for July 13
Monday of the Fifteenth Week of Ordinary Time

It seems that the LORD is having a hissy fit.

Okay, from a formal perspective, the first reading is from the first book of the prophet Isaiah. It’s the beginning of a series of oracles against the superficial religious practices that God’s chosen people have fallen into. But listen to it: the passage starts out with name-calling—you’re no better than Sodom and Gomorrah!—proceeds through a litany of just exactly what the Lord is fed up with—worthless offerings, loathsome incense and octaves of wickedness—and it ends with a series of short, sharp commands—reminders of the instructions, the teaching or torah—that have been ignored.

When I sound like that, it’s because I’m exasperated with one of my adult children. My charm’s worn off, my voice is raised, and I’m in full ‘I’m telling you this for your own good’ mode. Granted, this is not me at my best, but it comes from the deepest of loves. I know my children have to make their own choices and mistakes, but I hate to see them suffer through the consequences. I just want them to be happy—not in a superficial way of course, but with the contentment of doing what they love, of being surrounded by a loving family and friends. Is that too much to ask?

So take the first reading—hissy fit and all—in exactly that way: such is the love of God for us.

Then today’s gospel opens with Jesus in pretty much the same mood. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace” could be read with the exact same tone as “I’m not saying this just to hear myself talk!” What Jesus says about division within families is just another way of saying “Listen! I’m serious!” Being his disciple is no small thing. It is a life-changing, identity-giving commitment that not everyone around you can or will accept.

The commitment Jesus asks us for is revealed in the words “whoever receives you, receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” “To receive” brings to mind gifts given, hospitality offered, the closest bonds of affection. There are no degrees of separation here. That is how close we are invited to be to Jesus, and therefore, to God who sent him. That is how close we are to the one who loves us passionately as a mother does her children.

That’s the word of the Lord on an ordinary Monday in ‘ordinary time.’ The scriptures speak to us again of God’s passion for us, of a love that desires that we would only learn the lessons offered and do what God asks: to make justice our aim and heed the cries of the little ones.

For the love of God, could we please just give it a try?
—BJ Brown

Today’s readings can be found on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.