From now on, let no one make troubles for me;
for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.i
The second reading of this, the fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary time, St Paul offers an interesting start to this reflection upon the readings and a very good start for considering what the Lord may be asking. Saint Paul is a not normally where I would begin my own reflection upon readings, but what Saint Paul does is define what can be a Christian. This weekend shares with me and you vocations. So let us reflect upon these readings and what possibly could be our application of them in our lives.
Saint Paul tells us that it does not matter if one is circumcised or uncircumcised. What this does is tell us that it does not matter is one is Jewish or not when it comes to following Jesus. Jesus is the only one worth for our lives according to Saint Paul. His death and resurrection are the principle sources of our eternal salvation. What I find interesting is that Saint Paul offers “peace and mercy to all who follow this rule and to the Israel of God.” The word Israel is Hebrew for the chosen of God, or saved by God. Saint Paul is inviting me and you to become a new creation in Jesus and be saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first reading is from the book of the Prophet, Isaiah. Isaiah speaks of a Jerusalem which overflows with abundance. Jerusalem is our image of what heaven is to be. Isaiah uses the imagery of a child and its mother. This is very fitting for our own understanding of heaven and the nature of our relationship with God. What we find is our confirmation that God is Father to us all. Using this imagery of the child should help us to appreciate what it is about heaven that is worth our faith in Jesus. When we were children, our needs were met and we found love from our parents. Heaven is the perfect place where are needs are perfectly met and we find perfect love from God the Father. And this leads us to our Gospel passage.
Jesus is telling the disciples, and us, what our lives are to be like. We are to be sent out into the world. The Lord calls upon each of us to preach the Gospel by our lives. The Lord tells us that in many places we will not be welcome with our message of salvation and holiness. He tells us that we will be like lambs among wolves. But, it would be more tolerable for Sodom on that day for the ones who are not welcoming to the message of the Gospel. We can hope that the Lord is kind and merciful to those who ignore him, but we hear many times in the Gospel how the pain of the not following the Lord is the lake of fire and here, the Lord the says the same thing for Sodom was destroyed by fire from the heavens. Jesus tells his disciples, and he tells us, that we should not “rejoice because the spirits are subject to [us], but rejoice because [our] names are written in heaven”.
The scriptures for today invite us to accept the call of holiness. We are given images of what our consequences for the result of our two choices. Let us hope, and pray that in the course of our Christian journey, we make the right choice. And that we find our names written in heaven.
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