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Commentary on Luke 18:1-8

One of the attributes attributed to Luke is that his is a “Gospel of Prayer”. We see Jesus praying in this Gospel more than in the others and he gives more teaching about prayer. Urging perseverance, today:

Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

This is very much a theme in Paul’s letters (see Rom 1:9-10; Rom 12:12; Eph 3:13; Eph 6:18; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 5:16-17; 2 Thess 1:11; 2 Thess 3:13; 2 Cor 4:1,16 and Gal 6:9).

The parable features a totally corrupt judge, who fears neither God nor man. It also features a widow, probably the most powerless, the most pitiful and least pitied of people in the society of that time. She has lost her husband, re-marriage is likely out of the question, she has lost the support of her own family and her husband’s family, and there is nothing comparable to social welfare for her to lean on.

As far as a corrupt judge is concerned, she can be ignored. She has neither power nor money (for bribing). But this widow is different—she is persistent and will not give up. Eventually, the judge, for his sheer peace of mind, settles in her favour.

If, Jesus concludes, a corrupt and ruthless judge can be moved by the perseverance of a helpless widow, what kind of response can we expect when we, his people, call out in our helplessness to our loving and compassionate God?

I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

That is, he will give them what is rightfully due to them.

But, says Jesus in a challenge which should make us sit up and take notice:

And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Times of persecution are on the way—they have already begun as this Gospel is written—and some will give up under pressure. They will not persevere in keeping close contact with God in prayer, so as to find him and his peace in the midst of their sufferings.

It is easy to pray when things are going well. It is often in times of pressure that we, too, give up praying when we need it most, when our faith is really being put to the test. We have to pray constantly and consistently. We should not be afraid to ask for what we believe we really need.

But then, if God is such a caring person, why should we have to pray to him at all? We need to keep praying, not for his sake, but for our own. By doing so, we maintain an awareness that:

I can do nothing on my own. (John 5:30)

As well, the more we pray, the closer we come to God. And as we pray, what we ask for will gradually change. Ultimately what we want is what we need. And what we need is to bring our thinking, our dreams, our ambitions totally into line with God’s way of seeing things. The problem is, as Jesus says at the end today, how many people will really be doing that when he comes looking for us?

How often do I pray? How consistently do I ask? What do I ask for? What do I really want? Do I distinguish between what I want and what I really need? And do I really have that faith and trust in the loving providence of my God?

There is another and very different interpretation of this passage. When we read this parable about perseverance, we usually think of it in these terms: God is the judge and we are the widow. This means we should persevere in pestering God until our needs are met.

But what happens if we turn that around and say that we are the judge and God is the widow? In some ways, this interpretation makes more sense. We, like the judge, are basically unjust. Sometimes we, too, have no fear of God; that is, we do not allow God to scare us into being good.

Similarly, like the judge we persist in refusing to listen to the cries of the poor all around us. But God is the persistent widow who will not go away. God keeps badgering us, refusing to accept as final our ‘No’ to love. God will persist until we render a just judgment, that is, until we let the goodness out, until we learn to love.*

In Genesis, we are told we are made in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps our prayer could be:

Dear God, Persevering One, help us to be more like you!

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*This second interpretation of the parable comes from Sister Melanie Svoboda SND, Review for Religious, Sept-Oct 1996.

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Commentary on 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 Read Saturday of Week 21 of Ordinary Time – First Reading »

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Commentary on Matthew 10:7-15

We continue the apostolic discourse of Jesus to his disciples. Jesus now instructs them on what they are to say and do. They are to proclaim that:

The kingdom of heaven [God] has come near.

This, of course, is true because of the presence and work of Jesus. Jesus is himself the very embodiment of the Kingdom, he is the ultimate Kingdom person. The Kingship of God is fully present in him. But it will also be present in the Twelve who will do the same things that Jesus is doing: curing the sick, raising the dead, healing lepers, liberating people from evil spirits. Later, we will see the Apostles doing all these things in the Acts of the Apostles and the Church continues to do these things.

