18th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

   Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 12:13-21]

31.07.2022

The Parable of the Rich Fool

Readings: (1) Eccles 1:2; 2:21-23 (2) Col 3:1-5.9-11

1. Theme in brief

Christian attitude toward wealth

2.  Focus Statement

We need to be on our guard against all kinds of greed for possessions because our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions.

3.  Explanation of the text                 

According to today’s gospel, when someone in the crowd requests Jesus to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance with him, he refuses to be a “judge” or arbitrator in the property dispute between brothers, though other Rabbis used to do it in his time (12:13-14). Instead, he uses this request as an occasion to teach a lesson about the dangers of greed for wealth and the trap laid by it (12:15). He sees behind this dispute over land and property human tendencies toward greed or covetousness. In order to emphasize the foolishness of putting full trust in one’s wealth and fighting over land and property, he tells them the parable of the Rich Fool. Through this parable Jesus wants to teach the lesson that their quarrel over family inheritance would come to an end without his intervention, if they could root out greed from their hearts over possessions and show genuine love for each other.

This parable is about a rich man who is not rich enough. The so-called Rich Fool in this parable is in fact a Poor Rich Fool. He is rich in people’s or society’s sight but poor in God’s, or as Jesus says in this text he is “not rich toward God” (12:21). What exactly is the fault of this rich farmer? There is no hint in the parable to suggest that he has amassed his wealth by illegal/corrupt means or by paying unjust wages to his labourers. He must have gained it by his hard work. He seems to have become the envy of many neighbours because his fields have produced so abundant crops that he has no place to store them (12:17).  After all, what is wrong in making plans and building “larger barns” for storing one’s “grain and goods” (12:18)? Yet, Jesus finds him at fault. His first fault is found in his relentless use of the first person pronouns "I" and "my." This is what he says in his self-talk after his land “produced abundantly” (12:16): “I will do this…. I will pull down…. I will build…. I will store…. my grain… my goods…. say to my soul….” (12:18-19). He uses the word "I" six times and the word "my" five times. For him everything is "I" and "my." This sort of self-chatting portrays him as a man who is totally preoccupied with self or one who is at the height of his selfishness or egoism.

This first fault leads to a second one: with the abundance of his wealth he believes that he can make his future totally secure. This makes him declare to his own soul his philosophy of life: "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry" because nobody knows what will happen tomorrow (12:19). With all the wealth, he is so poor that he is unable exercise total control over his life. All his calculations and plans are shattered as he is interrupted by the Word of God, “This very night your life is being demanded of you,” that is, you are going to die (12:20). He sadly comes to know that his larger barns cannot save his life. He lately realizes his miscalculation: forget about tomorrow, tonight itself his life will end!

According to this story, God himself calls this rich man, “You fool” (12:20). The psalmist says that  only “fools say in their hearts that there is no God“(Ps 14:1). This Rich Fool’s foolishness consists in keeping God “out of sight, out of mind” by placing his full trust and ultimate security in wealth and believing that it will save him from all troubles. He lives a life of practical atheism: when it comes to managing his life he relies on his possessions leaving God totally out of his schemes. In other words, his foolishness consists in forgetting the fact that he is not the master of his life and destiny and has no total control over it.

The egoistic outlook of this Rich Fool eliminates not only God from his consideration or scheme but also neighbours. His covetousness towards possessions makes him blind to the rights and needs of others. The thought that he needs to share at least something of his wealth with the less fortunate never enters his mind. He allows his possessions to possess him or the property he owned to own him. His total reliance on material possessions and money with a philosophy of life mentioned above (12:19) is the sign of a totally dissipated life as Luke tells in another place in his gospel (12:45).

4.  Application to life 

As it happens in the life of the Rich Fool, excessive greed can lead to the following consequences for us also. We can observe a number of “foolish” points in this man’s way of thinking and action-plan: (1) He fails to recognize where his wealth comes from. He lives a materialistic life-style and forgets that his wealth is God’s gift. It is the Lord who gives everything and the Lord who takes away (Job 1:21), sometimes all of a sudden. (2) He thinks that wealth is meant for only to build larger barns and store up goods for himself. It never occurs to him that when his existing barns are already filled with his goods, it is high time to share them with the have-nots. (3) He plans for an early retirement from duties because he considers the abundance of his wealth as his total security for the future, as if it would save him from any calamity. (4) He never thinks about the possibility that he may not live to enjoy what he has accumulated and somebody who never worked for it may enjoy it.

