Tuesday of week 29 in Ordinary Time: Ephesians 2:12-22; Psalm 84(85):9-14; Luke 12:36-38

Wednesday of week 29 in Ordinary Time: Ephesians 3:2-12; Isaiah 12; Luke 12:39-48

Through our baptisms, We have been made servants of the gospel by a gift of grace from God who gave it to us by his own power. We, who are less than the least of all the saints have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of proclaiming to each other the infinite treasure of Christ but also of explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed. Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should learn only now, through the Church, - the people of God - how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is, exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him.

There are a number of well known songs referencing today's reading from Ephesians - a sure sign that the passage quoted is of some significance. Today's prayer is one of a set - the other was read in the last two days last week - which frame an explanation between them, of the Mystery of our salvation, and that this Salvation extends to all people, gentile and Jew alike. In the first prayer, Paul prays in thanks for the faithfullness of the Ephesians, and prays that they will be granted the gift of Wisdom and Understanding. Then Chapter 2 and 3 of the letter explain salvation (and it is recommended to read through them in one sitting if you can find time) before we have today's prayer for the gifts of strength to live knowing we are sharing in the divine live of our Lord Jesus.

If then we are to live in harmony and love between Gentile and Jew - today's Gospel might come as a bit of a blunt companion to Paul's letter as Jesus himself is here saying he came to bring division on Earth. For Christians and Jews, the idea of the family - the core unit of our life - be divided against itself is shocking. This is an example of Jesus using deliberately disturbing language to point to a higher truth - other examples are 'if your eye causes you to sin then puck it out' and 'let the dead bury the dead'. And the higher truth is that we must hold nothing - nothing at all - as more important than our relationship with Jesus. If even the family, the most precious thing in our lives, can be sacrificed if needed to follow Jesus, then how much more should we discard the petty jealousies, evasions, habits and hypocrisies in order to follow Him!

Following from the preceding chapters in which Paul urges the need to build one church of unity from among the Gentiles and Jews, and the subsequent prayer, he now moves into a section in which he re-emphasises the need for unity - one body - see also 1 Corinthians 12:12 "just as the body, with its many parts, is one body"...

Pope Francis also takes this as his theme in much that he writes - Fratelli Tutti - "On Fraternity and Social Friendship" - being the most recent. He gives us timely warnings to beware of tribalism - that human tendency to easily mis-trust those who are 'other' in any way, and to watch out for those who are exploiting this to drive their own purposes. Paul saw communities in the early church having the same issues and wrote forcefully against it. And Jesus himself said - 'Father, may they be one as we are one'. (John 17:21). In Today's gospel, Jesus is telling us to use our human senses to discern what is going on around us - and to Judge for ourselves what is right - and most of all, to do what is right even if society is going in the other direction.

One aspect of Luke's Gospel is his optimism! He stresses the positive in all things. For examples - the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and perhaps most of all the prodigal son - all show how God is constantly looking for His children, welcoming them even when they have gone astray.

Today Luke talks of the optimistic care of a tired old barren fig tree - to a farmer not something of any emotional or financial worth and about to be discarded - but the orchard's owner (God) demands another year of feeding, tending, and caring just in case the tree should once more produce fruit. By contrast in Mark and Matthew, the barren fig tree is cursed!

Figs are an astonishing sign of the creativity of God. A particular wasp has to lay her egg in a fig's bud. The eggs hatch, and as the females emerge they collect pollen - in this way cross-pollinating with the fig bud in which she subsequently lays her eggs. There are also specific parasitic wasps that lay eggs inside the larvae of the other wasps having evolved long tubes by which they inject eggs into the larvae deep inside the fruit... Gods creation is rich and varied indeed!