Sunday, June 11, 2023

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: Genesis 12:1-9
– Psalm 33:1-12
– Second Reading: Romans 4:13-25
– Gospel Reading: Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

This Sunday begins the great stretch of time between now and Christ the King Sunday.  The time is referred to as “Ordinary Time,” but it is not ordinary in the sense of ho-hum, but ordinary in the sense of ordered—ordered time.  Our liturgical calendar has the Grand Story being told and having just told that story we now move into a deliberate (ordered) time of focusing on the growth of the Church through purposeful spiritual development and commitment to discipleship.

Notice Jesus in the text from Matthew and the masterful way in which he deals with, what I am calling, the “minutia.”  Minutia is that petty detail that often becomes a focus derailing the focus where it properly should be. (BTW, I think we have mastered that in the world of the Church.)  The Pharisees are picking at him for eating with the likes of tax collectors and sinners.  With one reference from Hosea, Jesus invites the Pharisees to examine their real motives and where God would have them be. 

The work that Jesus calls us to is to step back and always be willing to be directed and re-directed to where God would have us be as the agents of Christ in this world.

This same Jesus also has to juggle many things in these few verses.  He’s on the way to do one thing – visit that little girl who needs his healing touch.  Suddenly onto the scene bursts this other woman who inserts herself and needs his attention.  This multi-tasking, juggling more than one thing Jesus is judged by those attending to the first situation as having delayed too long and missed the optimal moment for intervention. 

The pace at which Jesus moves in this story proves to not be the issue, and yet we live in a world that judges harshly the missed deadline.  We make our way in a culture that values over-functioning and self-criticism for not performing every duty in perfect order in timely way.  Our values are rooted in productivity over process.  It is a world of multi-tasking where never enough is done.  Yet, this Jesus of Matthew is able to accomplish much and trust the pace and process to the God he serves.

The work that Jesus calls us to is to step back and always be willing to trust the process of our discipleship and the pace to which God would have us move as agents of Christ in the world. 

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Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk