NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B – 10th / 11th August, 2024

There are other times when we are challenged to change our way of thinking and to accept what seems to make extraordinary demands on us. A new way of understanding church may call us to be open to the cultural diversity within the community. Or it might claim that we have a responsibility toward the poor and homeless in our midst. New biblical insights make us question our familiar understanding of God or of Jesus or of ourselves. We want evidence to substantiate these radical new claims. But the evidence that Jesus offered could only be accepted in faith. And so it is with us. When we ask God for some kind of sign that will assure us that this new challenge is really what God wants, the answers received must themselves be accepted and understood in faith. The only assurance we have is rooted in faith, and those who are not open in faith will not understand. God does indeed ask a great deal from us.