Snowball Effect
Oct. 25: Wednesday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Because of the way my brain works, while writing “snowball effect,” I remembered my favorite joke in all of Animaniacs. The Warner brothers (and their sister Dot) for some reason find themselves in Hell, and Wakko does this—
Gets me every time.
Anyway, if you know anyone who could use these kinds of delightful insights, don’t forget to share The Amateur Theologian with them.
Reading 1
Rom 6:12-18
Brothers and sisters: Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.
Jesus saved us not by the law, but by his Grace. But obviously this doesn’t mean we should go back to sinning. The Devil wants to win us back, and continues to tempt us. That’s why we have to keep praying and, when we backslide, repenting.
Paul uses the slave/master metaphor to remind us just how dependent we are on God. But we get to choose what we’re going to enslave ourselves to—sin or righteousness.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 124:1b-3, 4-6, 7-8
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Had not the LORD been with us,
let Israel say, had not the LORD been with us–
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive;
When their fury was inflamed against us.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
Blessed be the LORD, who did not leave us
a prey to their teeth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
We were rescued like a bird
from the fowlers' snare;
Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
The Psalmist wants to remind us how fundamental our dependence on God is. Both Noah and Moses were saved from drowning in waters, but even before that, at the beginning of time, God separated the land from the water.1 We literally cannot have a foundation without the land God created.
We’re as helpless as a little bird. The bird doesn’t escape the snare of its own power; someone somehow broke it, allowing the bird to fly free. Just so, we’re allowed to fly free from sin, because Jesus broke the trap.
Alleluia
Mt 24:42a, 44
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Stay awake!
For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The only time we have is now. We shouldn’t put off any good that we can do in this moment.
Gospel
Lk 12:39-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come."
Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?"
And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more."
When Peter asks him to explain a parable, Jesus answers… with a another parable.
The first parable tells us we’re expected to be ready for the final judgement. The second parable tells us that Jesus expects more from some people than others.
The disciples were responsible for spreading God’s message, just like the clergy are today. But once the crowds (or the laity) hear it, they’re expected to not only live it, but pass it on, amongst their friends and family and down through the generations.
No one should relax, but if we’ve received the Gospel, we’ve been entrusted with a responsibility. The stewardship of God’s grace creates a spiritual snowball effect in our souls: the more we unite ourselves to God and live for him, the more disposed we become to receive more from him. And the more we receive, the greater responsibility we have to pass it along.