Sunday 28th July: Lord, teach us to pray!

The disciples in today’s Gospel are asking Jesus to teach them to pray – it is comforting to know that they too struggled with prayer. Jesus teaches them the Our Father, a manifesto for the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. While dealing with Kingdom issues, this prayer also addresses the spiritual and physical concerns of those who pray it. In itself, it is a model for prayers of any kind. Luke also includes a parable about the Father’s care for his children. When a child asks a parent for something, do they say yes every time? Is it because they don’t love their children that they say no? Of course not! Yet Jesus says that everyone who asks receives. Luke places a special emphasis on the prayer life of Jesus in his Gospel, frequently mentioning that he was “in a certain place, praying”. There is also a special emphasis on the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ message to the disciples is that if they ask for the Spirit to help them, they will not be refused.

I recently saw a caption on Facebook which read: “God’s three answers to your prayers: 1. Yes. 2. Not yet! 3. I have something better in mind.” God knows our deepest desires and he knows what is best for each of us. While we are trying to figure out what that might be it would be useful to use the disciple’s prayer from the Gospel today: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

Sunday 21st July "Martha Ministers eh?" (Luke 10:38-42)

Mary and Martha are stressed out with all the work they have to do. Jesus has arrived, probably with an entourage who are no doubt hungry. This small passage has created much interest from biblical scholars over the years. For some, it suggests that Jesus is favouring prayer and reflection over action. For others, it justifies the role of women in the church as concerned with hospitality. Many would disagree, and see Mary’s place at Jesus’ feet as a clear sign of a disciple learning from their teacher. Luke places a special emphasis in his Gospel on the wider circle of Jesus’ disciples, and names the women who followed him.

Luke also uses a specific word to refer to the ‘many tasks’ that Martha was concerned about: diakonia – a word that he uses elsewhere in Luke and Acts to refer to ministry and service in a community. It is from this word that we get the word ‘deacon’. Whatever interpretation we want to make, this is a beautiful passage about service, the importance of prayer, discipleship and ministry in all its forms. When we are so bogged down in the craziness around us, Jesus is clear about the way forward. First, sit and listen to him. This is good advice. Then we may be better prepared for the challenges that we face, whether they be in our homes or our wider communities.

Outsider teaches the insider what the insider should have known - the Good Samaritan

Parables are never what they seem. They have a clever way of causing confusion and forcing you to figure out what is really going on beneath the surface. The Samaritan, an outcast, is made the hero of this story. This would have caused outrage amongst those who heard the parable. The oil and the wine have a significant part to play as the priest and Levite may have had such items with them for making sacrifices in the Temple. It is, however, the Samaritan who offers correct worship to God as he uses the oil and wine to clean the man’s wounds. Jesus spoke about a God who was not concerned with the constraints of the Temple, but God who was in the streets. Look at what the Samaritan does for the man on the road: bound his wounds, poured oil, took him to an inn etc. They are all action words. The emphasis in this parable is on action and on compassion. The lawyer is concerned with the limits to ‘love of neighbour’. But there are no limits, no boundaries, no outsiders in God’s Kingdom. Holiness is not separation from the marginalised, but proximity to them.

“Our prayer, our worship, our fasting are of little value to God if we have ignored those of God’s children who suffer on the margins of our societies. We are Christians who follow the message of Jesus, not because we say ‘Lord, Lord’… it is in our compassion that we imitate God who is compassion” (Peter McVerry)

The Seventy-Two ~ 7th July 2013

If you asked Pope Francis what was the most important day in his life: his pontifical inauguration or his baptism, what do you think he would say? Well, the correct answer would be his baptism. As baptised Christians we are all anointed and sent out into the world. In today’s Gospel Jesus sends out the seventy-two ‘ahead of him’ to all the surrounding towns and villages. In all our different roles in society we too are sent out ‘ahead of him’ as teachers, parents, ministers of various kinds, politicians, educators, social workers, students, nurses, whatever category we want to put ourselves into. The seventy-two in this passage are told to take nothing with them, no airs or graces, no judgements, no prejudices, just to go as they are and to meet the people where they are at.

We are all responsible for our Church, not just a select few. We all have different roles to play, we all have responsibilities. Instead of wondering what is going to happen in the future and why the “labourers are so few”, remember that Jesus sent out the seventy-two ahead of him and expects us all to play our role as leaders, as workers, as ministers, as people of God working together so that the ‘Kingdom of God is very near’.

“Do not be a ‘part-time’ Christian, at certain moments, in certain circumstances, in certain choices. Be a Christian at all times!” (Pope Francis)