Sunday 6C – February 14, 2010

Gospel, Luke 6:17, 20-26  This “Sermon on the Plain” is Luke’s counterpart to Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount”.  As with Matthew’s account, it is addressed to the disciples, not to the large crowd that had assembled.  While Matthew mentions people had gathered from the regions on both sides of the Jordan from Galilee down through Judea (Matthew 4:25), Luke expands that to the coastal regions of Tyre and Sidon to the north of Galilee, territory more identified with the gentiles to whom Luke writes his gospel.  In place of the common list of beatitudes in Matthew (5:1-12) Luke presents an abbreviated list of blessings and adds a list of woes.  His blessings are in response to more basic physical situations.  Rather than “poor in spirit” he simply states “blessed are the poor”.  Rather than those who “hunger and thirst for holiness”, Luke reduces the blessing to “you who are now hungry”.  This difference between the two gospels probably relates to some basic differences between Jewish and Greek society.  Jewish people were required by the Law of Moses to provide for the basic needs of everyone.  This command of hospitality extended to the stranger and wayfarer in their land.  A portion of the collections at the temple were designated for the support of widows, orphans and others in need.  Greek society did not have a spiritual basis requiring people to share with those in need.  Luke wants to instill such a base for his Greek audience by making Jesus’ statements even direct and adding the woes for clarity. 

Sunday 5C – February 7, 2010

Gospel, Luke 5:1-11  It is common for bodies of water to be named for cities or territories that border them.  The original name of Sea of Galilee during Jewish control was Chinnereth, the name of a Hebrew town and plain on the northwest part of the lake.  It is also possible that the town and plain were named after the lake since chinnereth is a form of the name of a Jewish harp of which the lake has the basic shape.  Later the lake was more commonly known by the Greek equivalent Gennesaret , the Sea of Galilee (for the region to the west), and the Sea of Tiberias  (for Herod Antipas’ capital city on the west coast). 

Fishermen worked primarily at night for a few reasons.  The fish tended to be closer to the surface during the cooler night hours, the nets were less visible to the fish during the night (today with nylon nets fishing is often done during the daytime), and fishing boats were used during the day for transporting people and cargo around the lake (fishermen had to keep the boats as busy as possible to pay off their loans, licensing, taxes, and equipment expenses).  The nets were made of natural fibers.  Fish parts and weeds left in the nets might cause them to rot, so it was essential that nets be cleaned and dried each day before storing them for the next night’s work.  That is what Peter and Andrew were doing when Jesus came by. 

They were not in Capernaum where boats were docked at protective piers behind an extensive breakwater, more likely a few miles to the south of Capernaum.  Why would they be there rather than at the docks?  Most  of their catch was brought to Magdala, about four or five miles along the western shore of the lake, where there was a business that salted and pickled fish for shipment throughout the Mediterranean region.  The drag nets used may have been 40 or more yards in length.  It would probably have been easier to stretch them out to clean and dry them along a quiet beach area than back at the busy wharf. 

Why would Jesus get into the boat?  Doing so gave him a bit of distance from the crowd in a place where he could more easily be seen and heard by everyone…you probably know how well sound can skip across water.  Jesus also had an ulterior motive…he would have Peter and Andrew as a captive crowd while he preached.  He had probably heard about them and had his eye on them as potential disciples.  He was going to put their willingness to follow his guidance to the test.  Peter would naturally be a bit reluctant to lower the nets.  He knew daytime fishing was not that great, that they would have to wash and dry the nets again, and they would be delayed getting the boat into use for hauling cargo.  Nevertheless, he did as Jesus had asked.  This was a strong indication for Jesus who then gave Peter and his companions the sign of the great catch.  Fishermen needed two boats to spread the nets.  They managed their business, took out loans for boats, and were licensed to fish the lake through syndicates which is why Peter had partners.  “Leaving everything” to follow Jesus did not mean abandoning their boats.  Peter and his partners would still have to cover their expenses, pay off their loans, maintain licensing, and provide work for the crew of between six and ten other men whose families depended on their fishing jobs.  Their decision to follow Jesus took all those things into account, kept the business going while they dedicated their time to Jesus, and assured that the boats would be available for their use whenever Jesus needed them for transportation around the lake.  The decision to follow Christ today likewise requires that one be responsible to family and other obligations while somehow dedicating one’s life and possessions to the service God.  Can you see your everyday work as an opportunity to serve God rather than something mundane and unrelated to building up the kingdom of God?  Peter had to face that challenge and initially, not able to put the two together, asked Jesus to depart from him.  Jesus would convince Peter otherwise and turn his fishing experience into a means of fulfilling his mission. 