We can very well notice that the attitudes of this rich man towards wealth are totally contrary to Jesus’ teachings. He keeps God out of his schemes and thinks that all his wealth is his own achievement and not a blessing from God. He does not think of the possibility of sharing even a small portion of his wealth with the have-nots. This man has become a worshipper of the most popular gods of today: "I,” “My” and “Mine” – a sort of Unholy Trinity. He is called "fool" not because of the abundance of his wealth or his ambitious plans but because he considers finite and passing things as if they had an infinite and permanent value. In spite of such a wonderful scientific progress and technological advances of our times, today the whole of human race has become more vulnerable and fragile than before. Anywhere at any time a terrorist attack can take place in spite of meticulous security measures of our Governments. Life is full of uncertainty and insecurity. After all, nobody can fully control one’s own life neither with one’s own wealth nor achievements.

Therefore, in this parable Jesus teaches that if we want to avoid various kinds of greed, we must “take care” or watch out and “be on our guard” against its dominion over us (12:15). He insists that unless we are always vigilant against the onslaught of greed and resist its dominion over us with spiritual power that comes from God, we can become easy victims to its designs. As per Christian attitude, money and wealth are not exclusively for oneself. If we allow greed and covetousness to take control of our mind and hearts, it can produce the following consequences: (1) constant quarrels, disputes and court cases over money and property in our homes and neighbourhoods resulting in the failure of any advice, reconciliation and arbitration; (2) cases of unequal division of ancestral land among brothers in some families and grabbing of others’ land through intimidation; (3) temptation to acquire money and wealth by any available means, no matter how dubious or immoral they may be; (4) to be blind to the rights and needs of others, especially of the poor; (5) to forget to look beyond ourselves and be conscious of our stewardship or responsibility to share something of our wealth with the have-nots. Like the Rich Fool, excessive greed can take away any compassion for the needy. God does not bless us with sufficient wealth to hoard it for ourselves but to use a part of it for the service of others or building up of his Kingdom, where the poor who lack basic necessities of life and the poor in spirit (who need spiritual food) are taken care of. Then only, as Jesus says, we shall “be rich toward God” (12:21).

In our consumerist society today, we are constantly bombarded with the display of glamorous goods and are enticed with advertisements to acquire the latest gadgets. We fall victims to this allurement and acquire the latest goods by discarding the old ones. We forget the fact that our wealth gives us only a relative degree of security and comfort. By itself it does not produce genuine love, a good relationship with neighbours, a meaning in life, peace of mind and existential joy. During one of my social awareness seminars, when I asked some Catholic leaders to make two columns in their notebooks and write in the first column, the things money could buy and in the second, the things money could not, one of them wrote that money could buy both sin and virtue, and left the other column blank. One wonders how one can buy virtue with money. We can buy costly food to eat with our money but not appetite; a cosy bed to sleep in but not a peaceful sleep; and the best Bible but not faith in God’s Word. A boy may buy a girl and vice versa with money, but cannot buy genuine care, concern, forgiveness of hurts, mutual adjustments and self-sacrifice which are essential ingredients of a happy married life. We cannot buy all the precious virtues and values as well as character with money. Then why treat it as the be-all and end-all of life?

This is the reason why Jesus tells us to live by this principle: “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (12:15). Any amount of accumulation of goods sufficient enough for ages to come will not produce real life. Life is not meant for accumulating wealth only or merely for self-enjoyment. As Jesus says, you are never sure “the things you have prepared, whose they will be” ultimately (12:20). Like the Rich Fool, we too sometimes have wrong priorities. What is the priority of our life? Life does not consist only in acquiring and accumulating wealth or eating and drinking. The rich man in today’s parable lives a life not only of egoism but also of hedonism and practical atheism. He represents people who are always at the service of dollars/ pounds/ euros/ rupees to such an extent that they are willing to bow to their demands at the cost of human relationships. They forget that the real purpose of our life is to become rich toward God by putting our total security in him alone and not in wealth, and by cultivating a spirit of detachment towards possessions. Ultimately our life is far superior to our possessions. It does not depend on our riches either.

The message of today’s gospel calls upon us to set our priorities regarding possessions. Riches are not bad in themselves, but can become bad if we put our full security in them instead of God, and if they are used exclusively for our own selfish purposes. For that matter, even poverty does not make one free from selfishness. While some poor people generously share even the little they have, others become greedy toward those little things. The problem is not owning possessions as such but allowing our possessions to possess us. It is our foolishness to place our full trust and security in wealth (money) and to believe that it will save us from all troubles and make us truly happy. Our true value is not determined by our valuables. All our plans and human calculations made by trusting in the abundance of accumulated wealth will be shattered like the Rich Fool if we put God out of our scheme of things. The real contrast as well as the battle is between being rich in the world’s eyes and being rich in God’s. As God is rich in mercy, as his children, we too are called to be rich in showing mercy towards the poor by sharing what we have, instead of storing it up only for ourselves.