Today, all of us are called to proclaim the kingship, the lordship of God by our words, actions and lifestyle. The Church is still called to bring healing into people’s lives. We may not raise people literally from the dead, but there many who are virtually dead, though physically alive, and who need to be brought back to a fully human life.

Most of our societies today do not have lepers, but we have, in every society, people who are marginalised and pushed out to the fringes. They need to be reintegrated. There may be people in some places who are genuinely in the possession of evil spirits, but there are far more who are in the grip of more mundane demons such as nicotine, alcohol and other drugs, who are caught up in the materialism, consumerism, hedonism and sexism of our time. They too need to be liberated. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done—by each one of us in our own way and in accordance with our gifts and life situation.

Jesus also tells his disciples to travel light. They are not to charge for their service. They are not to find their security in the possession of material things, especially money. To increase their freedom, they should go around with the absolute minimum. In our lives, possessions, and our concern about them, can be very inhibiting.

Of course, what Jesus does expect is that each person working for the Kingdom has his needs looked after by those he serves. This is where his security lies: in being sure of a place to sleep and food to eat. In return, the missionary brings the Lord’s peace to any home that offers hospitality. This is a vision of a society which is hard to find in our own day, although it is lived in varying degrees of commitment by religious in the Catholic Church, and even by some followers of other religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.

St Teresa of Calcutta’s (Mother Teresa) Sisters come pretty close to the Gospel vision, as do the Little Sisters/Brothers of Charles de Foucauld. And that is really the meaning of the second half of today’s passage. St Teresa once said: “I do own things, but they do not own me.” That is where she differed from so many of us.

Jesus expects the missionary to find a place to stay wherever he goes. And, once he finds one, he should stay there; he is not to be moving around looking for more desirable conditions. On the other hand, Jesus has hard words for those who refuse hospitality to his messengers. Shaking the dust from one’s feet was symbolical. The dust of any gentile country was regarded as unclean. By implication, so was the dust of an inhospitable community. Jesus tells them:

…it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

In the Middle East hospitality has always been important. Unfortunately, in our security-conscious urban Western world, it does not flourish. Largely, because of those unnecessary possessions which Jesus would liberate us from.

There are two things for us to reflect on today:

First, where is our security? Are we burdened down by the things we own? Are we owned by them? How free are we to live a fully Christian life as envisioned by the Gospel? How free are we to do the things that Jesus says we should be doing: bringing healing and wholeness into people’s lives?

Secondly, what kind of hospitality do we give to those—whoever they are—who are generously doing the Lord’s work? Or, if they are not Christians, who are doing the work of the Kingdom?

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Commentary on Luke 19:45-48

Luke tells us very briefly of the scene where Jesus, now in Jerusalem, drives the traders from the courts of the Temple. Says Jesus quoting from Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11), respectively:

My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers.

The trading took place in the outer court, also known as the Court of the Gentiles, and, as is not unusual in such situations, prices could be grossly inflated. John speaks of a cleansing at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (2:13-25), but in the other three Gospels it takes place at the end. Two possible explanations have been given. Either there were two cleansings or, more likely, John moved the story to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry for theological reasons. He wanted to show Jesus as Messiah right from the beginning, whereas in the Synoptics, Jesus’ identity as Messiah is only gradually revealed. There are also some differences in the various accounts. John mentions cattle and sheep and that has Jesus use a whip made of cords. Matthew (21:12-17) and Luke seem to indicate that the event took place on what we call Palm Sunday, but for Mark it was on the following day (see Mark 11:15-17).

Those coming to the Temple needed to buy animals for the sacrifices and they needed to change their Roman coins into acceptable Jewish currency (shekels) to make their contributions to the Temple. Jesus had no problem about that. What he objected to was that this business was being carried on inside God’s house when it could just as well have been done outside.