Sunday 4C – January 31, 2010

Gospel, Luke 4:21-30 Jesus is rejected by the people of Nazareth.  Mark provides far more commentary by the hometown folk (Mark 6:1-6) who wonder about where he received such skill in preaching and gifts for healing.  Apparently there had been nothing outstanding about Jesus’ youth that would make them say, “We knew he was going to be someone special.”   Jesus had not done the equivalent of going off to college…there is no reference to intensive rabbinical training as an explanation.  He was “the carpenter” (Mark 6:3) with no reference to Joseph, indicating that Jesus had continued in that occupation following the death of Joseph.  Here in Luke’s gospel the only reference point is Joseph as his father.  A key element in the different accounts of this event is the lack of awareness by the people of Jesus’ true identity, his actual lineage, and the true nature of his birth.  How often do we judge people by what we think we know about them?  How often do we assign a value to someone without considering their value as a child of God? 

One might think that a hometown son become famous would bring honor to the rest of the people.  Perhaps it is human nature to want our neighbors to succeed but not so much as to make our own lives seem insignificant or unsuccessful.  Does that explain why at first it seems people seem to be rather positive and then sentiment shifts?  The translation may give too rosy a picture saying that “all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.”  The Greek phrase translated as “spoke highly of him” literally means “were witnessing to him” which could imply nothing more than having heard his words and commented on them to one another.  The phrase translated “were amazed at” literally means “wondered at” and doesn’t necessarily imply being positively impressed. 

Nazareth was at the end of the road and on the northern bluffs overlooking the Esdraelon Valley which connected the Jordan River area to the Mediterranean shore.  There were probably footpaths that wound their way down the steep slope but no road had been built at that time.  The people intended to throw Jesus off some precipice along the bluffs but he escaped.  Although it is not indicated, the group probably wasn’t 100% against Jesus, and he probably had assistance from some old friends among the group in his escape.

January 24, 2009 – Sunday 3C

Gospel, Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21  Luke begins his gospel explaining his reason for writing…that the reader may have a resource to support belief in and accurate understanding of what was taught when first accepting the Christian faith.  Luke was also the author of the Acts of the Apostles in which the change from “they” to “we” in the narrative in Acts 16:9 is taken to indicate the place and time when Luke became a member of Paul’s team.  That narrative returns to “they” and then back to “we” in Acts 20:6 indicating that, as seems to have been common with other members of Paul’s team, Luke was sent on some mission to deliver a message or contact some people in the interim. 

Luke refers to other gospels having preceded his.  How many there were we do not know.  Some extra-biblical works such as the Gospel of Thomas, of which copies are still existent, may have been too fanciful, for which Luke wants to assure the reader of the accuracy of his research.  Others include the other two “synoptic” (from the same view) gospels of Mark and Matthew.  Luke undoubtedly had a copy of Mark’s gospel and possibly one of Matthew’s as he composes his gospel, for he takes major sections of his work from Mark. 

One might wonder why Luke would go to all the work of writing his gospel when it would have been easier to make copies of Mark for distribution.  As Luke reworks Mark’s gospel, he puts it into more beautiful Greek.  Scholars tell us that Mark was written in basic Greek as one not writing in their primary language.  Luke was written by a person well-educated in classical Greek expression.  Paul wanted the gospel to appeal to the educated class.  Luke’s themes are also oriented to Greek culture, explaining differences of focus from Matthew which was written to a Jewish audience. 