What about the right use of money? Money represents value. What we do with our money shows what we value in your heart. If we value only eating, drinking and making merry, then we spend money for these things extravagantly, making a public display of it especially at weddings and parties. If we value service to neighbours, helping the poor and the needy, and participation in the mission of the Church, then we shall spend our money for these things also. Jesus says: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Lk 12:34). How and where we spend our money shows what we value the most in life. The question is whether we value our possessions more than God, or whether we value God more than our possessions.

5.  Response to God's Word

What is our attitude towards money and wealth? Do we trust in wealth more than in God? Do we have a sense of detachment towards wealth so as not to put our full security and trust in it? What is the priority of our life? Is it amassing wealth, eating and drinking or something beyond that? Do we seriously try to root out greed from our hearts? Do we share something of what we have with those who don’t have even that much?

6.  A Prayer

Deliver us, O Lord, from all covetousness and from attachment to possessions.  You alone are our greatest treasure and portion.  All that we have and we are is your gift. Grant that we may make good use of your gifts which come also in the form of material blessings you give us. May we use them generously for your glory and share a part of them with the less fortunate ones. Amen.

 

 

17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 11:1-13]

24.07.2022

The Lord’s Prayer and Perseverance in Prayer

Readings: (1) Gen 18:20-32 (2) Col 2:12-14

1.  Theme in brief

      Persistence in prayer

2.   Focus Statement

The disciples of Jesus must persistently pray for the realization of God’s Kingdom and constantly knock at God’s ‘door’ in prayer as an expression of their absolute trust and utter dependence on him.

3.  Explanation of the text

In his gospel, Luke highlights the role of personal prayer in Jesus’ life more than other evangelists. Today’s text taken from his gospel, tells us that before Jesus could teach his disciples how to pray, one of the disciples himself took the initiative to ask him to teach them how to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples (10:1). This shows that the disciples were definitely motivated by his personal example and understood the importance of prayer in their life. In answer to the request of that disciple, Jesus taught them the famous prayer called “Our Father” as a pattern for Christian prayers. He taught it as a model that outlines the primary content of Christian prayer.

As Jesus taught, prayer begins by addressing God as a loving and caring Parent (“Abba”), and proceeds to give glory to his name and puts his purpose (that is, his Kingdom) in the first place (11:2); then proceeds with placing our daily needs before him (11:3). Thus, the first content of prayer is to pray for the realization of God’s loving rule (called God’s Kingdom) on earth. In fact, when his name is hallowed or glorified; his kingdom comes; he provides daily bread for us by blessing the work of our hands; we learn to forgive one another as he forgives and he delivers us from the time of trial (11:4). Thus, prayer deals both with present needs and the future hope of the coming of God’s Kingdom.

The second part of the Our Father deals with the petition expressing the trust disciples are to put in a Provident God by requesting him to take care of their “daily bread” (11:3). Here daily bread stands not only for food and drink but also for all other material or human needs. Next, Jesus teaches that the disciples should acknowledge the reality of their sins and their need for forgiveness. As his children, God expects that they reflect his forgiving nature by forgiving everyone indebted to them (11:4). When Jesus refers to the acts of rebellion we commit against God’s authority over us, he calls them sins, but when he refers to the offences others inflict on us he calls them "debts," probably to highlight the seriousness of offences against God. Giving and receiving of forgiveness are linked together; if we refuse to forgive others’ debts, how can we expect to receive God’s forgiveness for our sins? The plural pronouns in the second part of this prayer such as “us,” “our,” “we” (11:3-4) indicate that prayer is not merely individualistic or centred on only one’s own needs, but also for others’ as well.

In order to emphasize the necessity of perseverance and persistence in prayer, Jesus tells the Parable of the Friend at Midnight. Its lesson is not that God is literally like that man who gave to his friend what he wanted at midnight ( that is, three loaves of bread) to get rid of his ‘shameless’ (in original language) persistence (11:8). The point is this: if a person can take all the personal trouble of getting up at midnight, opening the locked door and disturbing his children in bed because of his friend’s persistence (11:7-8), will not God grant freely what we ask, since he loves us so much and helping us costs him no trouble (11:5-8)? For Luke, the ultimate purpose of prayer is to get the gift of the Holy Spirit whom the heavenly Father gives to those who ask him (11:13) – a gift which surpasses all other material things.

Further, Jesus speaks about the effectiveness of prayer: if earthly fathers do not give snakes and scorpions to their children when they ask fish and eggs, how much more will our heavenly Father, who is abounding in mercy, grant our prayers (11:11-13). The continual asking, seeking and knocking of disciples at his door until it opens are signs their utter poverty (insufficiency), lowliness, powerlessness and dependence on him (11:9-10). By persistently or shamelessly knocking, the door finally opens for them; by repeated asking they get what they want; and by continual seeking after the Kingdom of God, they finally discover it.