We all know how street traders try to get as close to the action as they can. However, there may be hints that priests in the Temple connived at this business and hence would certainly have profited from it as well. But Jesus (and probably others as well) felt that such business was not appropriate in a place dedicated to the worship of God.

It would be hard for us to imagine hawkers being allowed to set up stalls inside our churches, although where Sunday papers are still sold, the vendors still do try to get pretty close to the church doors.

Not surprisingly, the chief priests and the scribes—especially those who might have been involved in what must have been a lucrative business—were plotting how to get rid of Jesus who was upstaging their authority and accusing them of hypocrisy, greed and corruption. The chief priests, as members of the ruling Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, wielded great authority. But it was not going to be easy as the ordinary people continued to flock to Jesus and, as Luke tells us:

…all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

Jesus is an example of the true prophet. He speaks as a messenger of God and is indeed God’s own Son. He stands as a counter-witness to all that is against truth, love and justice. As such, he inevitably incurs the anger and hostility of those who have power, power based on falsehood, on self-interest, corruption and injustice.

Our Church, in its communities and through individuals, is called on to continue that mission of counter-witness. It will win us the support and admiration of some, but also hostility, anger and perhaps even the violence of others. This is something we should not at all be surprised at, nor something we should try to avoid. Our only concern must be always to speak the truth in love. God will take care of the rest. Because, ultimately, truth, love and justice will prevail.

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Read Friday of week 9 of Ordinary Time – First Reading »

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Commentary on Matthew 8:18-22

There are times when Jesus goes out of his way to meet the crowds. On one occasion we are told he was filled with compassion because he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. But today, he gives orders to cross the lake apparently to avoid the crowds pressing in on him.

The crowds represent two kinds of people: those in real need of teaching and healing, and those who are simply driven by a kind of curiosity for the unusual. Jesus is not particularly interested in the second kind; they represent a false interest in Jesus. For them he is just a sensation, a wonder-worker—‘Jesus Christ Superstar’.

Similarly, when a scribe approaches Jesus and says, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go”, it seems like a generous offer, but Jesus reminds the man of just what that may entail:

Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

To follow Jesus means, like him, to be ready to have nothing of one’s own. As Jesus said earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, we cannot at the same time serve two masters. To be with Jesus is to accept a situation where we may have nothing in the way of material possessions—our security will be elsewhere.

We do not know whether the scribe took up the challenge or not, and It does not really matter. Jesus’ words are recorded mainly for us to hear them. What do I think when I hear them? Have I made the choice between having Jesus and having things? Or do I think I can have both? Do I want to have both?

Another person, described as being already a disciple, asks for permission to go and bury his father first before following Jesus. It seems a fairly reasonable request and Jesus’ reply sounds rather harsh as both the Jewish and Hellenistic world regarded this as a filial obligation of the highest importance:

Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.

There are two ways we can understand this reply. In one case, the man is asking to postpone his following of Jesus until his father dies and he can bury him. But to follow Jesus is to enter a new family with a new set of obligations. It is not that the man should not honour his father, but in the meantime, there are other things of much greater importance that need to be done. In the new family, of which his father is just one member, there are more pressing obligations. It is another way of Jesus letting us know that our following of him has to be unconditional. We cannot say, “I will follow you if…” or “I will follow you when I am ready.” When he calls we have, like the first disciples, to be ready to drop our nets, our boats and even our family members.

A second way of understanding Jesus’ words is to see his call as a call to a way of life. Those who want to go their own self-seeking ways belong to the spiritually dead. Leave the burial of the dead to them. The rituals of society, including burial, have their place, an important place. But for Jesus, the call to the Kingdom represents a commitment to a more important set of values.

We must put all these statements in their context. They make clear that following Jesus involves a radical commitment, but it does not mean that we act in ways that are inhumane or unreasonable. Soon after Peter and Andrew had abandoned their boats and their nets to follow Jesus, we find Jesus in their house tending to their mother-in-law who had fallen sick (Mark 1:29-31).

