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16 Sunday B |
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I remember the ‘special talk’ the Leavers got the year that I did The Leaving. The President of the College said that there were two pitfalls in life, Punch and Judy. Translated, punch meant Drink and Judy meant Women. Even then, I believed in my heart that the girls and the drink were the best blessings of life. But it was the times, we say, and the man was doing his best. Yet, if wine, women and song aren’t best blessings then God has made a mistake. God makes no mistakes in Loving. Bad teaching, like bad religion, can have bad effects. Jesus was lavish in his generosity to women and wine, but in today’s story He seems to give ’a priority’ to teaching. The people crowded Him, weary, tired, maybe hungry, yet He set Himself to ’teach’ them at some length. I wonder Why? I think that the people’s idea –and ours- of God was twisted. They saw God as Punisher, as Spy in the sky, and selective. Jesus sees God as The Loving and Compassionate Father of all. Jesus did not impose rules or put burdens on people’s backs. He often broke rules, if they disrespected people’s dignity. He was accused of being a drunkard and glutton, consorting with odd sorts. The Sunday, the Sabbath was not about rules. It was about God encouraging people in everyday life, where so much loving is given in the caring of home and children, with the worry of work and illness. That The Father loves us no matter what we do. That is Christs teaching. It includes every human being. Life is wanting to believe this and be affected by it.
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