4.  Application to life 

In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds us to have a deeply personal relationship with God in prayer. He teaches us to always approach him just as children approach their loving parents in total trust and confidence by addressing him as our dear Abba, Father. The most famous prayer taught by Jesus as per today’s gospel is known as “Our Father.” Now we use it as “a formula prayer” – a prayer that we repeat often. That is fine. But more than as a formula to be repeated again and again (often mechanically), Jesus taught it as a basic model or pattern for our prayers. As per this model, Christian prayer in general begins first with God, his name, his glory, his Kingdom and his will. Then only we place before him our needs as we say: Give us this or that grace/ gift/ favour/ blessing.

Hence, as Jesus taught us, in prayer we come before a God who is our ‘Abba’ or dear Daddy and pray that his name may be sanctified, his kingdom may come as we do his will in our words and deeds. First of all, we need to pray constantly that God’s name may be hallowed and glorified in our thoughts of him as a dear Daddy, in our words that we may not misuse it, in our conduct that all our actions may be guided by him and in our worship that it may be pure and genuine. As his children, we pray that our conduct or action may always bring honour to his name and never any dishonour. Further, Jesus teaches us to put God’s purpose first in our prayer, that is, his Kingdom. He teaches us to pray that God’s rule of unconditional love may become a reality in our lives. In other words, God alone and his love may rule over our minds and hearts and determine our actions. When we allow God to totally rule over our lives, we are filled with his qualities of love, mercy, peace and justice. That will influence our attitudes and actions and in turn will influence our society with God’s values. Thus his Kingdom increases and our own kingdom of selfishness decreases.

By praying for the coming of God’s rule on earth we show that God’s rule must supersede everything else. By praying for daily bread we show that we are not self-sufficient and depend on God’s providence for our daily needs. As we saw, our “daily bread” includes many other basic needs than mere physical bread – health, education, jobs, right to life, human dignity and security, proper access to natural resources, etc. By praying for God’s forgiveness of our sins we confess our own sinfulness and the grace to forgive the sins of others. Jesus links receiving of God’s forgiveness to our own giving of forgiveness to others’ “debts,” that is, personal faults/ failures/ mistakes/ offences and even sins. As children of a forgiving Father, he calls us to exhibit his own nature by forgiving others. Otherwise, how can we call ourselves children of a forgiving Father? And how can the world learn of God's forgiveness unless we manifest forgiveness in our lives?

Truly speaking, the three aspects of intercessory prayer taught by Jesus in today’s gospel, namely, asking, seeking and knocking, if taken literally, contradict our experience in many cases (though not all). Quite many times exactly what we asked in prayer we did not receive, what we searched we did not find and when we knocked at the doors of heaven they did not open. In spite of our prayer for the safety of our loved ones we lost them in sudden heart attacks or tragic accidents or in natural calamities. If God is a loving Father who knows how to give good gifts to his children as per today’s gospel (11:13), why do so many of our prayers go unanswered? This is the greatest test of faith we face. What is tested here is God’s purpose or plan for us. He invites us to place before him all our needs ‘shamelessly’ (this is the word used in original Greek for persistence) again and again trusting that he alone knows what is good and not good for us. Even if we do not get what we ask, does it not enhance our relationship or friendship with God and faith in him? After all, this is what prayer is!

Prayer may or may not change our circumstances; but it can change us. Our continual prayer for our enemies may or may not change them, but it will change our attitudes of hatred, revenge and bitterness towards them. First of all, can we pray for our enemies with revenge against them in our hearts? When we do not get exactly what we ask, we must realize that it may be God’s answer for us. Actually, in prayer we need to seek God’s answer for our struggles and problems, not our answer. True prayer is seeking constantly God’s will and not our own. Prayer does not change God’s mind and will but helps us to change our mind and will according to his. That is why in Matthew’s version of ”Our Father” (which is used in our daily prayers) we read: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). In our thinking what is good for us, may not be good in God’s thinking. Prayer does not guarantee that all we ask will be granted to us exactly the way we have asked. Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane (Lk 22:42) did not remove the cup of suffering from him, but gave him much better thing – courage and strength to carry the cross till the end and also the glory of resurrection. Sometimes God’s gifts surpass what we do not dare to ask him.

