Nov 29.pub

Isaiah 45:6C-8, 18, 21C-25

Psalm 85:9AB and 10, 11-12, 13-14

Luke 7:18B-23

Summary

God created everything and it is splendid. God is our protection and our

hope. And we shall honor our God in the manner we show respect for our

God.

In the gospel the disciples of John ask Jesus if he is the Christ. Jesus tells

them to share with John what they have seen and heard of Jesus.

Reflection

Recently I attended the presentation on the Mercy of the three religions of

Abraham: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Each one of the religious leaders

spoke for about ten minutes. Each of the scholars not only understood their

own religion but each one studied the other two faiths. Rabbi Firestone ad-

dressed a Catholic audience and spoke of the average misconception that

Christians view God of the Old Testament as vengeful and angry, and Jesus

the son of God and truly God as being merciful and kind. The Rabbi contin-

ued that this is a misconception because there are many, many references to

the Old Testament God, Yahweh, as kind and merciful. Likewise there are a

few passages in the Gospels where Jesus is angry and speaks of condemna-

tion.

In today's gospel we learn of the roles of both John and Jesus in the plan of

salvation. This is a reinterpretation of Jesus's kingdom in terms of God's ful-

fillment of the promise. The disciples of John are witnessing Jesus concern

for the needy, the unfortunate, and those who seek God's mercy. Luke's

community and we have a preconceived notion of how God should act and

for whom God should act. Jesus' deeds of

mercy are done in fulfillment of God's prom-

ises to the prophet Isaiah.

So what does this mean for us? Condemn

less, listen more, and be merciful. Our Cath-

olic tradition is rich in teaching about mercy.

All of these teachings come from the words