The 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Background: Ordinary Time gets its name because each year one of the three synoptic gospels is read “in order” starting with the Baptism of the Lord which marks the end of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season and going on through 34 Sundays to Christ the King. Only Lent-Easter-Pentecost interrupt the steady progress.
Yet in each cycle the Second Sunday includes “additional epiphanic material” so we can deeply ponder the meaning of the beginning of Jesus’s ministry and career. This year’s gospel selection underlines the importance of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan by retelling the story from the standpoint of John.
Matthew’s description of the event, which we read last week, focuses on Jesus’s experience of the descent of the Spirit; John’s adds the proclamation that Jesus himself will baptize—and baptize not just for the forgiveness of sins but so that believers may all receive the Spirit.
It is therefore appropriate that this day we also begin reading for seven Sundays from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. To this fledgling community of new Christians caught in the decadence of one of the ancient world’s most important port cities, Paul ponders over and over again how the power of the Spirit given in baptism is meant to change their deepest hearts and their daily lives.
Discussion Questions
- Paul says that we have been “consecrated in Christ Jesus and called to be a holy people.” Although each of us has our own personal mission, we are set apart as a community to live and to proclaim holiness. What is your parish’s unique mission? How are you helping achieve it?
- Isaiah says that those chosen and sent by God are to be the “servants” who will bring salvation to all the earth. Whom are you concretely serving in your daily life? How will they see the love of God revealed in you?
- When does our church’s lack of humility and lack of a spirit of service get in the way of proclaiming the good news? What can you do about that?
- Which person has been your best role model for being Christ in our world today? How have they helped shape your life?
Practice: It is in the give-and-take of daily life that we have our best opportunity to reveal the good news of God’s love to others. This week ponder how in conversations and interactions at work or at lunch or relaxing with friends you might reveal a deeper empathy, compassion, and concern for others. Then act on your insights!
The 3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
Background: Matthew describes Jesus’s first preaching as occurring not in Jerusalem, the core of Jewish life, but in half-Gentile Galilee. Yet even there the kingdom/reign of God is right at hand—if people will open their hearts and change their lives at God’s call for them. And Jesus’s call is a radical one: the first disciples who respond abandon even their family and livelihood to follow his word of grace and healing.
Discussion Questions
- When did Jesus’s message first come alive inside you? How did it make you feel?
- How has responding to his message already begun to heal you?
- What are you afraid to leave behind as you answer his call?
- To which parts of our society does the church need to bring Christ’s message today?
Practice: Explore the Ignatian practice of the examen. (You can find information online.) Unlike an examination of conscience, the examen begins with an exploration of concrete gratitude for one’s day, with an awareness of God’s grace and call at work.
“Jesus’s call is a radical one: the first disciples who respond abandon even their family and livelihood to follow his word of grace and healing.”
The 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Background: Just as Luke groups so much of the material in the body of his gospel around a journey to Jerusalem, so Matthew arranges his material into five sermons or discourses. Today we begin reading the first of them, the Sermon on the Mount. The evangelist’s predominantly Jewish audience would have realized that Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses, bringing from the mountaintop not the Law and Commandments but the Beatitudes which are the roadmap of a right relationship with God and with other people. Paul reinforces this message when he points out that is not success or “wisdom” in this world that brings happiness but embracing in our hearts the call of Christ.
Discussion Questions
- Which beatitude has already become part of your life?
- Which one are you still struggling with?
- When has spending your energy and talents to get worldly recognition failed you?
- Which of the beatitudes is our society most in need of today?
Practice: Each day this week pick one of the beatitudes that speaks to you that day, and ponder its meaning for your life and your relationships. How could you bring it alive for the people in your life?
