Greetings on this the Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31–5:1; Psalm 113:1b-2, 3-4, 5a, 6-7; Luke 11:29-32
Summary
God’s Free Children in Christ combined with an An Allegory on Christian Freedom
So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God. Therefore, brothers, we are children not of the slave woman but of the freeborn woman. (Gal 4:7, 31). In our sacred scripture today, Paul uses Hagar and Jerusalem (not naming Sarah specifically, though he knows her name), as an allegory of the binary decision of one’s path in life: slavery or freedom.
Who is like the LORD, our God,
who looks upon the heavens and the earth below?
He raises up the lowly from the dust;
from the dunghill he lifts up the poor (Ps 113:5-7).
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the freeborn woman. For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery (Gal 4:22, 5:1).
Reflection
The Demand for a Sign
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah (Lk 11:29).
To this day the problem remains.
There are those who are born into a faith tradition believe they are safe as Sons of (fill in the blank). What is the Sign of Jonah? In Christology we would say prefigures the death and resurrection of Jesus.
But that is not the point here in this selection.
Jonah is the example of being forced to sit with our own evil and anger with our opponents. Taking an allegory and making it a fact, not a learning lesson, is the wrong path. Decoding Paul’s allegory, he meant to provoke conversion, not to become a literal ranking of peoples.
- The Ninevites had to sit with their mistakes and understand.
- The Queen of the South (Sheba) had to sit with her ignorance of the divine plan and understand.
Personal Reflection
In the final analysis, we cannot make our birth (lowly or regal; chosen or slave) define our destiny. Instead the humility of this simple statement: He raises up the lowly from the dust; from the dunghill he lifts up the poor.
- I need to be raised up from the dust.
- I need to be lifted up from the dung.
Powerful people (Ninevites) and wealthy people (Queen Sheba) came to understand that too.
Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101226.cfm
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry