Sermons in a Bottle

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B.  "This poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury." 

Prophets most often say things you don't like to hear.  Surely the scribes, learned men, prayerful men, did not like the criticisms of Jesus, who intuited that they ripped off the gullible widows.  You didn't hear Jesus thank the many regular contributors to the temple treasury, or appreciate their generosity.  All you and I hear is Jesus praising the two cents contributed by the poor widow. 

Prophets see the world through a different lens, aware of the great potential for hypocricy among the well-off, aware of the sacrifices of those with little.  What's our lens?




33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - B.  "But of that day or hour, no one knows, ... only the Father."

Scholars tell us that the two centuries before Christ were filled with folks in Palestine who thought the world was going to end, and end soon.  Some passages of the gospels give the impression that Jesus got caught up in such speculation.  But the bottom line is the above quote.  Not even THE SON knows the day or hour of the coming of the Son of Man in glory.  THAT the Son of Man will come in glory is never in doubt, in the mind of Jesus and in the thought-patterns of the Gospel writers.  WHEN is a whole nother deal.  We would be wise, when folks fear for the future, to ponder and pray this scripture passage.  As with so much of Jesus's teaching, it is eminently a statement of trust in the heavenly father.




Solemnity of Christ the Lord, King of the Universie - B.  "Jesus  Christ is the faithful witness."

I heard it years ago in a sermon:  "Mother Teresa of Calcutta said we [Christians] are not called to be successful, we are called to be faithful."  This is the Paschal Mystery in essence.  Jesus goes to his death, trusting that this insane, horrifically painful path of arrest-scourging-imprisonment-trial-conviction-crucifiction is what his Father asks of him.  And he is faithful to his Father.  For this fidelity Christ is revealed as the Risen Lord, the Good Shepherd, and the ever-Faithful Witness who is King of all that is seen and unseen.