Luke’s themes were undoubtedly worked out with Paul in response to questions and issues of the communities who would be sent copies of the gospel.  Someone might say, however, Luke wrote to one individual named Theophilus, not to a broad community of readers.   The name is a combination of two Greek words which can be translated “a lover of God” or “one loved by God”.  This was undoubtedly a literary manner of personalizing the gospel for every reader, much like John who replacing his name with “the disciple Jesus loved” to have the reader take his place in the narrative.      

The text selected for today now jumps to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in chapter four.  Jesus has returned to his hometown of Nazareth.  The reader is left to wonder about the nature of the news of him which had “spread throughout the whole region”.  Did he have a healing ministry by this time?  Verse 15 refers only to his teaching.  At the synagogue service it was customary to invite a person of note to do the reading for the day.  An open discussion on the interpretation of the text read would ensue in which the person who had done the reading was allowed to be the first to comment.  In next week’s gospel reading we will see the reaction to Jesus’ commentary.

January 17, 2009 – Sunday 2C

Gospel, John 2:1-11 The town of Cana was situated about 5 miles northeast of Nazareth.  It would be logical to assume that Mary is a relative to the family of the groom in whose home the wedding takes place and that the parents of the groom, being the ones responsible for providing the food and drink for the celebration, are the ones who have alerted Mary to the problem of the wine running out. 

Since people might spend days coming in travel to attend a Jewish wedding celebration, they functioned as extended family reunions and usually lasted a full week.  We all know how difficult it can be to estimate how much food and refreshments might be needed for a one-day celebration, but planning for several days was difficult.  The weather might have been hotter than usual or some invited guests might have brought others with them, like Jesus showing up with twelve friends…perhaps leading to Mary thinking Jesus should do something about the wine shortage. 

The house was probably built in the manner of those one encounters in many countries of the world today with a wall around the property and a gate entering into a courtyard around which the rooms were built backing on the surrounding wall.  Just inside the gate were six stone water jars averaging 25 gallons capacity.  This was the easiest place to store water carried from a town well for the family’s use.  It also served for the customary purifications welcoming visitors to one’s home.  As you might receive someone to your home by inviting them to sit down and offering them something to drink, it was customary at Jesus’ time to receive guests by washing the dust from their feet and anointing their forehead with a perfumed oil.  For a large gathering such as this wedding celebration, a number of water containers would, therefore, be placed by the entry to the home. 

Mary does not argue with her son when he didn’t respond positively to her indirect request to do something about the wine shortage.  She knew her son would not refuse a person in need, however, and I picture her turning with a smile to the waiters to say “do whatever he tells you” and then walking away.  Filling the jars to the brim probably took some time as they would have to take lighter vessels and make a few trips to the town well.  Can you imagine the waiters wondering how water was going to solve the wine problem?  Jesus provides more than they need for the remainder of the celebration and better quality than they had had before.

Some basic lessons from this reading: Mary’s intercessory prayer for her relatives was essential as is our intercession for one another.  Jesus is waiting to be invited to make a difference in our lives…prayer is the key.  When Jesus works in our lives he brings greater blessings than we would otherwise have known.  Marriage and all other aspects of life are improved by turning to Jesus.

January 11, 2009 – Baptism of the Lord

Gospel, Luke 3:15-16, 21-22  All three persons of the Trinity are present here.  The Father speaks directly to Jesus (in Matthew’s gospel the voice speaks to the other people present saying “THIS is my beloved Son”).  The Spirit continues to guide Jesus.  In Luke 4:1 Jesus, “filled with the Holy Spirit”, is led by that same Spirit into the desert to face off against the devil.  The descent of the Spirit was not merely symbolic but empowering.  But wasn’t the Spirit automatically with Jesus as two of the persons of God?  Consider for a moment the text of Philippians 2:6-7.  When the Son of God became man, he set aside all the divine gifts and attributes while retaining the divine identity.  As a child he had to learn to walk and to speak.  He had to study and learn to read and write as did other children.   He “grew in wisdom” (Luke 2:52).  He had to pray, even during the years of his public ministry, to discern the Father’s will.  It seems that, having taken on human nature, the Son of God as Jesus only received from the Father what he needed at each moment to complete his mission…no more, no less.  Some theologians believe that Jesus only became aware of his identity at the moment of his baptism.  That is not to say that he received divinity at the time but rather became aware of his identity.  Regardless of when Jesus became aware of his divine identity, the baptismal moment gave him both clarity and power for what lay ahead.