Though God knows our needs, constantly and persistently pleading with him with petitions and intercessions for our and others’ needs is a sign of our trust, utter poverty (insufficiency), humility and total dependence on him. They are not meant to argue our case with God and convince him of the urgency or genuineness of our needs. We need to pray persistently and constantly trusting that God loves us, cares for us, is genuinely interested in our welfare and will do only what is best for us in the way and at the time he wants. The example of the midnight’s friend and the father who never gives snakes and scorpions to his children goes against the idea of God as cruel, harsh and revengeful. With child-like trust we always submit ourselves, our and world’s needs to him with the prayer, “Your will be done” (Lk 22:42).

God answers all our prayers the way he wants or in ways which are best for us, and not exactly as we ask. Like the man who finally opened the door to the midnight friend, God who is our Friend will open for us the door to receive the gifts he wants to give us, which, of course, may be quite different from what we ask.  Sometimes we ask in prayers just the opposite: snakes and scorpions instead of fish and eggs, that is, things that may be harmful for us in the long run. But God being a loving Abba gives us only fish and eggs, that is, things which will ultimately be for our good. The most important of his gifts is the Holy Spirit which includes wisdom, courage, joy, peace, and enlightenment to know, accept and do his will. We may not ask for these gifts, but at a given time they may be the best for us according to God’s design.

Sometimes we tend to be selfish and narrow-minded even in our prayer. We straightaway begin our prayer with our personal needs – “Lord, give me this, give me that” – instead of first adoring, praising and glorifying God. While making petitions and intercessions often we pray for only personal favours for ourselves and for our near and dear ones. We fail to show our love for neighbours in prayer too. Jesus has taught us that God’s purpose is to establish a new society (called Kingdom of God) of love, peace, justice, etc. Hence we must pray for God’s cause: that there may be peace in the world; that justice may prevail; that all may live as brothers and sisters; that all may respect and work for human dignity/rights; that we may be delivered fro corruption and terrorism in our society; etc. God has made us partners in his Grand Project of establishing His Kingdom and that should be our first concern even in prayer. Therefore, prayer involves not only knocking and asking (petitions, intentions and intercessions), but also seeking God’s Kingdom first (12:31) so that it may be realized in and through us.

5.  Response to God's Word

Whose kingdom do we seek in prayer: God’s or ours? Are we selfish in prayer also, praying only for our selfish needs? Do we often pray that there may be peace in the world; that all may live as brothers and sisters; that all may respect and work for human dignity/rights and life-promoting values; that there may be corruption-free and terrorism-free society? Are our petitions and intercessions before God signs of our trust and total dependence on him, or ways of manipulating him or forcing him to give us whatever we ask? Whose will do we seek in prayer: our own or God’s?

6.  A Prayer

Dear Abba Father, may your name be sanctified in our thoughts, words, conduct and actions. May your holy purpose to establish a new society of love, peace, truth and justice be realized through us. Though you know our needs even before we ask, we constantly and persistently knock at your door in trust and total dependence on you. Pour on us the supreme gift of the Holy Spirit so that we can know and accept your will with his guidance. For yours is the Kingdom, the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

  Sixteenth Ordinary Sunday (C) [Lk 10:38-42]

17.07.2022

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

Readings: (1) Gen 18:1-10 (2) Col 1:24-28

1. Theme in brief

      Priorities of an ideal disciple

2. Focus Statement

Christian disciples must consider the dangers of getting too much preoccupied with worldly affairs and give first priority to the better part of their life, that is to sit at Jesus’ feet in order to listen to his Word.

 3. Explanation of the text

Whereas last Sunday’s story of the Good Samaritan emphasises love and service to our neighbours, today’s story of the visit of Jesus to Martha and Mary reminds us of the priority of the love of God cultivated by listening to the Lord’s Word. When taken together, both the stories try to strike a balance between work and spirituality. In other words, both emphasize two complementary aspects of Christian discipleship: While the former story emphasises an active, "doing" discipleship, the latter calls for a "being" discipleship. Both the stories seem to have been blended to give the message that a disciple’s “doing” or activities should flow from his/ her “being” a person rooted in the love of God or in the Word of God.

The story of Martha and Mary is presented by Luke in the context of Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem (cf. Lk 9:51). On his way, he was welcomed by a woman named Martha in a certain village (we are told it was Bethany in Jn 11), who had a sister named Mary (10:38-39). When Jesus entered their home, Martha kept herself busy with “many tasks” (10:40). Though Luke does not tell us what these tasks were, we can very well guess that she began preparing a good meal to treat her honoured guest. Meanwhile her sister Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to his words (10:39). She took upon herself the role and posture of a disciple learning at the feet of a rabbi (teacher). Sitting at the Lord’s feet, to hear his word, signifies her readiness to treasure it in her heart, and her submission or resignation to his guidance. We observe a contrast here: While Martha busied herself with the traditional role assigned to women in her society, Mary sat at the Lord's feet to listen to his teaching – a role traditionally reserved only for men in their culture. Thus, Mary symbolized the first priority of an ideal disciple – to sit at the feet of the Master and listen to his Word (10:39).

