Scripture Reflections for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B, Lectionary 122
Jesus stated that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love our neighbor. In each we must voluntarily enter into a relationship with the other. And this entails being present and giving over ourselves completely. Joshua asked the people to freely choose to serve God or not. Jesus likewise gave his followers the same choice, to leave or stay. It is a commitment we must decide that will make possible serving others as Jesus has come to serve us.
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 • Challenge • Choice • Church • Commitment • Community • Covenant • Disciple • Equality • Eucharist • Examine • Faith • Fidelity • Follow • Forgive • Freedom • Friendship • History • Holy Spirit • Influence • Interpretation • Invitation • Journey • Love • Marriage • Mystery • Obey • Participation • Peace • Politics • Question • Reject • Relationship • Remain • Remember • Serve • Theology • Women •
“People come into new and familiar relationships with assumptions and priorities. Our jobs as followers of Jesus is to pivot continually in our relationships to ensure we center ourselves in God's light and love.”
“Theology is faith seeking understanding. So understanding things about our faith but we can't understand things unless we seek to understand them.”
“His audience could only hear and perceive the physical application of what he was saying and this caused them to be deeply overwhelmed by the passion of his words and not to be drawn deeper into the truth, love and freedom of his words”
“Whenever somebody takes one verse or just a part of the verse out of context and says the rest of the verses don't matter, that's a sign to you that their interpretation is weak”
“Will we choose Jesus despite the incredible claims he makes or will we decide to stay where we are, satisfied with the lives we are living?”
“Whenever we take any new step in life, it calls for a reexamination of our initial commitment to God”
“Our choices are known by our actions, our actions show our conviction, and those convictions are how we attest to the God who is present to us, to the god who loves us”
“That's really what faith is, it isn't just about the information of who God is but it's what God does and what God is still doing in our lives, whether we can see God or not see God”
“If you take Jesus at his word, you're going to take the whole gospel, not part of the gospel”
“When we reflect on the scriptures we must ask, 'do we find that the Good News we are proclaiming is in fact Good News for everyone? Especially the poor and vulnerable?' If not, we should perhaps revisit our reflection.”
“Jesus is asking you and me: 'are you ready to take me in? Are you ready to consume me to such an extent that my blood is flowing through your veins?...that my flesh becomes your flesh?'”
“So today I'm inviting you to say 'as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.' You make that choice for them so that they can...choose to serve the Lord for themselves”
“Faith is a choice, a choice to follow Christ and it's a daily choice”
“Yes, at our baptism we said 'yes' to God but every other step we take in life must correspond with the original 'yes' that we said to God”
“The Eucharist challenges us to care for those who share in Jesus's suffering and oppression”
“Jesus humbles himself further and gives his dearest friends the freedom to choose discipleship or to turn away like the others and here we encounter Jesus' vulnerability, an invitation to deeper friendship”
“See, in the end when you think about heaven versus hell, heaven is filled with people who chose to love God above all things”
