The Oven

Aug 20

I’ve been reflecting on the Gospel reading from last Sunday, where Jesus says, “I’ve come to set the earth on fire.” In meditation, I first imagined a blazing fire, but while researching this passage, I found a new image. Scripture scholar John Pilch indicates that the word “earth” in this passage could be translated as “earth-oven.” These are the very common mud and clay stoves used in Jesus’ time. In my prayer, I began to imagine Jesus’ ministry as the “big oven.”

Ovens are instruments of permanent transformation. If you’ve ever baked something, you know this to be true. For example, think of your favorite brownies. You mix the ingredients together, bake them in the oven, and no matter how hard you try, you cannot turn the finished brownies back into the ingredients. Permanent transformation. Is this the work of the Lord, as the big oven? A no taking back conversion?

Even though brownies are a great image for permanent transformation, the slow work of conversion reminds me more of ribs. When I cook ribs, I put them in the oven for 9 hours. It takes that long to make them tender. You cannot rush them. As St. Francis de Sales writes, the conversion of our hearts usually takes years and years. Most do not have moments of conversion like St. Paul. Instead, the ovenish love of God continues tenderly decade after decade.

This image has brought comfort to me this week as I encounter and engage in the daily oven moments of my vocation. Luckily for us, we don’t have to seek out these moments because they are already present when we live our vocation faithfully. In the tender heat of the big oven, Christ is present, Christ is here, Christ is living.

May God be Praised