Word Wide Open: The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Reading (Genesis 18:20-32)

In those days, the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,
and their sin so grave,
that I must go down and see whether or not their actions
fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. 
I mean to find out."

While Abraham's visitors walked on farther toward Sodom,
the LORD remained standing before Abraham. 
Then Abraham drew nearer and said:
"Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty? 
Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city;
would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it
for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it? 
Far be it from you to do such a thing,
to make the innocent die with the guilty
so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike! 
Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?" 
The LORD replied,
"If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom,
I will spare the whole place for their sake." 
Abraham spoke up again:
"See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord,
though I am but dust and ashes! 
What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? 
Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?" 
He answered, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
But Abraham persisted, saying "What if only forty are found there?" 
He replied, "I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty." 
Then Abraham said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. 
What if only thirty are found there?" 
He replied, "I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there." 
Still Abraham went on,
"Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord,
what if there are no more than twenty?" 
The LORD answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty."
But he still persisted:
"Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. 
What if there are at least ten there?" 
He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it."

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? Is the God of the Old Testament different from the God of the New Testament? What does this reading reveal about God's mercy?


Second Reading (Colossians 2:12-14)

Brothers and sisters:
You were buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through faith in the power of God,
who raised him from the dead.
And even when you were dead
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he brought you to life along with him,
having forgiven us all our transgressions;
 obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,
which was opposed to us,
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? How are we buried with Christ in Baptism? What is the bond against us?

Gospel (Luke 11:1-13)

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
"Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."
He said to them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,'
and he says in reply from within,
'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.'
I tell you,
if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

"And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? Why do people often find prayer difficult?  What is Jesus' point about persistence? How are we supposed to ask God for things?