      Martha, her sister, was so busy in her work that she had no time for Jesus when he was personally present at home. She allowed her daily work to distract her (10:40) from the most important aspect of following Jesus, which was listening to his Word. She thought that Jesus was not caring about her need for a helping hand. She complained to him that her sister had left her alone to do all the work by herself, and wanted him to tell Mary to help her (10:40). Actually, Martha’s problem was not her work as such, but, as Jesus pointed out, her weakness to be “worried and distracted by many things” (10:41). Literally, the word “distracted” means she was getting pulled or dragged in different directions. Her pull towards many directions of worldly engagements without setting any priorities was the main reason for her failure to give attention to the guest. Jesus wanted to tell her that too much preoccupation with work, business and worldly affairs could seduce her to forget about her spiritual needs.

This passage should be taken neither to mean Martha’s work is not important nor to mean Mary never helped her sister in household duties. Most probably, Mary had been in the kitchen with Martha until Jesus came in and began his teaching. What made him praise Mary was the choice made or the priority given by her to listen to him when he was personally present with them, especially since it was his last visit to them before his crucifixion in Jerusalem. She had made a conscious decision between two alternatives: doing work and staying with Jesus. Since she had the opportunity to listen to what Jesus had to say, she gave up her other duties and chose listening to Jesus at that time over household duties. According to Jesus, the “only one thing” needed (10:41) at that time was to be with him and listen to him. He called the choice made by Mary a better part or portion (10:42), not because domestic service is not needed or not necessary for life but because Christian discipleship consisted precisely in listening to and obeying Jesus’ Word. Household chores and other worldly engagements were a part or portion of life that had their own time. Now was the time to take spiritual ‘dish’ or food from the Lord.

Here Jesus was not so much condemning Martha's work and commending only Mary's devotion for all situations and times. What he was saying was that Mary had put her priorities in order. When Jesus said that the better part chosen by Mary would not be taken away from her (10:42), he might have meant that the knowledge of divine truths gained by her and her faith in him would last for ever. He insisted that it was not right to take away the best part chosen by her by asking her to stop listening to him and help Martha in her domestic duties (10:42).

3.  Application to life 

The two stories – the Good Samaritan (prescribed for last Sunday) and Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary (today’s gospel) – seem to emphasise active and contemplative dimensions of Christian life. Since the former story highlights active service to the needy neighbours, there is a danger of misunderstanding Christian discipleship as purely a social service. Today’s gospel serves as a corrective to that wrong impression. Both Martha and Mary knew that Jesus was a man of God and his visit was like a godly visit. At that hour their priority and main focus should have been on the spiritual food he had to offer rather than keeping themselves busy with physical food. While Mary succeeded in keeping this priority, Martha failed. Mary exemplifies what is implied by the commandment of loving God with all one’s heart, soul and strength.

Today Jesus challenges us to live our life not by chance but by choice. He calls us to consciously and deliberately choose to become like Mary from time to time and take time to reflect before him on which direction our life is going. The reason for such an insistence is, humans as we are, there is all the likelihood of neglecting this essential part of our Christian life. Jesus invites us to reflect whether we have missed the priorities of life or have neglected the essential in order to be busy with the non-essential. He wants to tell us that Christian discipleship is first and foremost a personal adherence to him.  As disciples, sitting at his (Master’s) feet and receiving spiritual food from him takes the first priority over all other works, because everything else – our work, service to neighbours, duties, relationships, social involvement, decisions – spring or flow from it. Serving our neighbours without spiritual nourishment is like expecting good fruits from a tree that has its roots cut off. Faith in Jesus or listening to his Word is that “one thing” (as told by Jesus to Martha) that is needed for a disciple more than anything else. Otherwise our care for others may not proceed from genuine love for them but from our own selfish desires. As Jesus said, the better part chosen by Mary would not be taken away from her, because she had chosen the lasting food over everything else that would pass away or perish.

      Mary knew her priorities; hence she chose the best part by putting aside other duties of life at that moment. Like her we must take time for reflection on the Word of God, self-examination and checking of our goals and priorities in life. This could become the better part of our life in the midst of so many tensions, worries and burdens of our daily work and business. Otherwise, we may lose control over own lives. In fact, all our service and works of charity flow from our devotion to the Lord’s Word and lead us back to it for further reflection and self-examination. We have to be cautious so as not to allow worldly concerns and duties to take possession of us. Over-anxiety and obsession with work and worldly concerns is dangerous. The same thing happened to the twelve apostles in the early Church. When they realized that they were getting so much engrossed in the daily work of distributing food from the common fund, they decided in their assembly: “It is not right that we should neglect the Word of God in order to wait on tables” and chose seven deacons to do that work (Acts 6:2-3).

