Isaiah 45: 1; 4-6 I have taken the hand of Cyrus to subdue the nations before his countenance
Give the Lord glory and honour
1 Thess 1: 1-5 We are mindful of your faith, hope and love.
Matthew 22: 15-21 Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
In this little scene from the gospel, you would think Jesus was sitting for the HSC! The Pharisees were constantly trying to put trick questions to Jesus to see if he would put his foot in it. Jesus, having studied well and learnt well, has very good footwork and easily evades the traps they set for him, gives them more than they bargained for in his answers .
Jesus was a good student of his people’s story. No doubt he had learned much from his family, and the religious and other leaders as he was growing up. He was keenly aware of his people’s suffering at the hands of the Roman occupation forces and at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders who were collaborating with them.
He had a very keen sense of justice and never hesitated to point out injustices when he saw them. In fact, he was free enough to call everything exactly as he saw it and this is what got him into trouble.
It seems his critics aren’t looking for truth. They prefer people who share their own views and they aren’t too impressed when a truth is expressed that is truer than the truth they have been holding on to. The tellers of these truths are dangerous because if their ideas take hold, then we will lose our positions of power and influence, and then where would we all be?
It’s necessary to make the tellers of these truths disappear, because dead men tell no tales! This is exactly what happened to Jesus. The only problem is that the truth of his story outlasted his human life here and in his rising from the dead, both he and his story are still alive and well, and the world has indeed changed.
His ideas are still as dangerous and challenging as they ever were.
When we listen to Jesus responding to the Pharisees today, we hear him setting everyone free to do what they judge best, to render to God what is God’s and to render to Caesar what is his. He leaves us, and more, calls on each of us to be free enough to take personal responsibility for the choices we make, for the faith that we embrace and for the causes we proclaim.
It is this freedom that St Paul praises in his touching words to the Thessalonians. Let’s listen to him again:
“We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ. We know brothers and sisters, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you , it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and utter conviction.”
We’d be pretty safe saying that while we are all on the way to this inner freedom, this passion for truth and justice, this faith in Jesus grace at work in us, none of us is perfectly free. So it’s good that we pray for one another that we continue to grow in this freedom which is God’s own hope for us.
Having said that, we can look around our own little community here and see eloquent expressions of this freedom which Paul praises so gently.
Give the Lord glory and honour
1 Thess 1: 1-5 We are mindful of your faith, hope and love.
Matthew 22: 15-21 Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.
In this little scene from the gospel, you would think Jesus was sitting for the HSC! The Pharisees were constantly trying to put trick questions to Jesus to see if he would put his foot in it. Jesus, having studied well and learnt well, has very good footwork and easily evades the traps they set for him, gives them more than they bargained for in his answers .
Jesus was a good student of his people’s story. No doubt he had learned much from his family, and the religious and other leaders as he was growing up. He was keenly aware of his people’s suffering at the hands of the Roman occupation forces and at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders who were collaborating with them.
He had a very keen sense of justice and never hesitated to point out injustices when he saw them. In fact, he was free enough to call everything exactly as he saw it and this is what got him into trouble.
It seems his critics aren’t looking for truth. They prefer people who share their own views and they aren’t too impressed when a truth is expressed that is truer than the truth they have been holding on to. The tellers of these truths are dangerous because if their ideas take hold, then we will lose our positions of power and influence, and then where would we all be?
It’s necessary to make the tellers of these truths disappear, because dead men tell no tales! This is exactly what happened to Jesus. The only problem is that the truth of his story outlasted his human life here and in his rising from the dead, both he and his story are still alive and well, and the world has indeed changed.
His ideas are still as dangerous and challenging as they ever were.
When we listen to Jesus responding to the Pharisees today, we hear him setting everyone free to do what they judge best, to render to God what is God’s and to render to Caesar what is his. He leaves us, and more, calls on each of us to be free enough to take personal responsibility for the choices we make, for the faith that we embrace and for the causes we proclaim.
It is this freedom that St Paul praises in his touching words to the Thessalonians. Let’s listen to him again:
“We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ. We know brothers and sisters, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you , it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and utter conviction.”
We’d be pretty safe saying that while we are all on the way to this inner freedom, this passion for truth and justice, this faith in Jesus grace at work in us, none of us is perfectly free. So it’s good that we pray for one another that we continue to grow in this freedom which is God’s own hope for us.
Having said that, we can look around our own little community here and see eloquent expressions of this freedom which Paul praises so gently.
- We see the energy and delight with which our Pastoral Council members and others prepared for the Parish Dinner, and the joy everyone took on the occasion. People were talking about it all through this past week. One of our veteran parishioners commented to me that is was one of the very best parish events he’s been to.
- On Tuesday our small but energetic Social Justice Group met. Apart from the three projects we are engaged in, there again was a clear and generous spirit, openness to each other’s points of view and a desire to do our best for those in special need and to engage in the most difficult task of speaking about and acting about injustice.
- Then on Wednesday evening our lively Liturgy group gathered to review our Feast Day Mass the other week, to begin planning for Advent and Christmas and to reflect on the general issues around our liturgical life that we’d like to address further. Two new members joined us and we rewarded ourselves with a little party! St Paul would have been pleased with the lively grace of this group.
- Then there is our dear Norma Brosnan who has lived most of her life in our parish and contributed so much to the parish and the wider local community. Norma had a stroke last Sunday and is in a stable condition in hospital. Her free spirit still shines through her injured body, much in the manner that Jesus’ spirit of love shone through his broken body on the Cross. St Paul would surely want to catch her up in his arms and his words.
- Along the same lines we have Suzi Hajje who had further brain surgery this week and ever since has being filling the pages of Facebook with stories about how well she is with lots of accompanying photos. In her illness she becomes a gift of joy for so many of us.
These are just five instances among the countless graces that you all bring to our life together here. Listen to St Paul one more time, grateful for the inspiration of those around you, and grateful for the inspiration you bring us all.
“We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ. We know brothers and sisters, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you , it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and utter conviction.”
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