This blog follows the daily Bible readings of the Catholic Church

Reading 1, Micah 7:14-15, 18-20

14 With shepherd’s crook lead your people to pasture, the flock that is your heritage, living confined in a forest with meadow land all round. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old!

15 As in the days when you came out of Egypt, grant us to see wonders!

18 What god can compare with you for pardoning guilt and for overlooking crime? He does not harbour anger for ever, since he delights in showing faithful love.

19 Once more have pity on us, tread down our faults; throw all our sins to the bottom of the sea.

20 Grant Jacob your faithfulness, and Abraham your faithful love, as you swore to our ancestors from the days of long ago.

Not the God we want (click pic for larger)

V 18 gives us a provocative picture of God-what god can compare with you for pardoning guilt and overlooking crime? For many people this is not the sort of God they want. God should not be too hasty in pardoning guilt and certainly should never overlook crime. I mean, is God some kind of sandal- wearing, Guardian –reading, surrender monkey? Having a God like that, relativises the difference between the righteous and the sinners, the good guys and the bad guys, we won’t be able to feel superior any more. Also we might have to learn how to forgive. But then, dammit, we do need Him to forgive our sins!

This beautiful prophecy of Hosea is food for thought.

Gospel, Matthew 12:46-50

46 He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly his mother and his brothers were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. 47 still speaking to the crowds when suddenly his mother and his brothers were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him.48 But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ 49 And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’

A Chinese friend of mine says of this story, “No one who treats his mother like this,  has the approval of heaven!”

The Jesus tradition in the Bible is overwhelmingly negative about the claims of family life. Jesus takes supportive sons away from parents, (Peter, Andrew, James and John), he won’t let a prospective disciple bury his dad, he tells his followers that because of him family life will be disrupted (not peace but a sword), he urges them to “hate” their parents for his sake.

Of course we should understand the urgency of Jesus’ mission, and the need for exclusive commitment, but the truth is that Jesus puts the community of disciples above the family. We may want to disagree with Him. ( I once heard a preacher remarking, “Jesus said-and I think wrongly- ” ) If however we work at this story, we may realise that Jesus wanted to free people from always putting family first.