Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 23, 2020: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Do we have access to God?

  Humankind has long known that God is ineffable, that is, that God is too great to be expressed or described in words.  Paul recognizes this in his Letter to the Romans:  How inscrutable are God’s judgments and how unsearchable his ways!  We can’t know the mind of the Lord; we can’t plumb the depths of God’s wisdom.  And so, like Paul, we must simply trust, confident in our God who has invested all in Creation – for from him and through him and for him are all things – with faith in God’s plan for us all. 

  And yet… ultimately, Jesus himself is our access to God. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Like the key placed on Eliakim’s shoulder in Isaiah’s story of Shebna, a key that gives access to the king, Jesus opens our way to God through his death and resurrection.  Our role is to collaborate with him, remaining open to the Lord and to the Lord’s revelation as Peter was, even as we are fully aware of the inscrutability of the Lord.  The Christian community was founded on faith, on the disciples’ ability to hear God and to be open to God.  Indeed, faith is the key that opens us to God’s will rather than subjecting us to our own will.  Knowing, as Psalm 138 suggests, that the Lord hears the words of our mouth, we must be open to the intimacy that the Lord reveals, a community or ekklesia gathered together around our belief in Jesus, willing to embrace his inscrutability as we nonetheless seek a covenant relationship with our Lord, our God of kindness and truth.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, August 27, 2017: Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven...

Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven…

Are you open to God’s action in your life?

   In the Book of Isaiah, Shebna, the master of the palace of King Hezekiah of Judah, is dressed down by the Lord for having abused his power, believing himself to be self-sufficient rather than dependent on God:  I will thrust you from your office, the Lord tells him.  Shebna, who was responsible for ensuring access to the King, has failed in his duties, relying on his own hands, and on all the privileges that have been bestowed on him by the King, and now he will have to pay the price:  Eliakim will receive the robe and sash of Shebna:  when Eliakim opens, no one shall shut, the Lord promises.  Eliakim will be a good servant of the Lord because he recognizes his own dependence on God, knows, as Psalm 138 states, that without God, we are nothing:  I will give thanks to you, o Lord, will all my heart, the psalmist sings, and thanks to your name. Both Eliakim and the psalmist are open to God’s action in their life.

   Matthew’s Gospel likewise focuses on a man who will be responsible for ensuring access to God:  the apostle Peter, who recognizes aloud that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And so Jesus confers upon Peter great responsibility:  I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, Jesus tells Peter.  Momentarily grounded in love, Peter is open to love, open to revelation, and thus allows God to reveal who Jesus is, thereby creating access to God for all who will hear him.  St. Paul likewise recognizes his own dependence on God, and his profound grounding in faith, in his recognition of a God whose riches and wisdom and knowledge are immeasurable.  Paul’s Letter to the Romans demonstrates that, while Paul may not understand God, he is open to the salvation God has promised through Jesus, and Paul seeks to ensure access to that salvation for all.

   As modern-day disciples, we too are meant to help others to have access to God.  Evangelization can only happen if we are open to God, if we recognize God’s action in our lives, and if we allow God to work through us.  We are called to be present to others, to use the gifts the Lord has given us, and to let Christ reveal himself through us… so that God’s action may touch their lives as well.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  Wordle