August 18, 2013
20th Sunday Ordinary Time
Jesus says: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing.†There is a passion smoldering in Jesus before he comes to his passion. Jesus, the prophet, makes us uncomfortable. Raymond Brown, the great Catholic Biblical scholar, said: “The historical Jesus had no intention of founding a church as we know it. He simply looked at himself as a reformer of Judaism.†Reformers are resisted because we do not wish to look at ourselves honestly and we don’t want to change. In our first reading, King Zedekiah orders Jeremiah, the prophet, to be tossed into a muddy cistern because he undermined his rule and demoralized the people. Jesus knows that his teaching will bring discord into families because he places demands on his disciples above and beyond families bonds. Jesus says: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it.†(Luke 8:20) In our 2nd reading, the letter to the Hebrews, the author writes of the “cloud of witnesses†that surrounds us in the community of faith and inspires us to continue the race. Discipleship may be lonely but we are not alone. Discipleship is difficult. It leads to the cross and life in Christ.
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19th Sunday Ordinary Time