While there was a time in the past when some religious sisters were not allowed to attend a family funeral, that has now changed—and rightly so. At the same time, the call of Jesus still involves a total commitment.

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Commentary on Luke 6:20-26

Today we begin what is known as Luke’s ‘Sermon on the Plain’ which more or less parallels Matthew’s ‘Sermon on the Mount’. Luke’s is much shorter, but both begin with the Beatitudes and end with the parable of the house builders. Some of what is found in Matthew’s Sermon is found elsewhere in Luke, because Matthew’s Sermon consists of disparate sayings of Jesus gathered into one place. Luke also omits Matthew’s specifically Jewish material which would not have been relevant to his gentile readers.

Luke’s Sermon can be summarised as follows:

• An introduction of blessings and woes (vv 20-26)
• The love of one’s enemies (vv 27-36)
• The demands of loving one’s neighbour (vv 37-42)
• Good deeds as proof of one’s goodness (vv 43-45)
• A parable on listening to and acting on the words of Jesus (vv 46-49)

Similar to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, Luke begins the Sermon on the Plain with his version of the Beatitudes. But there are striking differences. Whereas Matthew has eight (some would say seven) Beatitudes, Luke has four “Blesseds” and four contrasting “Woes”. As is typical of his uncompromising style when it comes to following Jesus, the language of Luke is much more direct and hard-hitting, and it may well be closer to what Jesus actually said.

Matthew’s Beatitudes propose a set of attitudes which reflect the spirit of the Kingdom—qualities to be found in the truly Christian and human life. Luke, on the other hand, speaks of material conditions in this life which will be overturned. Later in this Gospel, this is illustrated graphically in the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-30).

Luke also has Jesus speak in the second person: “Blessed are you” and “Woe to you” rather than in the third person as Matthew does (“Blessed are those who…”). Nor does he speak of the “poor in spirit” but of “you who are poor”, and he certainly means the materially poor.

He goes on to say how blessed too are:

…you who are hungry”… you who weep…you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.

Undoubtedly Matthew’s Beatitudes can be read to consider just spiritual poverty and a hunger for righteousness, which in fact are also a form of real poverty and real hunger, but Luke is a Gospel for the materially poor and distressed and we must be careful not to turn our focus away from them. That is why he has Jesus born in poverty and dying naked and destitute (of even his ‘friends’).

Jesus tells those who are poor and hungry and abused to:

…Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

And this is the way Jesus the Prophet will also be treated.

In a first read, it seems like a classical example of religion as the ‘opium of the people’: Be happy that you are having such a hard time now because there is a wonderful future waiting for you in the next world (as was mockingly described by the atheist Karl Marx).

The second part is not likely to go down well in our contemporary developed world:

• But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
• Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
• Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. oe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

How are we to understand these sayings which turn our common worldview upside down? I think they have to be seen in the light of the Kingdom, in the kind of society that Jesus came to set up, a society based on mutual love and sharing and support. A Kingdom for this world and not just the next. The coming of such a society could only be good news for the poor and destitute (material and otherwise), for those suffering from hunger (physical and otherwise), for those depressed by deep sorrow and for those abused and rejected for their commitment to Jesus and his Way.

On the other hand it would not be good news for those self-focused people who amass material wealth at the expense of others, who indulge in excessive consumption of the world’s goods, who live lives centred on personal hedonism and pleasure, and who feed off the envy and adulation of those around them. They are really not part that Kingdom. To enter fully into the Kingdom they have to unload all these concerns and obsessions and let go. Instead of focusing on what they can get, they will focus on what they can share of what they have.

A clear example is of the rich young man in the Gospel. How rich he was—and yet how sad he was! Compare him with Zacchaeus, whom we will be meeting later on.

Boo

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Commentary on Luke 12:13-21

We move on now in Luke to more immediate concerns of the Christian life. Today’s topic is about the perennial question of money, or rather, the love of money. A man in the crowd said to Jesus:

Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.

