Monthly Archives: July 2024

Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon

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To understand the book of Jeremiah and his message of judgment against Judah, there is no better place to go than Jeremiah’s famous temple sermon in chapter 7. If you wanted a subtitle to this post it would be: “Idolatry, Injustice, and the Coming Judgment.” As Tim Mackie of BibleProject (the original source of these insights) notes, this passage is like a one-stop shopping center for all things “Jeremiah and judgment,” so understanding what’s happening here will help you better grasp what’s going on in the rest of the book. But (spoiler alert!), this isn’t a “feel-good” kind of sermon. Rather, Jeremiah is sent into the temple courts to accuse God’s people of their false religion and idolatrous practices. Continue reading →

Why Are You Looking?

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This coming Sunday is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Continue reading →

The Book of Jeremiah

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In yesterday’s post we took a quick look at the Prophet Jeremiah: his times and his message. One of the points made was the complexity of the book’s organization and noting that the layout of the book was not chronological. We noted that during the reign of King Josiah, Jeremiah’s ministry was supported by the initiatives of reform from the king. But subsequent kings were not Josiah and at his passing, the priests, court prophets and supporters of the next kings were definitely not in agreement with Jeremiah’s ministry or message. Continue reading →

Walking on Water and Transition

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This coming Sunday is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As noted previously, the episode in 6:16–24 when Jesus walks on the water, is missing from the summer Sunday sequence of readings.  It is striking that John’s sequence — the loaves miracle followed by that on the Sea of Galilee — is identical to that of Mark 6:34–51 and Matthew 14:13–33. In all three accounts Jesus calms his disciples with the identical majestic phrase: “It is I. Do not be afraid” (John 6:20; Mark 6:50; Matt 14:27). This phrasing, which in the Greek has no predicate, simply reads egō  eimi = I am, has strong overtones of divinity, echoing the name for Yahweh found in Isa 43:10, 13, 25. Jesus is the divine presence; the disciples need have no fear. Continue reading →

The Prophet Jeremiah

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This week all the first readings at daily Mass are from the Book of Jeremiah. The book is challenging to read and comprehend on its own and even more so when broken up into bits of narrative that do not provide context. The readings this week are taken from Chapters 13, 14, 15, 18, and 26. Naturally one might assume there is an underlying chronological order. That would be a bad assumption. For example, the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem is talked about in chapter 21 (~587 BC) but in Chapter 25 we are in year 604 BC [“…the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah (the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon)” Jer 25:1]. The clear message of Jeremiah 25 is that “Babylon is coming for you!” And is just one of many examples. Continue reading →

Parallel Cycles in John

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This coming Sunday is the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time for Year B of our lectionary cycle. We had been following the Gospel of Mark’s narrative sequence of the life and ministry of Jesus. Starting last Sunday (17th Sunday of Ordinary Time), and continuing this and the following three Sundays, we hear the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6). Let us consider some context for what St. John describes. Continue reading →

Come and be changed

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The reading from Old Testament, 2 Kings, and the Gospel both described miraculous multiplications of bread that nourishes the people – such a small offering – a couple of barley loaves – yielding such tremendous results, feeding thousands upon thousands. Truly miraculous…but what effect did it have on the people who were fed? The gospel reading is just the first part of The Gospel According to John, Chapter 6 – over the following four weeks, we will read the remainder of that chapter in its entirety. We can actually take a peek ahead and answer the question. The recipients of that wondrous bread – well, they wanted more. They wanted to make Jesus king so they would always have bread. Jesus will keep trying to explain to them the meaning and the implications on what has just happened, but once they figure out that Jesus’ meaning is Eucharistic… well, they walk away. I guess it would be fair to say the whole thing did not have the effect Jesus wanted. Continue reading →

Reflections on Grace and Glory

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This coming Sunday is the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As noted in the first post, our verses are followed by the Johannine account of Jesus walking on the water and calming the seas (John 6:16-21). Whereas the miraculous feeding miracle was performed before the crowds, this miracle is with the disciples alone. It is with that context that I offer Gail O’Day’s reflection [597-98]. Continue reading →

Joachim and Anne

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In the Scriptures, Matthew and Luke furnish a legal family history of Jesus, tracing ancestry to show that Jesus is the culmination of great promises. Not only is his mother’s family neglected, we also know nothing factual about them except that they existed. Even the names “Joachim” and “Anne” come from sources written more than a century after Jesus died. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century Protevangelium of James (“First Gospel of James”) and the 3rd-century Evangelium de nativitate Mariae (“Gospel of the Nativity of Mary”). Continue reading →