Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014 - You know a great deal about Jesus, but do you really know him? When did you last meet him personally?
To read the texts click on the texts: Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; Lk 9:7-9
This text (9,7-9) forms the meat of the sandwich formed by the
sending out of the Twelve (9:1-6) and their return (9: 10-17). In a sandwich
construction, an event is begun, interrupted by another event and the first
event is continued and completed. In this instance, the disciples are sent on
mission (9:1-6), the return is interrupted by the question of Herod (9:7-9) and
the event of the sending out of the disciples is continued and completed by
their return (9:10-17). In such a construction, the first and the third events
throw light on the event in the middle or the meat of the sandwich. The first and
third events narrate the sending and successful return, and it is in this light
that the question of Herod, “Who is this?” which is the second event or in the
centre, must be read.
Herod’s desire to see Jesus foreshadows coming events.
When Herod did meet Jesus, his desire to see Jesus was fulfilled, but he wanted
only to see Jesus perform a sign. He never really grasped the answer to his own
question. Though John the Baptist has been beheaded and Jesus will also be
killed, yet the violence of the wicked will be no match for God’s grace. The
success of the disciples’ in mission is only a shadow of the success that Jesus
will experience in mission.
The intention behind wanting to meet Jesus is extremely
important. If one’s approach is curiosity that will be the level at which one
will see him. If one’s approach is faith, then one will encounter him as he is.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - What does mission mean for you today? How and where will you proclaim it?
To read the texts click on the texts: Prov 30:5-9; Lk 9:1-6
This passage may be seen as the culmination of the entire
section Lk. 7:1 – 8:56. In this section, we were shown the nature of Jesus’
Kingdom mission. The Twelve now share in that same mission. These verses
may be termed as the Mission Discourse according to Luke.
Though Luke has taken
much material from the Mission Discourse of Mark (see Mk. 6:6b-13), he has also
made changes, which bring out his meaning of mission more clearly. Before Jesus
instructs his disciples on how they must go about their mission, he gives them
not only authority as in Mark, but power and authority. This power and authority
is given not only over the unclean spirits as in Mark, but over all demons and
to cure diseases. Only in Luke are they also sent to “preach the Kingdom of
God”. This indicates that for Luke, mission is inclusive and includes both
doing as well as saying, both action as well as word.
Besides power and authority, Jesus also gives the disciples a
strategy for mission. This may be summed up as detachment from things (take
nothing for your journey), persons (stay there and from there depart) and from
events (and wherever they do not receive you, when you leave shake off the dust
from your feet). Dependence ought to be only on the Providence of God.
The
rejection shown Jesus is also in store for those sent by Jesus. The last verse
in today’s text, underscores the disciples’ obedience to the commands of Jesus
by reiterating the principal features of mission: preaching the good news and
healing the sick. That mission is universal is made clear in the last word,
“everywhere”.
As missionaries today, we are called to continue to the Mission
inaugurated by Jesus and put into motion by his first disciples. It is a
mission, which includes every aspect of life and involves all persons. This
means that we are called not to be part-time missionaries or disciples, but on
mission always and everywhere.
Monday, 22 September 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - Would Jesus point to you as a member of his family? Why?
To read the texts click on the texts: Prov 21:1-6,10-13; Lk 8:19-21
Though this text, which concerns the mother and brothers of
Jesus, is found also in Mark 3:21-22 and 3:31-35 and Matthew 12,46-50, Luke
narrates it quite differently from both. In Mark 3:33 and Matthew 12:48 Jesus
asks who his mother and brothers are.
In Luke, however, Jesus does not ask this
question, but says simply when told that his mother and brothers desire to see
him, that his mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
Luke thus gives a positive thrust to the scene unlike Mark and Matthew.
It
might be said that while in Mark and Matthew Jesus seems to reject his physical
family and choose instead the crowd (so Mark) or his disciples (so Matthew), in
Luke he does not do so. This means that though family relations with Jesus are
not based on physical relations but on the word of God, his physical family
does indeed hear the word of God and acts on it.
We might possess the name Christian because of our baptism, but
this does not necessarily mean that we belong to the family of Jesus. In order
to belong what is also necessary is putting into action what Jesus has taught.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014 - What is the Good News according to you? Will you share it with others today? How?
To read the texts click on the texts: Prov 3:27-34; Lk 8:16-18
These verses in Luke are a commentary on the Parable of the
Sower, which in Luke appears in 8,5-8. Just as a farmer sows the seed so that
all of it may bear fruit, so also a lamp is lit so that it may give light. Like
seed is sown not to be trampled on, eaten by birds, to wither or to be chocked,
so a lamp is lit not to be hid under a jar or under a bed.
Knowledge of the
kingdom is not esoteric or secret, reserved for a particular group alone, but
must be made known to all. It is knowledge, which must be shared openly with
others. It is indeed the Good News, since it is a communication of love, and
therefore it must not only be heard, but also experienced. By adding, “Then pay
attention to how you listen”, the Lucan Jesus reminds listeners that they can
choose and control how they will listen to the word of God. A total openness to
the word of God results in an appropriate response to it.
Hearing is an active process. It calls for a commitment. Those
who are open to that word are like a lamp, which gives light to all. An
attentive hearing of the word of God can result in the transformation of one’s
life and the living out of that word can lead to transformation in the lives of
others.