Epiphany – January 3, 2010

Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12  The Magi were not themselves kings but, rather, a priestly group who sought knowledge from every imaginable source (the word “magic” is derived from their practices)and the ability to apply that knowledge to predict and prepare for the future.  One of those sources of information came from watching the stars. According to the popular cosmology of the time, people believed the earth to be covered by a dome, across which God or gods caused the heavenly bodies to move in patterns thought to contain coded messages.  Such was the logic behind astrology.  From a science acceptable in our day, astronomers tell us that in 6 B.C. Magi in the region of Assyria and Babylonia would have been able to see Jupiter (which represented royalty) pass through Aries (representative of the Jewish people, perhaps due to their history as shepherds).  The Magi would have interpreted this as a divine sign of the birth of a great Jewish king.  On reporting their findings, their own king may have sent them as his representatives bearing gifts, a common way from kings of past to build alliances and secure peaceful relations. 

King Herod ruled as King of Judah from 37 to his death in 4 B.C.  Tyrannical and suspicious to the point of paranoia, he had all actual and presumed opposition eliminated including his wife and several other members of his own family.  He built fortresses (including Herodium and Masada) around the country as places he could escape in case of a popular uprising.  I have read that he had a list drawn up naming those most popular in every town and city of Judah with a standing order that they be killed in case of his own death…a unique sort of life insurance policy.  His soldiers, however, refused to carry out the order when he did die.  Such a person would be capable of commandeering soldiers to kill babies in Bethlehem on the possibility of one being a future king.  No wonder both he and the people of Jerusalem, for different reasons, were troubled at the news brought by the Magi.  Placing Jesus’ birth a couple years prior to the death of Herod (the family was living in Egypt when they heard of Herod’s death) would put the birth of Jesus around 6 B.C. which aligns well with the appearance of the star.  When the monk Dionysius Exiguus was commissioned by the pope in 525 A. D. to figure out the year Jesus was born and renumber all years accordingly, he was off by those six years…not bad given the information he had to work with.

December 27, 2009 – Holy Family

Luke 2:41-52  Is this an actual event in the life of Jesus or Luke taking some creative liberties with the story of Jesus for theological purposes?  If this actually took place one would think the priests at the temple would have taken note and contacted the rabbi in the Nazareth synagogue about Jesus, probably making notes to which they would refer 18 years later when Jesus began his ministry.  The people of Nazareth, likewise, would have heard the details.  Years later when Jesus returns to Nazareth after beginning his public ministry, they wouldn’t have been wondering, “Where did he get all this?”  When Mary and Joseph finally find him, would Mary not grasp the meaning of Jesus’ otherwise impudent response to her anxiety, having received the message from the angel Gabriel regarding the identity of her son?  Would there not have been a lot of discussion with Mary and Joseph over the matter?  If I had willfully stayed behind while on a family vacation and caused my parents great anxiety looking for me for three days, there would have been plenty of questions demanding that I explain myself…and some disciplinary action when we got home.   

Jesus was at the age when Jewish boys make their Bar-Mitzvah, a ceremony in which the boy proves that he can read the scriptures, write out passages correctly, and give good interpretation to the meaning of scriptural texts on questioning from a rabbi.  It was the culmination of a boy’s schooling, a rite of passage into adulthood.  Now as a Son of the Faith, having indicated his understanding of God’s word, he would be held responsible for keeping the Mosaic law and could participate in discussion at the synagogue.  It was considered an honor for a boy to make his Bar-Mitzvah at Jerusalem.  Luke was giving Jesus the most impressive Bar-Mitzvah experience among all the boys who had fulfilled the rite in Jerusalem.  He also makes the event a foreshadowing of a later Passover trip of Jesus to Jerusalem when he will again be lost to his family and friends for three days, this time to reappear after rising from the dead.    