According to Mosaic Law, the general rule was that an elder son received double that of a younger son. If there was a dispute, it was usually settled by a rabbi, which is presumably why the man approached Jesus. It was the kind of problem in which Jesus was not remotely interested, and he refused to get involved. One wonders how interested Jesus is when we make novenas to win lotteries or when we ask God to help us get our hands on the wealth of a rich and elderly aunt!!

Jesus now takes the opportunity to make some general remarks “against all kinds of greed”. A man may be wealthy, he says, but his possessions do not guarantee him life. Life comes with freedom, peace and happiness. Money cannot buy these things.

There is no evidence that rich people enjoy more freedom, peace or happiness, although many of us are inclined to think they do and envy them. Their marriages do not last any longer. They do not bring up better children. They do not necessarily enjoy better health.

At this point Jesus speaks a telling parable. A farmer who is already rich has a bumper harvest. It is so big that he has to pull down his existing barns to build larger ones. When all that is done, he smugly says to himself: “My boy, you have blessings in reserve for years to come. Relax! Put your feet up. Eat heartily, drink well. Enjoy yourself.” But, Jesus tells them, that very night:

God said to him [i.e. the farmer], ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you’.

What happens now to all his piled-up wealth? Yes, it is all left behind. “You can’t take it with you.” “How much did he leave?” was asked about a billionaire who died. “Every cent,” was the reply. When the farmer met his God, what had he brought with him? Little or nothing. When St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) died, how much do you think she brought? One feels she brought a great deal. And she certainly left behind a great deal to enrich the lives of many.

What is my attitude to money and wealth? If I were to die now, what could I bring with me to present to God? And what will I leave behind, apart from cash and possessions? All of us can be rich in God’s sight, and it does not require any money. Someone has said that the really rich are not those who have the most, but those whose needs are the least (see Luke 12:22-34, where Jesus spells out a recipe for a life free from anxiety…the life which he himself lived).

And what we need most is the ability to reach out in love, the love that builds and makes life better for others. Think of what good parents leave behind in children whose lives are dedicated to making this world a better place—or teachers who have helped young people to devote themselves to service of the community. What we need is to live in communities where people look after each other. A situation where, because everyone gives, everyone gets.

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Commentary on 1 John 4:19—5:4

Once again John emphasises the inseparable link between loving God and loving our sisters and brothers. We are to love because God loves first. Because of his love, the only response we can give is to return his love and pass it on. God’s love for us does not depend on our first loving him. Our love is always a response; it is never our initiative. But then our love for God is primarily shown by our loving those around us. John writes:

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

It is so easy to love an invisible God. But it can be very difficult at times to love a very visible sister or brother. It is so easy to appear pious, devotional, even ‘holy’, spending long hours in front of Jesus in the tabernacle and in other religious activities, and yet living in very poor relationships with certain people.

The Letter puts it very simply:

…those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

John puts it another way by saying:

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.

At the time this Letter was written, families were very closely-knit units under the headship of a father. So, in the same way, anyone who loves God our Father will naturally love all God’s children who are, of course, in a very real way our brothers and sisters. We must love every single child to whom our loving God has given life. I cannot refuse to love someone that God loves and for whom he sent his Son to die on a cross.

Again he repeats what he has already said:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

We love God by keeping his commandments, and earlier he has made it clear what those commandments are:

And these commands are not burdensome. This is not because they are always easy to carry out fully, but because we live in the strength of the Spirit and because they are in total conformity with our nature made in the likeness of God. There is nothing artificial or arbitrary about them. To observe them is to become more and more what we are meant to be—living in the image of our Creator God. The reading concludes:

And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.

It is by doing this that we will “conquer” the world of sin and of self-centred greed and hate. It is only this faith and love which can bring healing and wholeness into people’s lives.

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Commentary on Hebrews 9:2-3, 11-14 Read Saturday of Week 2 of Ordinary Time – First Reading »