Of course, we need to be like Martha also and take care of the essential services at home. Her work is indispensable and valuable to family. She is not reproached by Jesus for her work but for her over-anxiety, worry and distractions. Many of the illnesses of modern times, including heart attacks, are stress related. Today’s text presents Martha as a stressed out woman. In the hustle and bustle of life she had no time to be with Jesus and listen to his words that give spirit and (divine) life (Jn 6: 63). As Jesus mentions in other places, Martha is distracted and worried about what to eat (Lk 12:22), whereas her first concern or priority should be to strive for God’s Kingdom and other things would be given to her as well (Lk 12:31). Moreover, as Jesus was heading towards his suffering in Jerusalem, what he wanted at that time was not food but some friends to listen to him. Like her, the Lord challenges all of us to examine our priorities and reflect on the most essential things of life. There is a time to work hard; there is a time to listen and reflect. Striking a balance between prayer and action, reflection and work is becoming harder and harder as the world advances further and further. Most of us are forced to live busy lives full of activities and schedules. Feeling pulled in different directions like Martha without focussing on the purpose of our life is the biggest danger for us. Today’s gospel tells us to prioritize our activities and put an occasional break on our mad running. Life is full of tough choices between what is right and what is wrong, what is most important and what is less. When our faith gets deepened with prayerful reflection on God’s Word, our anxiety lessens.

In Lk 8:14 Jesus says that the condition of the ‘seed’ (God’s Word) which fell among thorns represents those who are preoccupied with the cares, riches and pleasures of life. Like Martha, we allow the secondary matter in our life to take possession of us so that it becomes our only concern. Modern people tend to treat their work, business and duty as their gods. There is so much tension, anxiety and worry in life due to cut-throat competition, target-oriented jobs and desire to become richer as fast as possible. Life seems to be so busy that there is hardly any time for prayer, reflection, interaction and even for a deeper level of communication of mutual expectations between married partners or between parents and children or even among members of religious communities.

The Lord tells us that human beings do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). Mary did precisely that. If we find ourselves quite often shouting, lashing out and complaining at our dear ones, colleagues and friends as Martha did about her sister, it is a good indication that something needs to be fixed. Today’s message reminds especially fathers of families to consciously make time for children, to be with them and guide them. This story does not teach us to sit whole day and do no work, but to make a proper discernment to set our priorities carefully and seek the better portion. There is a tendency in many of us to be possessed by work/ business/ politics which makes us sing the most common refrain: “I have no time.”

In modern times, the ubiquitous mobile phones which are supposed to be a boon (blessing) for us may become a bane (curse), if we do not apply any personal discipline about their use. If we are fully preoccupied with mobile phones throughout the day (with calls coming and going left and right), the Lord may tell us: “Martha, Martha (or so and so), you are distracted by too many calls. Can you put away your mobile phone for a while and listen to my voice? Do you feel out of place or lonely and empty without your mobile phone?” This ring tone comes from the Lord more loudly to those who are in Consecrated Life reminding them not to lose track of their priority – primacy of God and singular devotion to him alone.

      Basically, this story is not about the role of women in society or the Church but about Christian discipleship in general, of both men and women. But if we extend its pastoral application, it has an important message for the women disciples of the Lord. They are challenged not only to be busy Marthas preoccupied only with household chores and other domestic works, but also to be faithful Marys – who sit at the Lord’s feet and become hearers and doers of his Word. Like the male disciples of Jesus who left everything (their boats, nets, etc) to follow the Lord (according to Lk 5:11), here Mary is presented as a woman disciple who left her household chores to listen to Jesus and follow him.

4.  Response to God's Word

    What is our first concern or priority in life as Christ’s disciples? What are our over-anxieties, worries and distractions that lead us away from God and primary purpose of our life? Do we consider what is non-essential as essential to our life? Do we give sufficient time for God, prayer, reflections and human relationships? Are we busy only with work and what to eat and drink, or listen also to what God wants to tell us in his Word?

5.   A Prayer

      O provident God, today we place all our over-anxieties, worries and distractions into your hands. Thank you for challenging us to examine our life’s priorities and reflect on the most essential things of life. Grant that in the midst of worries and burdens of our daily work and business, like Mary, we may consciously choose to sit at your feet and listen to what you want to tell us. Amen.

           

 

15th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

 Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 10:25-37]

10.07.2022

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Readings: (1) Deut 30:10-14 (2) Col 1:15-20

1.   Theme in brief

      Love in action

2.   Focus Statement

In order to attain eternal life, we must prove our love for God by doing deeds of mercy to our neighbour, who could be anyone in need or suffering irrespective of race, nationality or creed.

