FIRST CATCH THE RABBITReading 1 Isaiah 25:6-10a, Reading 2 Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20, Gospel Matthew 22:1-14 A nineteenth-century recipe for rabbit pie begins with the injunction: “First catch the rabbit.” The writer knew how to put first things first.That’s precisely what the guests in this Sunday’s gospel parable did not do!It was Jewish custom to send out invitations and to prepare food according to the number who accepted (like the modern RSVP!). When the meal was ready, the host would send servants to summon the invitees. In the parable, the king sent servants twice to summon the guests, but they “made
TENANTS, NOT OWNERSIsaiah 5:1-7; Philippians 4:6-9; Matthew 21:33-43 The angel Gabriel returned from surveying the earth and reported to God: “You own a choice piece of real estate called earth. But the tenants to whom you’ve leased it are destroying it. They have polluted your rivers; fouled the air; degraded the soil; destroyed rainforests… In another few years, it won’t be fit to inhabit. By any rule of sound management, you have one option.” Raising his trumpet to his lips, Gabriel asked: “Shall I sound the eviction notice?”God said: “No, Gabriel! Not yet. You are right, but I keep thinking
THE ENDGAME MATTERSEzekiel 18:25-28; Philippians 2:1-11 or 2:1-5; Matthew 21:28-32 The 1984 French Open final. The legendary John McEnroe arrived on court that day amid a 42-match winning streak. He raced to a two-set lead with his usual aggressive style that seemed destined to turn the match into a rout. Then Lendl broke him in the sixth game of the third set and the match turned around. McEnroe’s last shot was a potentially easy volley that he tiredly knocked out of court; it seemed to symbolize the steady decay of his game.McEnroe’s 42 prior wins did not matter; his amazing
IS GOD UNFAIR?Isaiah 55:6-9; Philippians 1:20-24, 27; Matthew 20:1-16 Robert De Moor shares an incident from his childhood: “When the apples ripened, mom would sit all seven of us down… with pans and knives until the mountain of fruit was reduced to neat rows of filled canning jars. She never bothered keeping track of how many we did… When the job was done, the reward for everyone was the same: a large chocolate-dipped cone. A stickler might argue it wasn’t quite fair… but I can’t remember anyone complaining about it. A family understands it operates under a different set of
REMEMBER GOD’S MERCYSirach 27:30—28:7; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35 Corrie ten Boom lost her whole family in the Nazi concentration camps. After the war, she travelled about Europe lecturing on forgiveness and reconciliation. After one such talk in Munich, a man came forward, talked to her, and put his hand out to shake hers. She recognized him as a guard at the Ravensbruck camp in which she was interred! Corrie froze. She felt a deep resentment and coldness. She, who had spoken about forgiveness, couldn’t forgive the man. We can empathise with Corrie’s experience. Forgiveness is difficult. We think we have
BUILD BRIDGES NOT BARRIERSEzekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20 In “The Great Divorce”, C. S. Lewis writes that hell is like a vast city inhabited only at the periphery; it has rows and rows of empty houses in the middle – empty because the residents quarrelled with their neighbours and moved. Then, they quarrelled with their new neighbours and moved again. This process of quarrel-move-quarrel slowly left the old neighbourhoods empty. Hell has gotten so large because everyone chose distance instead of honest confrontation. Lewis’ picture is as true as it’s stark! When someone hurts us, it’s either fight or
THE ‘BRAND HEART’ OF CHRISTIANITYJeremiah 20:7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27 Marketing experts point out that it is important for companies and organizations to develop a brand identity or the “face” that interacts with the world. But they are quick to caution: whatever you create should communicate who you are: the brand heart (purpose, vision-mission, values). One may see this Sunday’s gospel as a landmark in Jesus spelling out his “brand heart”!Jesus has been schooling his disciples about who he is and through Peter’s confession of faith (which we heard last Sunday), they have recognized Jesus as the Christ.But Jesus does
PERFECTED IN WEAKNESSIsaiah 22:19-23; Romans 11:33-36; Matthew 16:13-20 Duke Ellington – composer, pianist, and conductor – composed with each musician in mind. He said: “You keep their weaknesses in your head as you write, and that way you astonish them with their strengths.” That’s the way God works with the leaders he chooses and with us: he keeps our weaknesses in mind and astonishes us with our strengths; he perfects us in weakness. But why does God choose people with faults and foibles as leaders?We have a response in this Sunday’s gospel! In response to Jesus’ question about his identity,
MOVE THE FENCEIsaiah 56:1, 6-7; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28 During the WWII, a small group of soldiers lost a buddy and wanted to bury him in a proper grave. They searched the area till they found a church with a cemetery (which had a picket fence). They found the parish priest and asked to bury their friend in the cemetery. The deceased was not a Catholic. The priest expressed his sympathy but said the cemetery was reserved for Catholics. He asked the soldiers to bury their friend just outside the fence and assured them that he would care for
AMID THE STORM1 Kings 19:9a, 11-13a; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:22-33 We are amid one of the greatest storms of our lives – the coronavirus is still around with new variants; inflation and unemployment; natural disasters and violent conflict in several parts of the world; growing hatred and intolerance. Many of us are overwhelmed. The readings of today feature people who are overwhelmed by events in their lives. Amid chaos, they experience God’s abiding presence. The first reading features Elijah who had to flee into the desert to escape the wrath of Jezebel. There he encounters an angel who comforted him
