Scripture Reflections for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year A, Lectionary 67
Jesus comes to rescue us from the darkness. He shines his light for us to follow after him. But we often cling to the darkness in things like worldly possessions, worldly pursuits, and hate. Are we able to let go of the division and worldly ambition and be united as one into God's kingdom?
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Accept • Attentive • Baptism • Call • Calling • Church • Community • Conversion • Creation • Darkness • Disciple • Division • Encounter • Evangelize • Exile • Fishing • Follow • Fulfillment • Gather • Healing • History • Hope • John the Baptist • Kingdom • Light • Love • Messiah • Mission • Net • Paul • Prison • Prophecy • Prophet • Repent • Resist • Responsibility • Scripture • Sent • Sin • Suffering • Unity •
“some people are saying, when they say 'I belong to Paul' what they mean is 'I was baptized by Paul' or 'I belong to Apollos' they might mean 'I was baptized by Apollos.' And so Paul is saying that's not how this works. If you're baptized, you're baptized into Christ.”
“John is arrested and Jesus begins to preach. The focus is not on how a ruler silenced a prophet, but rather how another prophet, Jesus Christ, stood up and called out that unjust act. 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'”
“Precisely where the twelve tribes were decimated and broken into pieces and scattered to the four winds, is where Jesus is going to begin calling his twelve disciples in order to gather around himself a new Israel in order to establish a new kingdom”
“'ten of those twelve tribes are lost among the Gentiles, so how are you going to gather them all back? How are you going to reconstitute the kingdom of David?'...the answer is real simple. If you want to get the lost tribes of Israel you got to go get the Gentiles because that's where they are, scattered among the nations.”
“Jesus isn't satisfied with meeting you in all of the sacred spaces once a week. Jesus wants to be a part of your everyday world. He wants to be in the nitty-gritty of your life and so he's going to meet you out at the seashore. He's going to meet you in your workplace.”
“What would Jesus need to say to you to lead you to drop everything you have to follow him? How would you react if Jesus was standing in front of you right now? Would you go with Jesus?”
“For Matthew, the “good news” is the joyful announcement that in Jesus, God’s long-promised kingdom has arrived, bringing restoration, healing, forgiveness, and the beginning of a new world.”
“Was Paul crucified for you? He reminds us as Christians, our commitment to the God of liberation has to dictate our politics and not the other way around.”
“When the Word is truly heard, fear loses its grip. Waiting prayerfully replaces panic. Hope keeps the heart steady. The Word does not merely inform us, it forms us.”
“My sisters and brothers, it's a simple question: today, are you in the light? Whatcha doing in that light?”
“Scripture is handed over to us so that we might know how to live, so that we might know how to love. And living and loving as Christ lived and loved comes at a cost, sometimes.”
“When Jesus calls Peter and Andrew he does not call them to an ideology or a political party, he calls them to fish for human beings. To love Jesus, to follow him, to join in the work of his kingdom is to seek after people, to love people, and to put people above everything else.”
“Sometimes we unknowingly make a god out of the liturgy forgetting that the liturgy itself, like ourselves, is at the service of God”
“we don't come to proclaim God's vengeance, we come to proclaim God's mercy”
“Jesus's vision that light would conquer the darkness and that life would overcome death served as an audacious message of hope and liberation...This vision represents the in-breaking of the kingdom of God. A state of being where all of creation participates in building a world of love, justice, forgiveness and peace.”