Jesus returns to Nazareth and is obedient to Mary and Joseph.  Obedience to God’s will is even more important to those who are true children of our heavenly Father. 

December 20, 2009 – Fourth Sunday of Advent C

Gospel, Luke 1:39-45  Coming out of the depression of the Jordan valley, the entire length of which is under sea level, Mary arrives in “the hill country of Judah”, the backbone down the middle of Judah.  The terrain consists in long mountain ridges over 2,000 feet above sea level separated by valleys.  One valley area goes from Jerusalem to Bethlehem 6 miles to the south.  Another valley more in a southwestern direction passes through Ein-Karim just 3 miles from the city.  This is the village traditionally considered the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

Why did May go there and why “in haste”?  Word of Elizabeth’s pregnancy had likely reached relatives in Nazareth some 80 miles to the north in Galilee.  Luke doesn’t mention the problematic situation of Mary’s pregnancy as does Matthew (Mt. 1:18-25), but we can imagine the talk, more accurately gossip and condemnatory attitudes, in the “fishbowl” of Nazareth, a small Jewish town of perhaps 250 people where everyone presumed to know her situation of being pregnant prior to the wedding.  It would have been a welcome opportunity for Mary to get out of town for a while and spend some peaceful time with Elizabeth.   Word was undoubtedly communicated to Elizabeth of Mary’s upcoming visit, thus her awareness of Mary’s situation as she arrives.  Wouldn’t you like to have seen the message that preceded Mary’s arrival and how Elizabeth put faith in the explanation for Mary’s pregnancy which the people back in Nazareth would not believe?

Mary remained with Elizabeth for three months, the first three of her own pregnancy and the final three for Elizabeth.  One can easily imagine all these two women of great faith shared and discussed in those months.  Catholics reflect on that time together each time they reflect on the visitation, the second mystery of the rosary.  I usually ask God that I, like Mary, bring the Jesus present within me to all my visitations with other people. 

The juxtaposition between Jesus and John the Baptist is set up with this visit, both still babes in the womb as John jumps for joy at the coming of Jesus.  John would be a great man of God.  Jesus would be even greater.  John’s conception was miraculous…Jesus’ even more so. John’s ministry would effect conversion and commitment in the hearts of thousands of people.  The gospels showed great respect for John while inviting those who had received his baptism to come further to know Jesus and accept his baptism.

December 13, 2009 – 3rd Sunday of Advent C

Gospel, Luke 3:10-18  Ages had passed since someone had donned the prophet’s identifying garment of camel skin and leather belt (Mt. 3:4) as had Elijah and Elisha of old.  Whether their going out to see John was motivated by curiosity or faith, many of the people experienced conversion with a desire to live more in order with God’s will.  Thus we hear groups of tax collectors and soldiers asking what they should do to live more in accord with God’s will.  All of us are called to seek and follow the general will of God for everyone.  Yet each person, given his or her specific life situation, will have some specific aspects of God’s will to which he or she must be particularly attentive.  What particular things would John point out for you, were you to be there asking as were those tax collectors and soldiers?

John makes clear that he is not the Messiah.  He is the messenger announcing the imminent coming of the Messiah who will baptize with the “Holy Spirit and fire”.  While we relate that image specifically to the Pentecost event, the significance of the Holy Spirit and fire here is more generic.  Fire is a symbol of purification or refining, representing the need for repentance and reform.  Accepting the call to reform, the crowd has been asking John for clarification of specifically how to fulfill God’s will.  Divine inspiration and guidance is the work of the Holy Spirit.  In our Advent time of preparation, may we take that to heart, accepting the call to reform, orient our lives to God’s will more perfectly, and present ourselves as more perfect offerings in thanks to Jesus at his coming.