Week 19 Sunday (Year C)

Readings: Wisdom18:6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48

‘Nothing is impossible to God’ is a statement we hear so often in the liturgy that it might have become a bit cliched. Besides that, there are still many things for which we pray that do not happen. And there are many things which we would prefer did not exist and yet God allows them. So true as it is what difference does it make?

The liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt was a moment in which God visited His people. It must have been experienced by many of them as God bringing about what the impossible. Likewise the conception of Isaac spoken of in the second reading, was a sign of God’s power which helped Abraham to participate as he did in the sacrifice of Isaac. If God had brought new life from a man as good as dead then perhaps God was able even to raise from the dead.

It makes us think of resurrection, specifically the Resurrection of Jesus, which is the foundation stone of our faith. It is an unexpected fulfilment of Abraham’s faith as well as illustrating the principle from which we began: nothing is impossible to God.

The first part of the gospel reading speaks about the resurrected life of the heavenly kingdom, the place where our treasure is to be built up. ‘Our life is hid with Christ in God’, saint Paul says, and we are to think of our life there even more than we think of our life here.

But the second part of the gospel reading is a reminder that this does not mean giving up on life in this world. As servants of the Lord we are to be busy with the tasks the Lord has set for us. God sent angels at the Ascension to remind the disciples that they could not remain forever looking up into the sky. Similarly, the parable of the good servant reminds us of our responsibilities to each other here and now.

It is wonderful to think of our Lord coming, having us sit at table and insisting on serving us. But in the meantime we are to be at the service of our brothers and sisters, have them sit at table, insist on serving them. The more we have received, the more is expected of us. And if at times it seems beyond our ability, we have the assurance of the constant presence with us of God for whom nothing is impossible and whose will for our lives is always and only informed by His love.