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Sunday, September 21, 2014 - Twenty-fifth Sunday of the year - Writing crooked on straight lines
To read the texts click on the texts: Is. 55:6-9;Phil 1:20-24; 27; Mt 20:1-14
After reading the title above you
would be forgiven if you think I made a mistake and especially if you know the
regular phrase which is: God writes straight on crooked lines, While God can
surely write straight on crooked lines, he also sometimes writes crooked on
straight lines.
Three years ago after the Gospel
of today had been read I invited eight children to come and stand near the
altar in full view of each other and the congregation. I had a bag of chocolates with me and I began
the distribution. To the first child I gave three and to each of the other
seven one each. Each of the seven after looking into the hand of the first
child kept waiting at the altar quite sure that the drama was not quite over.
When I asked them to go back to their pews they looked at me with some
confusion. The only child on whose face there was a broad smile was the one in
whose hand I had put three chocolates. Even as they were returning, one child
looked back at me in something like anger and even some disgust and asked as
only children can: “Why you gave him three?”
The last verse from the first
reading of today explains even if inadequately why the first child was given
three. It was go drive home a point, to communicate a message. God’s ways are
surely not our ways and no matter how hard we may try, they cannot be
understood with our finite minds. “As high as the heaven s are above the earth,
so high are my ways above your ways” (Is 55:9). The context in Isaiah seems to
be the questioning of the people of the prophetic message of Isaiah. The people
were finding it difficult to understand how God could use a Gentile, Cyrus, the
Persian king to free them from bondage and move them to freedom. They thus
began to question the ways of God since they did not fit in with what they
expected God to do for them. They were not able to comprehend that God
sometimes writes crooked on straight lines. He turns logic on its head and
sometimes even our world upside down.
A classic example of how God does
this is narrated in the Gospel text; the parable found only in the Gospel of
Matthew and sometimes called the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.
However, the focus is not so much on the workers but on the owner of the
vineyard and his seemingly unjust and illogical actions. The parable makes
three striking points. The first of these is that while the earlier four groups
are simply told to go to the vineyard, it is only the labourers hired at the
eleventh hour who are asked why they have been standing idle all day. The
reason for this seems to be, to bring out through their response that they have
not been considered worthy of being hired. They are the rejected, the unworthy,
the undesirable. However, despite their unworthiness, these too are given the
same invitation as the earlier groups. The second point is the manner in which
the workers are paid. The ones hired last are paid first. This prepares for the
objection of the ones hired earlier and for the response of the master. The
response of the master to the objection by the labourers that a great injustice
was done to them is the third striking point. The distancing term “friend”
(which Jesus uses in the garden of Gethsemane when addressing Judas the
betrayer in 26:50) used here sets the tone for the response of the master.
Since the master has kept to the terms of the contract agreed upon, no
injustice has been done and it is the master who decides that the last must be
treated in the same way as the first. There is here a distinct note of grace.
Though the last ones did not deserve what they got, they were given it because
of the graciousness of the master. Only in the realm of grace upon which the
kingdom proclaimed by Jesus is based, it is wrong to set one’s mind on the
rewards that will set one on a higher level than others.
The fundamental assertion of the
parable is that God’s grace is granted also to those who come last. Even those
who come in the eleventh hour, the unwanted and the unworthy, will receive the
same reward to be given to those who have come before. When we tend to despise
those whom we consider unworthy either because of their manner of life or their
way of proceeding which may not fit in with ours, we need to keep this in mind.
When we consider ourselves as superior as or holier than others we need to
remember that if not for God’s grace we could never be worthy to receive any of
his blessings and it is only grace that makes us worthy.
The parable summons us to believe
that God’s justice played out in this world is not limited by human conceptions
of strict mathematical judgment, by which reward is in proportion to effort or
merit. As a matter of fact, grace cannot be earned by even the most strenuous
effort. Mercy and goodness are not opposed to justice, but they challenge us,
as they did the workers in the parable, to move beyond justice. God’s ways are
not human ways. God indeed does write crooked on straight lines.
Friday, 19 September 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014 - Do you sometimes act as the “General Manager of the Universe”? Will you resign from that position today?
To read the texts click on the texts: 1 Cor 15:35-37,42-49; Lk 8:4-15
The text of today combines both the Parable of the Sower (8:5-8) and the allegory (8:11-15) {in an allegory, every element in the story is
given a meaning. So, the seed is regarded as the word of God, those along the
path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word
from their hearts, so that they may not believe an be saved, and so on}.
Though
it is true that the Sower disappears from the scene after he is first
mentioned, and the seed takes centre stage, the parable is really one of
contrast between the beginning and the middle, and the end. Thus, the Sower
(whom the end will affect) is still an important figure in the parable. Since
many have confused the allegory with the Parable, the meaning of the parable
may have been missed. In this reflection we will focus on the Parable.
The farmer would sow along “the path”, because according to
research done on the agricultural practices in Palestine
To human eyes much of the labour seems
futile and fruitless, resulting in repeated failure, but Jesus is full of
joyful confidence; he knows that God has made a beginning, bringing with it a harvest of reward beyond all asking or conceiving. In spite of every failure
and opposition, from hopeless beginnings, God brings forth the triumphant end,
which he has promised.
Do I usually focus more on the reaping than on the sowing? Do I
focus more on the result than on the action? Do I focus more on the future than
on the present?
How do I react when most of my effort seems to be in vain? Do I
throw up my hands in despair? Do I give up? Do I get despondent? Or do I carry
on despite all odds? Do I continue to persevere? Do I keep on keeping on?
How attached am I to the result of my action? Can I plunge into
the din of battle and leave my heart at the feet of the Lord?
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