Sexagesima 2024

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Today’s Gospel starts with a success story: “And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to [Jesus] from every city, He spoke by a parable….” A great multitude from every city! Jesus Christ Superstar. They throng to Him. They want to make Him king.

What should you do with a great multitude? Get their mobile numbers, text them updates, turn them into donors. A crowd draws a crowd. On to Jerusalem, and then perhaps, to Rome itself. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere….

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Septuagesima 2024

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This parable has long been called The Laborers in the Vineyard. But it would be better to call it The Parable of the Landowner. He is the key figure here, and as in so many of the sayings of Jesus, it borders on the absurd. No landowner would do what this one does, just like in the parable of the sower you have a farmer who just throws the seed wherever, not seeming to care where it goes. This landowner doesn’t follow any customary business practices….

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Thanksgiving 2023

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But here’s the astonishing kicker: we are to present these cries of desperation with thanksgiving: “The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” We’ve been accustomed to think of thanksgiving as an acknowledgement of abundance. Thanksgiving is for the prosperous and well-fed, with family gathered in a warm house and a rest from work. But here, Paul directs our thanksgiving to arise from our lack, our poverty, our need, our desperation….

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