In today’s reflection on the daily mass readings, Fr Richard considers the risks that people have taken because of their faith in God. What are we prepared to risk for him?
Readings for Tuesday of 33rd week of Ordinary Time: 2 Maccabees 6.18-31; Psalm 3.2-3, 4-5, 6-7; Luke 19.1-10
Are you a risk taker? Some people love to take what seem like crazy risks, and enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes with it. It might be racing fast cars, jumping out of aeroplanes, or scaling a sheer rock face with no safety rope. For others, the greatest risk they might take in life is going out of the house on an overcast day without an umbrella!
In our readings today we see people being prepared to take great risks, but also reaping great rewards. Our first reading at mass at the moment is taken from the books of the Maccabees, which tell of how the Jewish people were oppressed by the Seleucid Empire in the second century BC. The Seleucids tried to eradicate the Jewish way of life, and in today’s passage, they try to force Eleazar, an important Jewish scribe, to eat pig’s flesh, which was contrary to Jewish law. He takes the huge risk of refusing, and will not even pretend to do so to save his life. Eleazar is killed for his resistance, but we are told he becomes a great example of courage to his fellow Jews.
In the Gospel Jesus runs the risk of scandal by not only approaching a hated tax collector, but also by going to his house for tea. Zaccheus, meanwhile, risks the nice livelihood he has developed by cheating people of more than they owe when collecting their taxes. And yet both gain a reward: Jesus, in his own words, has rescued a lost soul, while Zaccheus is finally able to live an honest life and is now in a right relationship with God and his community. Jesus is always ready to run the risk of reaching out to us in love, no matter what we have done. Are we prepared to risk everything by responding?
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