29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Year B
Sunday, September 29th, 2024 @ 10:04 am
Pray on! Pray! And trust that God hears, welcomes, and answers every movement of your heart and soul in prayer.
Seeds
Isaiah 53:10-11
- This passage is from the famous Servant Songs of Isaiah: great poetic passages that the Church has seen as pointing forward to the sufferings of Jesus. As an exercise, try to imagine you have never made that connection before, then read this passage. What elements of the description stick out?
- What do you notice about the Lord’s wishes and the connection to the servant’s sufferings. Do you find this problematic? How does it work together with what we know of Jesus? How might it then comfort people who experience suffering?
Psalm 32(33):4-5,18-20,22
- As the psalm is a response to what we read in the first reading, how do you see the calls to trust and hope in the Lord in relation to the reality of suffering?
- The psalmist assures those who “hope in his love” that the Lord looks upon them. Hope, theologically, is trust that the Lord will fulfil his promises; his promises are promises made from and oriented towards love for his people.
Hebrews 4:14-16
- We are exhorted here to never let go of the faith we have because Jesus is our high priest in heaven. It might not immediately be clear how this reasoning works, but in essence: our faith joins us to Jesus who is at this moment fulfilling his duty as high priest in heaven: that is his offering of himself for us, and interceding for us
- Notice how the writer encourages us to realise the fullness of the Incarnation: God became human, and therefore has experienced and lived through all the trials of human life first hand. God empathises with us, and this should provide us with comfort.
Mark 10:35-45
- “You do not know what you are asking” – Jesus’ response to James and John reminds us to be humble enough to acknowledge the limits of what we can or do know. But notice that Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for asking the question, rather he welcomes their asking.
- One of the Pope’s titles is “Servant of the servants of God” as a reminder that true leadership is animated by service. Jesus makes the same point here and elaborates that service allows us to enter into his own mission more deeply. How service minded are we?
- Jesus tells us that he came to serve and give his life as a ransom. His mission of salvation is central to his coming to earth, as we’ve been reflecting on in previous weeks – the will of God is to bring many of his children to glory – how central is salvation to our experience of faith? How can we communicate that to others in our own context?
Sapling
Last week we explored the boldness that Scripture calls on us to have in prayer, in asking for the miraculous and not doubting that God is willing to answer.
In today’s passage from Hebrews we have another reminder of this reality, as well as a beautiful explanation of what happens when we pray.
Jesus is our high priest, who through the Ascension has entered into the heavenly sanctuary and – right now – stands before the Father interceding for us.
But Jesus is also, Hebrews tells us, a sympathetic figure. He isn’t disinterested, distant, or above our concerns. Rather he’s close to us and invested in our lives because he’s been there; he’s seen human weakness and the damage it brings to creation, he’s ministered to people with broken and damaged lives, and he’s suffered incredible pain and suffering.
In ascending into heaven, Jesus didn’t shed all of that, rather he carried it with him, right into the throne room of heaven.
The Holy Spirit who dwells in us as baptised Christians unites us into a single Body, the Body of Christ (think back to the discussion of marriage two weeks ago, and the joining together of man and woman as an image of God’s love for his people). That has a profound implication here; it means that as Jesus stands before the Father, we too stand there because we are one with him. We are his body.
That is why Hebrews says we should be confident in approaching the Father on his throne of grace, that is the throne of gifts. We’re welcome in that place, we’re at home with the Father now.
Because we are at home there, and our high priest makes intercession for us, we should be confident to receive mercy and grace when we are in need of help.
Last week we tried to bolster our confidence and boldness in prayer, here we have more kindling to add to that fire, lest it burn out with the passage of time.
Pray on! Pray! And trust that God hears, welcomes, and answers every movement of your heart and soul in prayer.
Even if, as with James and John, you ask for the wrong thing, you won’t be turfed out or dismissed. Your prayer is welcomed by God, even if he has to answer that he has something better in store than what you asked for.
Fruit
- Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium and Lumen Gentium, on worship, priesthood, and the Church
- Catechism of the Catholic Church #1535, on the common priesthood of the faithful
