Gazing on the Gospels: Year B

By Judith Dimond

'Gaze on him . . . Consider him . . . Contemplate him . . . As you desire to imitate him.'

This advice from St Clare of Assisi is the key to unlocking the door to the heart of Jesus' teaching. Her words provide a pattern of meditation that brings alive the Gospel reading for every Sunday of the Revised Common Lectionary.

'At every point the author persuades the reader that the Gospel readings really are relevant to our contemporary lives . . . she offers many images that will help congregations and preachers alike . . . For its sheer poetry and imagination, Judith Dimond's Gazing on the Gospels . . . is well worth buying'. Robin Gill, in Outlook

• Language: English
• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Release date: May 16, 2024
• ISBN: 9780281090785

Judith Dimond

JUDITH DIMOND is a published poet who has been shortlisted for the Canterbury Festival. She is a lay member of St Martin's and St Paul's Church in Canterbury and is a Ministerial Reviewer and a member of the Discernment Panel.

Book preview

Judith Dimond is a lay member of St Martin’s and St Paul’s Church in Canterbury, and a Companion of St Francis. Retired now from managerial roles in the public and voluntary sector, she divides her time between writing poetry and her family life. This centres around her daughters, two lively grandchildren, and a large extended family. She lives with her husband in what was once a pub, and together they enjoy exploring the coasts of Kent and Northern France.

To my mother for her ninetieth birthday, 31 July 2008

GAZING ON

THE GOSPELS

YEAR B

Meditations on the lectionary readings

Judith Dimond

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Advent

Christmas

Epiphany

Ordinary Time

Lent

Easter

Ordinary Time

Sundays before Advent

Acknowledgements

My thanks must be expressed to Revd Canon Paul Cox, for his wise counsel and encouragement; to the Franciscan Brothers of Hilfield Friary, whose hospitality gave me the peace in which to complete this book; and to Keith, whose love is always there.

Introduction

Gaze on him

Consider him

Contemplate him

As you desire to imitate him

I came across these words some years ago in a small but brilliant book called Praying in the Franciscan Spirit by Sister Frances Teresa

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(Kevin Mayhew 1999), and immediately they leapt out of the page at me. Later I found out that they come from Clare of Assisi’s second letter to Agnes of Prague. In this, and in Clare’s other writings, she expands on her thoughts about how we should gaze into Christ as into a mirror.

For me, I’d at last found the key to unlock the door to Scripture. Here was a template to use whenever I read the Bible. Particularly here was a method I could use to prepare myself for Sunday, a way of being with the gospel not only when in church, but while I had my afternoon walk, or was preparing supper, or driving the car. On weeks when for whatever reason I missed the preparation, it worked just as well doing it after I’d heard the sermon.

And so I began using this format to meditate on the gospel reading week by week, taking an hour or so to gaze, consider and contemplate. And as the weeks went by the collection grew into a complete year’s cycle, which I share with you now.

Your reactions may be quite different to mine on reading these passages. That’s fine. But I offer these to you as a place to start, in the hope that you too will find this way a useful one, in a busy life, to live the gospel in your week. Below, I outline how I went about using these four admonitions.

Gaze on him

With all your senses. Use your eyes to picture the scene; what is Jesus doing? Who else is about? Are they interested in Jesus or just going about their business? What was the business of the day, before Jesus arrived, and after he’d gone, did they go back to the usual work as if nothing had happened? Imagine the scene for yourself; don’t borrow a picture from your first Children’s Bible.

What can you smell? Fish from the boats by the lake; herbs on the hillside, rosemary for remembrance, thyme, myrrh. Cooking odours from the houses, or stench from the farmyards. In the city – spices, smoke, leather …

What can you hear? Birds in the mountains, goats bleating, shepherds calling? In the town the market criers; in the Temple the priests chanting and families gabbling. And always the low moan of the sick crying, the troubled weeping, and the anxious praying.

What do you feel? Do you dare imagine the touch of Jesus’ hand on yours – his rough hands, worn from years in the workshop? Experience the coarseness of his tunic and cloak, the stony path, the grit in your open shoes; the dryness of the bread broken on the hillside, shared with the five thousand; the grain of the wood of the walking sticks needed to help you over the mountain tracks.

What do you taste – the bread and the fish, the daily diet? The dust in your mouth from sand storms. The cool water poured from the well, the sharpness of olives, the sweetness of honey, the bitter spices and sour lemons: all strong tastes that make you feel alive and invigorated. And once, the bite of wine, poured for you.

Gaze on ancient scenes and episodes straight from these stories; but also gaze on the world today, and try to find the connections that bring these stories fresh meaning.

Consider him

With your mind, and use your intellect. Ponder the story carefully; try to understand what came before, what comes after, why this story came about. And why it was preserved – why did the Apostles believe we needed this particular episode set down? What did they want to teach us by it?

After reading the whole passage, let your mind settle on the one piece that speaks to you today. Examine it closely. What words leap out as if written with you in mind? Which passage do your eyes avoid, for that might be the very part you need to return to. Perhaps you just don’t understand – then try to find out the meaning. Maybe those words challenge you, and leave you with a discomfort that nudges you on.

Consider what a modern version of this story might be. Who are today’s villains? Today’s Pharisees? Today’s sinners? Where are the poor and needy today?

Contemplate him

Try to stop thinking for a while. Try to listen and dwell on these words in your heart. Contemplate Jesus talking directly to you in this passage. Let your heart take you deep into its meaning. What do you hear Jesus say to you? How can this help to build up your faith and trust?

It is right that this section has the fewest words.

As you desire to imitate him

‘Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God’ (Ephesians 5.1).

Think how children grow up like their parents. Though distinct and unique in their humanity, unconsciously they share the same mannerisms, their tone of voice, their handwriting and their expressions. How often have you met someone and said, ‘Of course you’re Mary’s daughter, I’d have known that laugh anywhere.’ Surely that is because we have lived so intimately with our parents that unconsciously we inherit their ways. And daughters always face the prospect of turning into their mothers!

And that is what we strive for with God in Jesus – to live so intimately with his word and teaching, to be so close to him in prayer, that we become like him more and more as our lives progress.

God made us in his image; our task as Christians is to remake that image which has been broken by sin, so that we do become again our parent’s child in every way, and easily recognized as his disciple.

Let these words seep into you through prayer and really affect your daily behaviour. Pray that you may align your will to God’s as set out in this passage.

ADVENT

The First Sunday of Advent

Mark 13.24–37

Gaze on Jesus talking to the disciples. Has he set out deliberately to frighten them? They’ve left the Temple and Jesus will never return there. They are sitting on the Mount of Olives now; it is a tranquil place overlooking the bustle of Jerusalem spread below. And yet his images are all of disaster. He paints a picture of the natural world in crisis, where creation will be in turmoil.

Gaze on your television news at the pictures of tsunamis, earthquakes, and of erupting volcanoes. Listen to the witnesses giving their descriptions of the events. You can feel their fear and share their trembling. For they will never take life for granted again. They know the secret at the core of existence, that everything can be uprooted in a