Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year C 13th February 2022
Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 17 v5-10; Psalm 1; 1 Corinthians 15 v12-20; Luke 6 v17-26.
Finding the right way.
The Psalmist suggests that the way to happiness is towards God and the way to ruin is away from God. (Psalm 1 v1,6).
In today’s Old Testament reading, the prophet Jeremiah is taking the people of Judah to task for their deceitful ways. (Jeremiah 17 v9). Jeremiah was active as a prophet in the turbulent years prior to the capture of Judah, (including the city of Jerusalem) by the Babylonians in 586 BC.
In the previous chapter Jeremiah says, People of Judah, your ancestors turned away from me; they rejected my laws and teachings and starting worshipping other gods, And you have done even worse! You are stubborn and do whatever evil comes to your mind. (Jeremiah 16 v11,12).
Jeremiah is warning the people of the punishment that is coming their way when he speaks for God and says, I know your deeds and your thoughts and I will make sure you get what you deserve. (Jeremiah 17,v10).
In contrast to the way to ruin, Luke speaks of the blessings that will attend those whose choose to follow the way of Jesus. He recalls the teaching of Jesus, “God will bless you when others hate you and won’t have anything to do with you. God will bless you when people insult you and say cruel things about you, all because you are a follower of the Son of Man.” (Luke 6 v22).
Luke was writing at a time when the early followers of ‘The Way’ (of Jesus) were being persecuted by the Roman authorities for suggesting that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar and also by Jews who did not acknowledge that Jesus was their Messiah. Luke suggests that Jesus foresaw this time and sought to prepare his followers for such troubles.
The apostle, Paul, writes to the members of the early Christian church in Corinth, explaining his understanding of what God has done for us in and through the person of Jesus. He argues that we will be blessed by God for our faith in Jesus. The one whose teachings were vindicated when God raised him to new life at Easter. A new era had begun, a new way of living made possible by Jesus.
The hymn writer Brian Foley, seems to have Psalm 139 in mind, as he reflects on our journey with God in this hymn. (from Singing the Faith No 482).
There is no moment of my life, no place where I may go,
no action which God does not see, no thought God does not know.
Before I speak my words are known, and all that I decide,
to come or go: God knows my choice, and waits to be my guide.
If I should close my eyes to God, then I am given sight;
if I should go where all is dark, my darkness is made light.
God knew my days before all days, before I came to be;
and keeps me, loves me, in my ways, through all eternity.
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Bible.