4th Advent Sunday Cycle C

Jeff Bagnall • 13 December 2024

Although the prophet Micah operated at the time of Isaiah and others in the 8 th century BC, some of the material reads as though it is from a later time – either as addition or alteration – and there are similarities between his time and that of the exile in the 6 th century. The reading we have is part of a prophecy preceded by others of a similar format, namely the present time of disasters to be followed by a much better situation. But our reading has only the upbeat part, the one verse before is about the bad times. There is promise of a new ruler to come; one who will be like the ideal king David, who was the most unlikely choice and the youngest in the family. The new ‘ruler’ (not the same word as for the disappointing kings) will be from David’s lineage and even from his insignificant town of Bethlehem. At that time the northern kingdom of Israel had broken away from the jurisdiction of the southern king in Jerusalem, and in the passage they are probably what the ‘rest of the kingdom’ (the remnant) refers to, whom the new ruler will restore to the whole. The pregnant young maiden referred to who will produce the new ruler, may be the nation personified as (daughter of) Jerusalem, or the unknown girl in the Emmanuel prophecy of Isaiah 7:14. This new ruler will deservedly take on the image of shepherd, so often used of kings for their attitude to the people – or even of God as the psalm of David sings – “the Lord is my shepherd…” in psalm 23. It will be the Lord who will support this new ruler and his reign, we naturally apply this to the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

In the reading from Hebrews , the writer is interpreting verses 6 – 8 of Psalm 40 , to make a point about the unwanted Temple sacrifices and the unique achievements for us of Jesus who lived his whole life for others – for us and for God (the Father). It is clear that this is a quite different order of sacrifice when the connotation of the word ‘body’ is realised to be the whole of human life from birth to its completion; Jesus’ whole life in accord with the will of God is portrayed in the gospels; there it is seen by others as a radical stance, with challenging words and actions so much so that the authorities, both secular and religious, brought it to an end with his execution on the cross. It is the start of this life that we celebrate at Christmas.

The gospel is what we call the Visitation from Luke’s Gospel; Mary has just responded to the message from God that she would conceive and bear a son named Jesus, saying “Be it done to me according to your word.” Luke is not writing history or a biography of Jesus, nor is he writing a delightful fable that is untrue; he is writing to tell an important truth about Jesus who is the Son of God, and as part of the New Testament his writing is the Word of God to us. It is a delightful tale about a young woman who has the life of Christ in her and therefore whose main concern is to visit her cousin who is pregnant – to help her and to tell her of her own news; it is a lesson for us who try to live good Christian lives with concern for others; but it goes on to make the point that Jesus is way more important than the Baptist, – a necessary message to the early Christians who could easily favour the dramatic preaching and style of the extravert Baptist rather than the selfless and generally forgiving nature of the humble Christ.

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Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

by Jeff Bagnall • 18 September 2025

The first reading is from a section of the book of Amos ( 6:4-10 ); it is introduced with the opening words of the chapter: “alas for those who are at ease in Zion.” Strong words against the city dwellers come from Amos, the country fellow – words and woes against the northern kingdom of Israel. We hear the third and last woe against the excessive luxury in which they are living although their prosperity is declining visibly; they seem to live for the moment and care little of the future, even their own. They are, unusually, referred to as a group under the eponymous name of Joseph; this could be because of the account of Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s dream (Exodus 41) of seven years of plenty followed by seven of crop failure, and his wise management under the Pharaoh of storing up supplies for the future. The exile that will come will be the disaster that follows this decadence. In the second reading ( 1 Timothy 6:11-16 ) Timothy is addressed as a ‘man of God.’ Unlike the people of the first reading and in contrast to those addressed in this letter just before this section, Timothy is chosen and enabled by God to be a minister in the Christian community. Paul’s athletic imagery appears here also, saying “compete well,” that is, ‘run the race’ or ‘fight the good fight.’ The Christian at baptism made confession that “Jesus is Lord”, and Jesus made a similar confession before Pilate according to John’s gospel (18:37); Timothy was baptised but was also a leader in some way, and that meant not to be a covert Christian but to speak the truth even before accusers, as Jesus did before Pilate; the writer could be referring to either of these situations. The requirement to keep the commandments or ordinances is most likely not to the ten commandments of the Jewish religion but to the requirements of being a Christian or, more likely, the specific orders for acting as a minister. He must act as a servant of the King who will eventually appear, and he must be selfless in his work towards the kingdom of God. In today’s gospel reading from Luke ( 16:19-31 ) we have the parable often call that of Dives and Lazarus; but ‘dives’ is just the Latin word for rich man. In many ways the story is straightforward once we accept the different understanding of the afterlife that it portrays. However, whereas the rich man is anonymous, the beggar at his gate is named Lazarus. Luke is writing about 40 years after the resurrection of Jesus but still there are people who aren’t believers; and John’s gospel, uniquely, has the story of the raising of Lazarus which Luke’s readers may have known; but Luke’s point is not about accepting the truth of the resurrection, of Jesus or of Lazarus, because believing is more a way of living than accepting facts – of loving God and your neighbour as yourself, which the rich man in the parable didn’t do.

25th Sunday In Ordinary Time - 2025 - Year C

by Jeff Bagnall • 11 September 2025

The Sunday readings only use the prophet Amos three times; this and next Sunday are two of those. Amos was a country man used to living a simple life: a herdsman tending sycamore trees. Somehow he came to be a prophet of God in the city of Bethel, though he wouldn’t claim the title of prophet and was different from most of them. Such a man coming from the country to the big and prosperous city just had to speak what he thought in order to deliver a ‘scolding’ from the Lord, for the hiking of prices, lowering of measures and fixing of scales (Amos 8:4-7). His natural reactions to the corruption that he saw is described as visions from God, and they are nearly always expressed with an impressive literary style: matching couplets and triplets. Yet it is the language of wrath and condemnation, though elsewhere Amos does tell of a remnant few who will be spared and at the end of the book there is a very positive prophecy though this ‘epilogue’ may have been added later to end on an upbeat note of hopefulness.