23rd Sunday A

Jeff Bagnall • 9 September 2023

God speaks harsh words to Ezekiel the prophet. For Ezekiel knows the harsh things he should be saying to his fellow Jews, and that this will be for their own good in the long term. But who likes to tell others off? So God actually threatens him with punishment if he does not speak out when he knows that he should.

In the letter to the Romans Paul is addressing the Christians living in a context which is not easy for them; they are among people who recognise a great variety of gods and cultic practices and are not at all in favour of these followers of the Way of Jesus who set themselves apart from the general public. Paul reminds them that love is the important attitude and practice – love of all not just among themselves!

Matthew in the gospel is addressing organised Christians who seem to be getting a bit disorganised and are having problems with some of their fellow Christians. He wants them to know that there are ways of dealing with trouble-makers but they should always do it as gently and tactfully as possible. These ideas are behind the authorities that we have in the organised church to this day.

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

25th Sunday In Ordinary Time - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 18 September 2026

The first reading is part of a heart-warming poem. It was written about the time that the people were going to be released from captivity by a friendly emperor, Cyrus. It attributes this release to the love of God, who has a special relationship of love for people, a relationship traditionally called a covenant. It is a two-way agreement: God will look after the people, and the people will live in a way pleasing to God. But the agreement is not conditional; it is not like God saying ‘if you keep my commandments I will be your protector and god;’ it is unconditional on God’s side: ‘I will be your God, so you will be my people however you respond to me.’ In the part of the poem we read today, the prophet is announcing to the people, God’s call to them; it is a call to give up any wickedness and turn their lives towards Him. But the prophet is also emphasising that God’s ways are mysterious, for He does not depend on the people behaving well for Him to love them and to be their God; there is no way they can deserve or merit God’s love, it is generous, free and everlasting. The extract is chosen for this contrast between God’s ways and ours, an idea taken up in the Gospel reading for today.

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - 2026 - Year A

by Jeff Bagnall • 18 September 2026

Reading Ezekiel we must remember that the Jews believed that they were the chosen people of the one and only God, Yahweh; they had laws and rules to live by and a covenant which they often thought of as ‘if we keep your laws, God, you will see that we prosper.’ Yet this arrangement didn’t seem to be working out in their history, especially when they were being taken over by a neighbouring empire. So much so that they began to think that they were being punished by God or even would die because of the sins of their ancestors; indeed they attributed all the difficulties and hardships of life to the original disobedience of the first humans ( Genesis 3 ), and they had a saying: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” Ezekiel was trying to replace this idea with the fairness and mercy of God. Not only was God punishing the wrongdoer for his own sins and blessing the good, but saying that there would be forgiveness and blessing if the sinner repented and turned away from sin.