Sunday’s readings celebrate John the Baptist and the sanctity of his life. They speak much of wombs; “The Lord called me…from my mother’s womb.” The Lord “formed me as his servant from the womb.” “(Y)ou knit me in my mother’s womb.” “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant (John) leaped in her womb.” It…
Sunday’s first reading uses a dominating tree to symbolize their God, Yahweh. The tree represents Yahweh’s protected empire and the submission all will pay to the deity, “Every tree of the field will know that I am the Lord.” Jesus has no interest in empires, their borders, or their violent warlords who protect and…