3rd Sunday of Advent B

Jeff Bagnall • 15 December 2023

The first reading is from Isaiah chapter 61. As Israel’s long history progressed, even from the time of Abraham, leaders kept being chosen and supported by God, and when it came to Kings their appointment was confirmed by anointing. Then when times were difficult for the nation, people began to expect that God would send an anointed one who would bring them to their fullness and their dream of success. The history of the people tells us ( Ezra 1:1ff ) that their captivity in Babylon ended through the emperor Cyrus, chosen by God to send the people back to their homeland. Our first reading for today comprises two stanzas from a poem in the book of Isaiah from about this time (530 BC). The first could well be the voice of such a chosen liberator, though we might see it as also being appropriate to be expressed by Christ Himself. The word Christ means anointed and the Spirit of God is with the anointed one. This chosen one (whether we think it is Cyrus, or anticipating Christ) has good news to deliver – the word Gospel literally means good news. It is to announce the day everything will be put right, a vindication that is sometimes translated as vengeance (for the Jews would likely have thought of retribution on their enemies). The next stanza that we read is probably the thoughts of Jerusalem personified for the inhabitants of the city and its surrounds; it sings of rejoicing in the restored glory of the building and of their society in themselves and in relation to their enemies. This stanza can remind us that we should rejoice at the things that God has done for us in Christ.

In the second reading Paul writes to the Thessalonians from Corinth and has received news from Timothy that the Christians in Thessalonica, which he had to leave hastily, are doing well. He writes to give them some advice and to praise their success. Our reading is almost the end of this letter, dated about 50 AD. Christ wants His followers to be upbeat, to pray for things they want and anyway to always thank God for all His blessings. The community there seems to have quite a few ‘prophets;’ They are people, male or female, who feel moved by the Spirit to make pronouncements and public prayers. Some in the community dislike this activity, but Paul says you need to judge what they say and accept what you know to be right and good and reject the rest. He ends by praying for them – it's good for people to know when they are being prayed for! 'May you be entirely blameless', he prays, using the phrase ‘body, soul and spirit.’ Be ready for the advent of Christ, he prays, which the early Christians thought might be quite soon.

The gospel is from John, a Gospel written much later than the other three and which had to address issues that were developing in the church at the time. One of these was an exaggerated adulation of John the Baptist by some supposed Christians. After all John had been a very impressive character, attracting crowds out into the desert to recommit themselves to God in a ceremony of baptism similar to ones for people taking on an entirely new religious belief and practice. In many ways his extravagantly ascetic life and dramatic death at the hands of Herod, were more impressive than the generally compassionate preaching and lifestyle of Jesus. So at the beginning of this Gospel the position of John in Christian belief is clarified in the reading we have today. Positively, John is the one announcing good news as in the other gospels which also quote the passage from Isaiah used in last week’s readings. Here it is quite clear that John is not the one, not the light, but just a servant preparing his way. Even today we can sometimes have an image of our saviour which attracts us, rather than elevates and challenges; we need, perhaps to rethink and recommit ourselves.

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.
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