Abram believes a deity has given him “land as a possession.” Paul believes his deity does not desire “minds occupied with earthly things,” rather, our “citizenship is in heaven.” After witnessing Jesus’ glowing Transfiguration, Peter desires possession of both, land on earth for shrines to heaven, “let us make three tents, one for you,…
In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me without hating father and mother…they cannot be my disciple.” Jesus is undoing the esteem given to worldly position. Unfortunately, Paul, in the second reading, reasserts such esteem. Paul thus reassert patriarchy and slavery. Patriarchy is fatherly possessiveness over a lesser, for example a child…
Possession is of central importance in this Sunday’s Gospel. Jesus heals a possessed man and people are astonished at his authority to do so. Commentators on this and other Gospel stories of possession sometimes alter or dismiss the possession element. They suggest possession is a misunderstanding of mental illness. However, possession may in fact…