The Word today, W27B
- Admin
- Oct 4, 2024
- 3 min read
October 07 - October 12, 2024
Our Lady of the Rosary
The letter to the Galatians is one of the most important Christian documents ever written. The presenting issue — how much of the Jewish Law should Christ-believers practice — triggers a passionate and highly personal letter. The best translation is the NET online.
Galatians 1:6-12 For the next week and a bit, we hear from the letter to the Galatians. Briefly, Paul had preached to the people of Galatia (in modern Turkey) and told them they need not follow the Jewish Law in all its details. After Paul left, preachers arrived who said they should keep all the law, including circumcision. Paul writes back—in this reading we can see how upset he was, livid, really!
Luke 10:25-37 The message of today’s parable is plain as a pikestaff…and yet we miss it, unless we open our hearts to our neighbour.
Galatians 1:13-24 The encounter with Christ was foundational for Paul and his being an apostle was a calling from the risen Lord himself, not some human authority. No one “authorised” him, so he really was independent.
Luke 10:38-42 Real hospitality goes beyond the material and the customary to a real encounter.
St John Henry Newman, priest and doctor
Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14 Eating with Gentiles was a big issue. The Kosher rules were seen a key to Jewish identity. Paul has a “go” at Peter, who has acted in a very hypocritical way. Paul writes with clarity (if not with charity!).
Luke 11:1-4 When the disciples asked to be taught to pray, they were not looking for a formula of words but a way of prayer. Although we treat the Lord’s Prayer as “a” prayer, in reality is a method of prayer.
Galatians 3:1-5 The new arrivals claimed to have enhanced the faith of the Galatians. Paul asks a penetrating question: did you receive the Spirit before these people came or after? The answer is clear. Just as Paul had his encounter with Christ long before meeting Peter and the others, likewise, the Galatians knew the Spirit before the arrival of those wishing to impose the Law.
Luke 11:5-13 Using ordinary examples and a good dash of humour, Jesus underlines the importance of persistence in prayer.
St John XXIII, bishop of Rome
Galatians 3:7-14 Our reading today is one of the most dense and difficult in St Paul’s writings. We bear two things in mind. (1) According to Paul, the promise to Abraham included the future salvation of everyone including Gentiles. (2) “Curse” here means to be outside the blessing of the covenant. Paul is saying that on the cross Jesus, whose ministry was to the excluded and marginalised, himself became one of them by experiencing the cross. By identifying with the outsiders, so to speak, Jesus brought them God’s salvation and so the promise to Abraham was fulfilled.
Luke 11:15-26 In some ways, this is a very distressing Gospel: contemporaries of Jesus were saying that he was in partnership with the forces of evil. On the other hand, the incident gives Jesus these chance to underline the struggle against evil in his ministry and in his death and resurrection.
Galatians 3:22-29 Eventually, Paul has to ask a hard question. If some major features of the Law are set aside in Christ and no longer apply to Christians, what was the point of the Law at all? He explains by using an image from everyday experience. In those days, children going to school were accompanied by a slave—called in our translation a guardian—who minded the children until they grew up. Once grown up, the minder is no longer needed.
Luke 11:27-28 Today we have the shortest of all gospel passages — a quick retort of Jesus, taking us to the heart of believing.
References
-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2024m, October 6). Twenty-seventh Sunday in ordinary time. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100624.cfm
-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings/
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