God gives us as shepherds– Jer 3:14-17

Friday of the 16th week of Ordinary Time; St. Joseph parish.  [I'm leaving St. Joe this weekend, so there might be a two week break rather than a one week break between posts until I get in to a rhythm at Old College.]

The book of Jeremiah is disaster literature.  Jeremiah’s Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the Babylonians and the People were exiled from the Land God had promised.  The disaster was theological, political and physical all at once.  In the midst of this, Jeremiah offers words from God.  He does not bring promise of warriors, or kings, or even builders.  He promises shepherds: basic care for a pilgrim people with nowhere to lay their heads.  It’s smaller than you think: humbler.

God makes the humdrum great, when invited in – Matt 12:1-8

Friday of the 15th week of Ordinary Time; St. Joseph parish.

The Second Temple stood in Jerusalem for over 400 years.  It was 1600 feet long, 900 feet wide, 9 stories high, and its main walls were built with 30 ton bricks.  But Jesus wandering in a field with his disciple munching on someone else’s corn: this was something greater than that.  The Temple was the site of passionate, lavish, exquisitely celebrated festivals of joy, mourning and sacrifice.  But Jesus and his rag tag band: that was something greater.  The Temple was the symbol of national and religious pride, the site of the Chanukah miracle, celebrating Jewish defeat of pagan idolatry.  But this lax, hungry group: something greater.

God heals us of our idolatry – Hosea 14:2-10.

Friday of the 14th week of Ordinary Time; St. Joseph Parish.

We’re very used to making deals, we’ve probably been doing it since we were kids.  “So, if I were to eat two of my brussel sprouts, what would the chances be of some ice cream?”

It’s very easy to see our first reading from Hosea as just such a deal, offered by an Israelite prophet to God: “So, if I get rid of these idols, and make some burnt offerings, how about making us prosper and bear fruit like a mighty tree?”  It sounds almost ridiculous, but I think that’s often how we think about our relationship with God.  If I work hard, offer enough up, eat enough brussel sprouts, God will have to repay me somehow.

God dines with us – Matt 9:9-13

Friday of the 13th week of Ordinary Time; St. Joseph Parish.

Who would you least like to have dinner with? 

I ask because we often have this romantic idea that Jesus really enjoyed dining with tax collectors and sinners, that he got more out of their company than the fuddy-duddy righteous legalistic types.  Really?  Maybe… but if we confess that Jesus walked to his cross for us, maybe we can also at least imagine him sometimes having dinner with someone he didn’t much like.  Certainly, when challenged on his choice of table companions he doesn’t excuse them or say, “I eat with them because they’re so much fun;” but: “They’re sick; I came to heal.”