This coming weekend is the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In yesterday’s posts we laid some groundwork to a better understanding of the parables as we looked at Luke’s use of the verbal pair “lost and found.” The opening verses of the Sunday readings emphasizes Jesus’ ministry to the “lost” – both those considered lost by the religious leadership, and the “lost” pointing to the covenant people of Israel as a whole. Continue reading
The first reading is from Paul’s “1st Letter to the Corinthians.” The entirety of the Letter is an admonition to the community. As described in Acts 8, Paul had been with the Corinth community for 18 months, had moved on to establish Christian communities in other places, but had begun to receive letters about problems with the Corinth community. Chapters 1-4 addressed divisions within the community and was part of our readings from last week’s daily Masses. Within that part of his letter, Paul provides a framework by which he advises Corinth to address their internal problems: the division of the world between the Holy and the profane. That which is holy builds and sustains the relationships between God and the community, between the members of the community, and serves as a beacon of light and wisdom to the world. Continue reading
Jesus was a master of the story form known as parables. One of the most memorable parables can be found in Luke: the story of Lazarus and the Rich man (Luke 16:19-31). The parable starts simply enough: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores.” Very quickly in the parable the two men die. The unnamed rich man goes to a fiery afterlife of torment while Lazarus rests in the arms of Abraham, awaiting the day when Jesus will open the gates of Heaven for the faithful. Continue reading
This is a post that continues the thought in an earlier post today about our Sunday gospel on the parables of the Lost.
The gospel text of Luke 15 immediately follows the section highlighting the reversals in the Reign of God (13:10-14:35). Luke presents three parables that have a common theme: the joy of finding what was lost or recovering one who was estranged (the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son). These parables follow easily upon the extended section on the reversals of the kingdom because they respond to the Pharisees’ grumbling over Jesus’ practice of eating with outcasts. Continue reading
This coming weekend is the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle C during which we take the majority of our gospels from the Gospel of Luke. This coming weekend the gospel has a “long” option and a “short” option. Both readings are taken from Luke 15 which contains the well-known parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal Son. The longer option includes all three parables. The shorter option considers only the Prodigal Son. This is my way of giving you a “heads up” that the posts this week will be on the longish side. Continue reading
A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive, suggestive, unpleasant or not considered a part of polite conversation. Some euphemisms are to convey a message or meaning, while avoiding a topic that may be considered taboo. Some were coined with an intention of amusement while others are simply bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Continue reading
“Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” It is one thing to carry a cross that is your own, but this cross thrust upon him unjustly. It the cross of someone else’s making. Why would he or she carry it, have to carry it, or even willingly carry it?
In 1982 Thomas Webb III moved from Chicago to Norman, Oklahoma. As best he could see, it seemed like a reasonable move. There wasn’t a lot happening for him in Chicago and a friend said there was opportunity and fun in and around the University of Oklahoma campus. Why not? In 1983 he was convicted of rape, burglary, and other crimes and sentenced to 60 years in prison. He always maintained his innocence but he had been picked out of lineup on two separate occasions. The victim was unshakeable in her identification. Continue reading
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14. Today we offer a final reflection from Culpepper [293-4]
Have you ever made a commitment to an organization or committee without first finding out all that would be expected of you? Have you ever gotten caught by purchasing something or joining a book club without first reading all the fine print? Jesus warned would-be followers about the cost of discipleship.
Some churches, preachers, and TV programs present the gospel as though they were selling a used car. They make it sound as easy as possible, as though no real commitment were required. Jesus’ call was far different. He was not looking for superficial commitment or a crowd of tagalongs. Instead, he required his followers to be totally committed if they were going to follow at all.
The language of cross bearing has been corrupted by overuse. Bearing a cross has nothing to do with chronic illness, painful physical conditions, or trying family relationships. It is instead what we do voluntarily as a consequence of our commitment to Jesus Christ. Cross bearing requires deliberate sacrifice and exposure to risk and ridicule in order to follow Jesus. This commitment is not just to a way of life, however. It is a commitment to a person. A disciple follows another person and learns a new way of life.
In a sense, no one can know whether he or she will be able to fulfill a commitment to discipleship. Jesus was not asking for a guarantee of complete fidelity in advance, however. If he had, no one would qualify to be a disciple. Through these parables, Jesus was simply calling for each person who would be a disciple to consider in advance what that commitment requires.
Cultural accommodation of the Christian faith has progressed steadily in recent years. As a result, many see no tension between the teachings of Jesus and the common aspirations of middle-class Americans. On the contrary, a complete change of priorities, values, and pursuits is required. Paul wrote that in Christ we become not just nice people but new creations (see 2 Cor 5:17). When Jesus turned and saw the crowd following him, he was not impressed by his own success. He was not interested in the casual, easy acceptance the crowd offered.
The cost of discipleship is paid in many different kinds of currency. For some persons a redirection of time and energy is required, for others a change in personal relationships, a change in vocation, or a commitment of financial resources; but for each person the call to discipleship is all consuming. A complete change in priorities is required of all would-be disciples. No part-time disciples are needed. No partial commitments are accepted.
Alan Culpepper, Luke in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. IX (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995) pp. 291-4
Image: Apologia Studios CC-BY-SA
This coming Sunday is the 23rd Sunday and we are considering the reading from Luke 14.. In yesterday’s post we continued looking at the cost of discipleship as an all-consuming vocation. It must be accepted with mature deliberation. Discipleship is not periodic volunteer work on one’s own terms and at one’s convenience. Yet what are the marks of discipleship? Continue reading
Umbrellas existed in many ancient societies, including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India, where they served to protect important people from the sun, serving also as a sign of prestige and power. From these societies, the umbrella spread to the Greek and Roman worlds, and into Western Europe. But as Europe slowly descended into the Dark Ages, eventually recovering, umbrellas seem to have disappeared from European use for about 1,000 years. It seems the difficult times threw some shade on the popularity and use of what we now think of as a common device. Which is ironic in that umbrella was borrowed from the Italian word ombrella, a modification of the Latin umbella, which came from umbra meaning “shade, shadow.” Continue reading
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