Scripture Reflections Seeking Understanding

This Sunday we enter into the season of Advent - a time of anticipation, of joyful waiting focused primarily on the upcoming celebration of the birth of Christ. But as a time of waiting, Advent also anticipates the second coming of Jesus at the end of time. This dual nature of the season is reflected in the readings of this first Sunday of Advent.  The Gospel reading comes from the last chapters of Matthew. In it, Jesus refers to the last days by comparing them to the fate of Noah and his contemporaries. Only the good and faithful were saved from the waters of the flood, Jesus reminds His disciples. The others suspected nothing of their fate until it was upon them. The Son of Man will also come unexpectedly He tells them.  A similar cautionary tale is told in each of the other Gospels, informing our understanding of Advent as a time both of waiting and being prepared, lest the end of times should come upon us.  In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah the narrative is...

Over the past couple of days I have been on retreat with my team - a chance as the end of the year looms closer but the workload continues, to re-centre, refocus and renew.  Like most retreat venues, this one is in a natural setting, and not too far from a major population centre. But development is creeping ever closer. And the newest of these developments is a very large cemetery, right across the road. So new that only a handful of burials have taken place in each section so far.  In modern parlance it is called a Memorial Park. A place built not to dispose of the dead, but to preserve their memory. And as I walked through it this week it brought to mind this Sunday’s Gospel reading. In it we hear Luke’s account of the crucifixion. Of the onlookers, and even one of those crucified beside Jesus who mocked and jeered at his suffering.  But we also hear the lone voice of the one that asks, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’  From his own cross, and...

This week is the thirty-third and last Sunday of Ordinary Time this year. Soon the liturgical year will conclude and we will enter into the advent of a new year. It's somewhat appropriate then that the focus of our readings this Sunday is eschatological, that is focused on the last days.  The image of the last days that we are presented with is somewhat apocalyptic in that it describes suffering, persecution, natural disasters and revolution.  First, we hear from the prophet Malachi - a messenger whose writings mostly warn a wayward people of the upheaval and loss that lies ahead of them if they choose a path that leads away from God. Yet in the few brief verses we hear from him this Sunday he speaks of healing for those that reconcile themselves with God.  Luke's Gospel then picks up on the same theme. In it, Jesus speaks of the end times - of destruction, war, famine, natural catastrophes and persecution. But again, as there was in Malachi, there is encouragement. This ...

This Sunday we are presented with three very different readings about temples.  In the first, the prophet Ezekiel describes a vision of the restoration of the temple Solomon built to be the holy dwelling place of God among the people of Israel. In the midst of the exile, he consoles them with a vision that recalls the garden of creation, God's abundance, and the lasting promise that God will always dwell among them. It is a vision of hope for the future built upon an idealised longing for the past.  In contrast, John's Gospel presents us with the less than ideal reality of the temple rebuilt by King Herod. It has become a place of commerce, where only animals sold by the temple are considered worthy of sacrifice, and only temple coin, which must be exchanged in the courtyard at outrageous rates, can be used. Incensed by the desecration of the sanctuary, Jesus literally turns the tables, scattering the livestock and driving out the rabble.  Of these two images, one is an u...