Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 14, 2013
Reflection on Lectoring
You may have seen or heard about a blockbuster movie from
the 1960s entitled, The Greatest Story
Ever Told. Even if you did not see
the movie, you might have guessed that it was a story about the life of
Jesus.
There are many different ways (including movies) to tell important
stories. There are also many different
storytellers who keep those stories alive.
Finally, there are many different reasons why people continue to enjoy
hearing those stories.
The Bible is like that.
It has many important stories, many people who have retold those stories
over the centuries, and many reasons why people listen to them today.
Lectors are among our most important Bible storytellers.
Important stories are an essential way for people to pass
on their cultural and religious traditions. They provide a supportive and
reassuring perspective in a world of sometimes competing and conflicting ideas.
They unite people in a common identity
and a shared set of beliefs.
Finding one’s identity is a creative act. It is an identity formed, in part, by
membership in a group. It is also an identity
that sets a person apart as an individual, providing a sense of community
without inhibiting individual ways of looking at things. Stories, like those in the Bible are an important
source of understanding about a person’s place in a community of believers.
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First Reading - Deuteronomy 30:10-14
A Complete Set of Directions
“No,
it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts:
you have only to carry it out.”
In today’s first reading we hear that God does not try to
trick anyone. Obscure directions for
doing what is right are not part of his plan.
Of course, just knowing what is right or wrong is only
part of the story. Doing what is right
is often the hard part. That is where
grace comes in. That is why the
sacrifice of the cross is a necessary component of salvation. Torah, or the Law of Moses, helped to define
sin. Jesus conquered sin.
Today’s first reading is a perfect introduction to today’s
Gospel story of the Good Samaritan. In
this story, Jesus demonstrates that the Samaritan was more concerned about
helping someone lying in the street, than he was about precise, legal definitions
of which groups of people constituted one’s neighbor.
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Second Reading - Colossians 1:15-20
A Definition of Christian
Being identified as a Christian means being identified as
a believer in Christ. Although,
different people may experience different levels of closeness in their relationship
with Jesus, Christians, by definition, recognize him as the Christ. They believe he lived among us as both God
and man.
For a powerful statement of that belief, and as a way to
develop a deeper relationship with Jesus, the hymns found in today’s second
reading and in Philippians ch.2, vs. 6-11 are a perfect place to start. Putting
permanent tabs in your Bible might be an excellent way to frequently remind yourself
of what every Christian believes.
By the nature of their calling, lectors are people who
demonstrate in a public way what they believe:
- “Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation”
- “He is before all things, and in him all
things hold together.”
- “He is the head of the body, the church.”
© George Fournier 2013
