As we have come to expect, Jesus' answer challenges Martha's righteousness. Mary, she is told, has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her.  The story ends abruptly, and we don't get to hear what Martha'...

A Levite, a lawyer, and a loving Neighbour This Sunday we hear one of the most familiar stories in Luke's Gospel - the parable  of the Good Samaritan. It is a story that most of us can recite by heart, but how many of us remember the interaction that prompts Jesus to tell this parable.  'There was a lawyer who, to disconcert Jesus, stood up and said to him, Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?'  Jesus responds first by asking him what the Torah says. The answer of course is to love the Lord your God with all that you are, AND to love your neighbour.  Somewhat embarrassed by how easily Jesus has turned the question back to him, the lawyer tries to justify himself in front of the crowd with a more pointed question - then who is my neighour?  This is the question that the parable focuses on. Who is my neighbour? But the implied question from the lawyer who was looking to catch Jesus out in front of the crowd is really, Who is not my neighbour ?   Wh...

Recently the team I work in has relocated from one office area on the ground floor of our building to the top floor. And in the process, I have moved from sitting beside a frosted window, to a view across the treetops. As we head into what is usually the coldest part of winter (albeit it in a fairly temperate climate) I see brown leaves and bare trees amongst the eucalypts and native myrtles, but in our chapel there has been a sudden outburst of liturgical green, as we return to Ordinary Time. After the brilliant white, gold and red of the Easter season and the various solemnities that followed it, Ordinary green is a reminder that our faith is never dormant if we continue to embrace prayer and the sacraments. Ordinary Time is a time of growth.  In this Sunday's Gospel we come across Jesus' plan to grow the reach and effectiveness of his public ministry. "He appointed seventy-two others and sent them out in pairs to all the towns and places he himself was to visit."  ...