John is his name. Much to the amazement of everyone present, writing on a tablet, the tongue-tied Zechariah affirmed Elizabeth in announcing that the long-longed-for child is named “John”. Contrary to custom, it was not the name of any relatives, but rather, the name given to the child by the Angel Gabriel who announced his coming. It was a big deal. Immediately, Zechariah’s tongue was freed and people wondered about the child’s future.
Imagine you have a dream to be an entrepreneur who builds a multi-national mega business. You hope that you become wildly well-known and successful. So you go to the bank for a $1 million loan and tell the loan officer your business plan is to take the money and invest it in 1,000 different operating locations all at once, then sit back, and just see how it goes. The banker would probably look at you and say “That’s crazy!” and show you out the door.
Rarely in the Roman Calendar do we get to celebrate a 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Remarkably, it seems that it has been more than 20 years since today’s Gospel (Mk 3:20-35) was proclaimed at a Sunday liturgy. Hopefully you listened carefully, because we can all agree that each word of every Gospel is God’s word spoken to us. It would be a shame to miss something important!
Picture it. Drops of blood falling on your arms, in your face, and in your hair. That’s what happened in today’s First Reading as Moses ritualized the sealing of the covenant between the people of Israel and the Lord. This blood-sealed union between God and the Israelites was messy---in more ways than one as history reveals. But on that day, in response to the commandments and laws offered by the God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites emphatically said YES!—"All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do.” This covenant remains valid, despite the demands of covenant living and human failings.