{"id":7965,"date":"2012-08-26T18:20:18","date_gmt":"2012-08-26T23:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/?p=7965"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:58:47","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T20:58:47","slug":"a-scriptural-trifecta-in-ordinary-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2012\/08\/a-scriptural-trifecta-in-ordinary-time\/","title":{"rendered":"A Scriptural Trifecta in Ordinary Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Wow, so let me ask you:\u00a0 Were you at Mass this morning?\u00a0 (Say yes, say yes\u2026!.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here we are, smack plop in the middle of Ordinary Time, and I can\u2019t stop reflecting on the three GREAT readings!\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, there was Joshua:<\/strong>\u00a0 He\u2019s called together delegates from all the tribes of Israel.\u00a0 He wants to know, where are their loyalties?\u00a0 Whom will they serve?\u00a0 The gods of the Amorites, in whose land they are now living?\u00a0 Or will they serve the God of the Israelites, the one true God?\u00a0<\/p>\n

He tells them outright what he will do.\u00a0 It\u2019s the scripture which hangs on countless dining room walls, and which was painted by a group of rowdy teenagers on the roof over my front door (as I recounted<\/a> once long ago):<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAs for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then there was that great scripture from the second chapter of Ephesians.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

You know the one:\u00a0 It\u2019s held in disdain by gender feminists who shrink from the admonition to \u201cbe subordinate\u201d to their husbands\u2014as though we aren\u2019t all supposed to serve one another in love, just as Jesus served his apostles and, through his saving death and resurrection, all of us.<\/p>\n

Ephesians 2 is frequently chosen by young couples<\/strong> to be read during their wedding ceremonies.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t, as some fear, demonstrate women\u2019s inferiority to men.\u00a0 No:\u00a0 the challenge issued to men is even bigger.\u00a0 Ephesians calls on men to \u201clove their wives, just as Christ loved his church.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> And how did Christ love the church?\u00a0 Why, with his very life!\u00a0 Men are to love their wives enough to die to self and to, if necessary, die for them.<\/p>\n

Paul explains:<\/p>\n

\n

Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
\nWives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
\nFor the husband is head of his wife
\njust as Christ is head of the church,
\nhe himself the savior of the body.
\nAs the church is subordinate to Christ,
\nso wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
\nHusbands, love your wives,
\neven as Christ loved the church
\nand handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
\ncleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
\nthat he might present to himself the church in splendor,
\nwithout spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
\nthat she might be holy and without blemish.
\nSo also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And as if that weren\u2019t enough to gnaw on for the week, then there\u2019s the Gospel<\/strong>\u2014the third prophetic reading of the day.\u00a0 Today\u2019s reading from the sixth chapter of John<\/strong> continues what we\u2019ve been hearing for the past few weeks, what is called the Bread of Life discourse\u2014that teaching by Jesus in which he unpacks the Eucharist, which is the true Body and Blood of Christ.<\/p>\n

Jesus has been increasingly clear, in his teachings, about the Eucharist.\u00a0 Soon he will be leaving the earth and ascending to the Father; but before he does, he wants to leave the gift of Himself.\u00a0 He tells the disciples that he will give them his own flesh to eat, his blood to drink.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is strange talk\u2014why, no one has ever said anything this preposterous with a straight face!\u2014and some of the disciples, faced with this hard saying, walk away.\u00a0 Jesus watches as the crowd grows smaller, and he asks his apostles:\u00a0 \u201cWill you too go away?\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s where it gets really great:\u00a0 Peter\u2014that blustery, bumbling apostle who sometimes disappoints us with his simple humanity, his fear, his pride\u2014stands strong this time.\u00a0 Peter asks,<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cLord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Peter is right.<\/p>\n

And I am inspired, truly inspired.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wow, so let me ask you:\u00a0 Were you at Mass this morning?\u00a0 (Say yes, say yes\u2026!.) Here we are, smack plop in the middle of Ordinary Time, and I can\u2019t stop reflecting on the three GREAT readings!\u00a0 First, there was Joshua:\u00a0 He\u2019s called together delegates from all the tribes of Israel.\u00a0 He wants to know, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,49,147],"tags":[963],"class_list":["post-7965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-catholic","category-liturgy","tag-ordinary-time"],"yoast_head":"\nA Scriptural Trifecta in Ordinary Time<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Wow, so let me ask you:\u00a0 Were you at Mass this morning?\u00a0 (Say yes, say yes\u2026!.) 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