5th Sunday in Lent Cycle C 2022 (’01)

Sunday 3rd April 2022 (’01) : 5thSUNinLENT : C

1. Is43·16-21

  • Read IS42:5 – 44.8! Selfpresentation of Yahweh-of-Sinai to TbeExiles in Babylon! prommising a ‘NewExodus’ (modeled on ‘TheFirstExodus-fromEgypt’)!
  • ‘ANewDeed!‘: Has OldRoncalli’s call for ‘Aggiornamento‘ achieved anything?
  • Other than increased authoritarianism, medievalism, rhetoric, &apathy?
  • If the essential ‘Weakness of Yahweh’ is concealed by bullish ‘god-talk?
  • &If boastful ‘YahwehOracles’ are taken as ‘factual’ rather than ‘wishful thinking’?

2. THE PSALM: 125:1-6

  • Read 1IS44 2145.17! What? Yahweh called CyrusTheMede as a ‘NewMoses’?
  • What would equal nowadays, TheRestoration ofYahweh’sPeople from Exile, by the Yahweh-inspired Initative of a ‘pagan’?
  • What if Yahweh’sContemporaryPeople don’t perceive themselves ‘InExile?
  • Which Individuals&Groups in my local church are ‘SufferingExile’?
  • Especially by being denied access to important resources (Which ones, I pray you?)!
  • What rituals are we creating, so as to restore ‘exiles’ to ‘fullness-ofpresence’?

3. PHIL3·8-14

  • ‘KnowingChristJesusMyLord‘ (Compare Archbishop Brady’s Motto)’!

What sorts of ‘knowledge’ do I have, of ChristJesus”‘

Would I regard all else as ‘Loss, Dung, &Refuse’, by comparison?

How am I being encouraged&enabled to ‘ShareHisDeath’?

Am I content that Paul here be understood ‘devotionally’?

‘Knowmg&BeinginChrist’! I mean, mightn’t that be sorta risky?

4 JN8·1-ll

  • What ‘interpretations’ have I been given for this ambivalent narrative?
  • Apart from ‘the woman’, are all the others in the story, men?
  • What other biblical stories are evoked? (Read GEN38! DAN13/Susanna)
  • What is the radical question being posed in this narrative?
  • Why is there such appetite in our world for all kinds of ‘condemnation’?
  • ‘Adultery!: Read DT22! EZEK16! Why 1s ‘TheLawOfMoses’ so harsh?
  • ‘Test!’: How is this happening nowadays? &To whom? &With what effect?
  • In 100 words, how will ‘the woman’ describe ‘the inner&outer’ of it all?

5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?

‘Yeah, I was above this morinin’! the usual givin’-out.’ ‘Drink drugs an’ sex, I s’pose” ‘No, the woman taken in adult’ry!’ ‘What’d he mean be...’ ‘Seems this woman was caught, well, like…’ Like Lady-Somethin’-or-other, I pizzoom!’ ‘Anyway, they put on their crowns an’ gowns, dragged her along th’ side a’ th’ temple tJesus.. ‘ ‘Annoyin’ Him as-perusual!’ ‘An’ said, bold-as-brass, “No shillyshally! Shouldn’t she be crushed wit’ heavy stones...!”..‘ ‘God, them’s some tulips t’ be..‘Accordin’ t’ Moses?” ‘ ‘Nowadays, if y’ go be what y’ hear, thheavystone-brigade ‘d be kep’ busy!’ ‘But that’s what the-man-above said, “Any of yous in th’ gowns, or me-own crowd either, who thinks they’re without sin, take this stone here, ancrush her skull!'” Begod! A great showstopper! like somethin’ th’ oul’ Canon ‘d come up with” Aw y’re right! He was taken from us, but! Just as things was really gointth’ dogs!!

6 RIDDLE  The best prize of all! Heaven? Selfrealisation?

Preferment? Justification?

Refections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie