TWENTY-EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C

[cappie]

“but they cannot chain up God’s news.” We can find strength, peace, and courage from these words in the Second Letter of Paul to Timothy. We are living in rapidly changing times. Uncertainty can be sensed in the minds, bodies, hearts, and concrete realities of many of us, regardless of our social location and context. Circumstances and situations are unpredictable. For too many, the world itself seems unmoored. Whether it’s the cost of living, finding shelter and housing, a world increasingly driven by Artificial Intelligence, or more significantly, whether one can feel secure about remaining in their community, many in our congregations and the surrounding neighbourhoods are seeking a sense of grounding.

Perhaps our siblings are looking for inspiration, comfort, and compassion that is life-giving and liberating. Our neighbours are seeking embodied signs of concern and love that are not conditioned or chained by the whims of political partisanship, economic performance, or pragmatic considerations And now comes an invitation through our lectionary to remember the words of Paul to Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”

Paul reminds Timothy that Jesus was raised from the dead—a powerful reminder for us as Easter people that death and powers denying human flourishing do not and will not have the last word. Paul does not stop there; he goes on to speak about being anchored to Jesus through the analogy of being chained to him like people restrained in the carceral state. A troubling analogy, and one that speaks powerfully about the strong constraints Paul feels. Paul’s constraints are not limited by scarcity winds of pragmatism, politics, and popularity; instead, Paul is reminding Timothy that he is deeply grounded in the Good News. Paul’s being is shaped, as ours should be, in the word of God that is not chained.

The word of God cannot be chained up It is not bound by any human-based limitation. Rather, the word of God is life-giving and breaks the chains imposed by powers and principalities. It frees us from the policies, practices, and procedures that deny the flourishing of all people. It moves with the Holy Spirit and does so at ground level.

We are called to understand the dynamic power of the unchained word of God to bring forth life-giving possibilities in a chaotic world, during crisis situations and difficult times. It is in being conjoined with the life-giving and liberating word of God that we can bear the burdens of others more fully than we might believe possible.

Today’s Gospel reminds us that those who will be healed, transformed, renewed, and liberated are not just those who are familiar to us. Rather, like the Samaritan, those who are different from us can be equally or more responsive to the unchained word of God. Think about the fact that the Samaritan whom Jesus calls the foreigner is the only person healed from leprosy who recognized Jesus for who he was. The Samaritan is the only one who fully understood the unchained power of Jesus’ healing words and actions. During this time, when so many people considered foreigners and different are experiencing the chains of fear, repression, misunderstanding and oppression, followers of Jesus have a Gospel mandate to accompany the disinherited.

As Pope Leo wrote this week: “Let me state once again that the most important way to help the disadvantaged is to assist them in finding a good job, so that they can lead a more dignified life by developing their abilities and contributing their fair share. … On the other hand, where this is not possible, we cannot risk abandoning others to the fate of lacking the necessities for a dignified life. Consequently, almsgiving remains, for the time being, a necessary means of contact, encounter and empathy with those less fortunate.”