2nd Sunday of Advent B

Jeff Bagnall • 8 December 2023

The first reading is a well-known passage, set to music so elegantly by Handel – just listen to it and reflect! The text originated at the time of the ending of the Babylonian captivity of the chosen people of God, as the prophet announces hope and consolation from God as the time of their exile draws to an end. The way back to the promised land is either a huge detour or is a way across the desert – they have felt deserted even by God but now see a way ahead – there is always a way for us to return to God when we have strayed and lived away from Him. The prophet interprets the exile as a time of punishment for all their previous neglect of their religious practices and lack of faithfulness to God. The voice puts it the other way round: God is coming to them. It is about setting things right so that God can come cutting through all the obstacles that we have which prevent His engagement with us; if we can do that then we can envisage God’s glory – His presence – not as individuals but as a community of people together. The symbolism and allusions of this passage to growth in our spiritual lives are remarkable and should not be overlooked. The voice announces the glad news (the word ‘gospel’ means good news) for God cares for us like the ideal shepherd. The deeper meanings behind this passage are eminently relevant to us at this time of Advent – of preparation.

The seco nd reading is from a letter attributed to Peter, but addresses a much later situation, about 100 AD, The message is for those who are worried about the Second Coming of Christ and the day of Judgment which seems to have been unduly delayed way beyond their expectations. Don’t worry that people are dying before the end comes, the reading argues, alluding to Psalm 90 ( especially verses 3 and 4 ). The important thing is repentance – moving from our old ways to living within the life of God. Through Christ we can do this but we must start now (as we in Advent prepare) to be eager to free ourselves of any spiritual blemish.

The gospel is the opening words of the Gospel of Mark and may be taken in three different ways because of the ambiguity of the little word “of” before “Jesus Christ.” Firstly, it can mean that the message which the gospel is about to present is the very message that Jesus Himself came to deliver to us- it is the good news from Jesus. Secondly, it may be taken to imply that Mark is going to tell us the good news about Jesus – he came to save humanity and by his death (and resurrection) he did. And thirdly, “the Good News of Jesus” can mean that Jesus is Himself good news for us. I think we might think on these three, but accept them all as meaningful to us. This goes beyond what the author had in mind, but this kind of development for a deeper understanding is the way Scripture is used; the next part of our reading shows the author developing the words of Isaiah in the first reading. The voice in the Isaiah reading calls for preparation to be made in the desert; it is a voice that says, “in the desert prepare the way of the Lord.” To apply this to the preaching of John the Baptist in the desert by the river Jordan, the text has been punctuated differently – “a voice in the desert cries out: prepare the way of the Lord.” Throughout history, God comes to us in various ways at different times, and we must prepare to let Him into our lives. We must apply to our situation the message of John, calling out “repent” which means “change your way of thinking!” What we must do as we prepare in Advent for a renewed coming of Christ to us is to let Him into our life, for He shows the way to live for the good of others and consequently for our own good too.

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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.