QUESTIONS: ONE MORE WAY
OF READING THE SCRIPTURES
INTRODUCTION
There are different ways of reading, studying, praying
with or opening up a Bible. One can start with Page 1 and go to the end like
any book - or one can do an individual book in the Bible one at a time -
meaning starting anywhere.
A new way hit me last night when sitting down to come up
with a short homily for this morning. It’s this. Take a Mass reading - the first or the Gospel
- on the middle one from a Sunday Mass. Read it. Then jot down questions about
the reading that hit you. Like, “When
was this document written?”
So that’s the idea that hit me last night - as I was preparing
this homily for the 24th Thursday in Ordinary Time.
So that’s why I
came up with the title of this homily: “Questions: One More Way of Reading the Scriptures.”
BETSY ROSS - TOMATOES
I remember hearing a program on NPR - National Public
Radio - about the writing of a biography
about Betsy Ross.
First of all, the author being interviewed for PBS figured
out there was no significant biography about Betsy Ross. So he or she decided
to go there.
Betsy Ross - as you know - was in the story of how we came
up with the American flag. In the
research she found out there are questions about who should get the credit etc.
However, what hit me while listening to that PBS program - was the question of
tomatoes. The biographer found out that Betsy Ross was interested in tomatoes -
so she ended up spending a year doing research especially about the state of
tomatoes in 1777.
That’s unique. That’s interesting. That’s something I remembered.
To write non-fiction, one ought to be an exact writer -
and deal with all the questions a researcher might ask. Research. Research!
Questions. Questions.
So that’s why I thought of questions as a way to do Bible
reading and Bible research.
SO TOO THE SCRIPTURES
So in this homily, I’m suggesting reading a reading and
come up with various questions that might hit
you.
So Luke 7: 36 to 50 talks about perfume - or ointment.
What do we know about perfume in Palestine in the time of
Christ?
Do we have any idea what triggered the Pharisee in today’s
gospel to invite Jesus to his house for
dinner?
Did Jesus ever turn down an invitation of a dinner?
Does this woman have a name?
At the end of this gospel it says that others were also
at the dinner.
What did they think when they saw this woman come into
Simon the Pharisee’s house - stand behind Jesus - start crying - started weeping and washing Jesus’ feet with her hair. Then she anointed
his feet with the ointment. What was the scent like? What were their thoughts
besides the one question stated at the end of today’s gospel: “Who is this who
even forgives sins?”
As Father Dennis said Tuesday morning - women were second
class and backroom people. Here was this woman becoming center stage?
It’s a great story that would trigger lots of questions.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells a parable about two people
in debt - one owing 500 days wages and the other owing 50 days wages.
Commentators say that people in Palestine at the time of Jesus had big time
debt problems. Where would they get information to say that. In the Judean War
of A.D. 66-73 rebels got into the debt archives and burnt the debt records.
I hear these candidates for president saying they will
cancel student college debts. What would
that be like?
Have we ever been in debt? What was that like?
Have we ever been forgiven big time for some big mistake
we made? Have you ever been near a confession and we heard some person go,
“Phew! Wow!”
CONCLUSION
So that’s my homily and my idea for a homily thought.
Read today’s readings again and pick out one good
question that hits you.
Like: who am I more like, Simon or the woman who washed
and anointed Jesus’ feet?
Or take the first
reading for today. It says, “Do not neglect the gift you have?” What would be the most important gift I have
and on a scale of 1 to 10, how well do I
use it? Amen.
