20th Sunday in ordinary time
The Gospel Reading for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time is not easy to hear. Jesus speaks clearly and the words of Jesus are there to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. He says He did not come to bring peace, but fire. He warns that even families will be divided because of Him. His words are bold and direct. In the first reading, he is thrown into a cistern for speaking the truth. People wanted him gone. But God sends someone to help him. Jeremiah did not stop trusting God, even in the mud. The second reading from Hebrews reminds us to keep going. We must stay strong. We should look to Jesus, who faced the cross. He did not give up. Neither should we despite the conflict and suffering that we see going on in the world. Today throughout the world many people are suffering as a result of conflict especially in Gaza and Ukraine as well as other places. We continue our prayer for peace this weekend.
In the gospel reading for this Sunday Jesus says, “I have come to set the world on fire and how I wish it were already blazing.” Jesus is ready and willing to face the hardships that lie ahead. Jesus’ words must have unsettled the people who heard them the first time. It doesn’t sound like Jesus meant that the practice of our faith should make us comfortable, guarantee harmony or tranquility. Indeed, as he predicted, belief in him would cause the most severe conflict, even in the close-knit-family world of his Mediterranean followers and this conflict continues today in many places throughout the world especially in the Holy Land. Jesus has a task to complete and will follow it through, despite the threats to his personal safety. Jesus refers to his fate as “a baptism with which I must be baptized.” He sees his passion as a baptism which he will accept and which will set a fire upon the earth here we are in 2025 talking about the fire that Jesus lit that could not be extinguished that is the fire of faith. When our lives get difficult, for any reason perhaps running low on the resources of spirit, mind and Soul at critical moments, we are tempted to think that the Holy One is asleep behind a closed door. When the truth is that Jesus is with us looking after us in our times of suffering and need.
The faith that Jesus calls his followers to is a faith that leads us to reflect a faith and hope filled life. It is much easier to follow from a safe distance and not be challenged and changed by faith in God. It is very easy to let the bitterness of others take us over but Jesus went to the Cross to overcome all the hatred and bitterness that we see around us even now in 2025. Today we are invited to lead lives less dominated by greed possessiveness and hatred. As I said at the beginning of this piece the words of Jesus are there to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted and they are a direct challenge to all of us. Faith was not easy at the beginning of the Church and isn’t easy now the martyrs of faith throughout history bear witness to this. If we stop and look around us even now there are people who are prepared to give everything they have including their lives in defense of the faith. Deciding to follow Jesus is not easy and we have to work at it for anything that is worth doing or being part off will never be easy. We are called to follow were God leads us and he will do the rest for nothing is impossible to God our father who journeys along with us throughout our lives in the good bad and sad times and he gives us the faith based certainty that enables us to continue our journey in faith hope and love.
Fullerton T 