10th November 2024
Reflection with readings below
When we talk about the House of Windsor, for example, we are talking about a family – a family that goes back many generations and which we anticipate will continue on for many more generations to come. Our first reading is also about the continuation of dynastic House, that of the House of David. It is a story of the forebears of David, significant for Jews for whom he is Israel’s greatest king, and significant for Christians for David himself is the forebear of Jesus. But the story is also subversive as Ruth, the mother, is not a member of the one of the tribes of Israel but is a Moabite.
The character of God is thus highlighted as being one who includes rather than excludes. The House of Israel is not exclusive but inclusive. This inclusivity is also the message of the gospels and of the Pauline letters. In writing to the community in Galatia, Paul reminds them that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
Today is Remembrance Sunday when we remember those who gone before us as victims of war. We remember their sacrifice made in the hope of a better future, a future where all people may live together in peace. Naomi says to her daughter-in-law, Ruth, that she wishes to find security for her – and she does this by enabling Ruth to become part of her extended family. The more we can incorporate each other into one family, the greater will be the peace that we can enjoy.
Another word for house is home, a dwelling place but perhaps more importantly a place of belonging. So we may talk about our home town, or our homeland. In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis talks of the earth as being ‘our common home’. This is the one home we all share and for which we must all care, if it is to be a home for generations to come.
Today’s psalm reminds us that unless our deeds and actions are both inspired and guided by God, they will fail. It is God’s first command to us in the Garden of Eden. And the call to care for the earth, to care for the vulnerable and the needy, and to pursue justice for all, is the repeated refrain throughout the Bible. Only by so doing, can our common home, our global family, survive and flourish.
Next week many people with power and influence will gather in Azerbaijan for the global climate conference – COP29. If our common home is to be a place of safety and well-being, we need those people to act positively, speedily and effectively in cutting the use of fossil fuels, in transitioning to renewable energy, and in ensuring a just sharing of resources – and finances – for all our brothers and sisters, for all our House.
And then we too need to be willing to change our lifestyles, changing the way we use and share resources, so that together we can tackle the issues of climate change, biodiversity loss and social injustice. Typically we need to consider not flying; driving less and using public transport more; eating less meat and dairy and instead eating more locally produced fruit and vegetables, grains, pulses and nuts; replacing gas with electricity and using that economically; better insulating our homes; reusing and repairing what we already have in preference to the ‘buy, buy’ culture that advertisers promote; and in the words of Christian Aid, living more simply so that others may simply live.
Today’s gospel reading contrasts the different responses that Jesus observed in the ways people followed God’s ways. Some – and it would seem to have been those with wealth and positions of authority – who made token gestures: a biblical equivalent of green washing. Whilst others gave their all, allowing their whole live to be shaped by God’s will.
Let us pray that both we and those attending COP29 will be be from the second rather than the first camp. Let us pray that the wellbeing of our House, of our common home will be given priority over personal gain; that by allowing our actions to be guided by God, so that our labour will not be in vain.
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
Naomi her mother-in-law said to Ruth, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.” She said to her, “All that you tell me I will do.”
So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin; and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. The women of the neighbourhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Psalm 127
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, *
their labour is in vain who build it.
2 Unless the Lord watches over the city, *
in vain the watchman keeps his vigil.
3 It is in vain that you rise so early and go to bed so late; *
vain, too, to eat the bread of toil,
for he gives to his beloved sleep.
4 Children are a heritage from the Lord, *
and the fruit of the womb is a gift.
5 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior *
are the children of one’s youth.
6 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! *
he shall not be put to shame
when he contends with his enemies in the gate.
Hebrews 9:24-28
Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Mark 12:38-44
As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
The Green Tau 