3.  Explanation of the text

In today’s gospel text, the well-known Parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the context of a question asked by a lawyer to test him about his knowledge of the Law (10:25).  His question was what he must do to inherit eternal life (10:25). Jesus answered his question with a counter-question about what was written in the Law of Moses about it and how he understood the Scripture (10:26). Probably, the lawyer knew about the combination of the two scattered texts of the OT done by Jesus on previous occasions as the essence of the Law: first one from Deuteronomy 6:5 about loving God with one’s whole heart, soul, strength and mind; and the second from Leviticus 19:18 about loving one’s neighbour as oneself (10:27). Hence, he himself answered his question by citing this textual combination that Jesus might have done on previous occasions. Jesus approved his answer and told him that he would “live” (that is, inherit eternal life) precisely by “doing” what is written in the Law; that is, putting into practice the law of loving God and loving one’s neighbour as oneself (10:28).

But he had a further problem. As a lawyer, whose job was to define laws and traditions, he wanted to know from Jesus the exact definition of the term ‘neighbour’ as Jesus understood it (10:29). Therefore, he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbour” in order “to justify himself” (10:29). It means, he wanted to show himself righteous and blameless before God because he felt he had kept the Law by loving his fellow-Israelites in his neighbourhood, and probably wanted Jesus also to vindicate him. It had never occurred to him that the Gentiles and the hated Samaritans could also become his neighbours if he could minister to them in their need. He was curious to know exactly how many people could be counted as our neighbours – only fellow-Israelites, or friends, wayfarers, strangers and foreigners also? Were the hated Samaritans, Gentiles and one’s personal enemies also included in the circle of love? Where to draw the boundary line? Strict Jews like the Pharisees, never considered the Samaritans and the Gentiles as their neighbours. Instead of answering the lawyer’s question with a clear-cut definition of the term “neighbour,” Jesus told the famous story of the Good Samaritan. After listening to the story the lawyer would be asked to answer his question by himself (10:36).

In this story, all the three characters (priest, Levite and Samaritan) saw the same thing – a man stripped, beaten, and left half-dead on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (10:30). The priest and the Levite passed by him on the other side (10:31-32). They failed to act or show mercy for fear of getting involved or defiled – as per Jewish law – if the wounded man were already dead. By describing the response of the Samaritan towards that man in distress, Jesus makes it clear what he means by love: feeling “moved with pity” (10:33) at the sight of suffering; translating that feeling of pity into concrete deeds of mercy (10:37), such as going to him, bandaging his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them, putting him on his own animal, bringing him to an inn, taking care of him, giving two denarii to the innkeeper for the treatment requesting the innkeeper to take care of him and if needed promising him to pay further expenses on his return (10:34-35). All the verbs in italics point to concrete deeds of mercy performed by the Samaritan. Thus, what Jesus meant by love was not merely feeling pity or sorry for the afflicted person, but acting in practical and concrete terms to meet his needs.

That love of neighbour is not a matter to be debated or argued about, but to be practiced, is made clear by telling the lawyer to "Go and do likewise" (10: 37) – that is, do the same type of deeds of mercy done by the Samaritan to the suffering man. By doing what the Samaritan did, the lawyer could become a neighbour to him and inherit eternal life. Jesus purposely presented the Samaritan, hated and despised by the Jews, as the hero of the story, and a model of charity. The Samaritan proved that he loved God with all his heart, soul and strength by his deeds of compassion to the suffering man. Thus Jesus challenged the challenger (lawyer) to answer who became the neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers (10:36). In his answer, instead of saying that the Samaritan man became a neighbour, he gave a roundabout description: “the one who showed him mercy” (10:37). This answer makes it clear that race, caste, nationality or creed is not the criteria to consider somebody as our neighbour. He/she is anyone in need, and doing deeds of mercy to such a person is the way to put into practice one’s love for God and to attain eternal life.

4.  Application to life 

As I see it, today’s famous parable of the Good Samaritan is a subtle attack on the following attitudes and way of life within the Christian community and the Church: (1) showing indifference and don’t-care attitude towards the pain, suffering and misery of others and living an unconcerned and individualistic life without thinking that this type of life goes against the love of God that we profess in prayer and worship; (2) taking shelter under the shadow of well organized and well established institutional Church that is cut off from the life-issues and miseries of ordinary people. Yes, this parable is about the sin of non-involvement in the miseries, struggles, pain and sorrow of people around us.

This parable tells us that our charity or deeds of mercy should be done to anybody in need or distress going beyond the boundaries of nation, race, religion or kinship (relatives) circle. The lawyer in today’s gospel wanted to justify himself or wanted to show himself blameless before God by thinking that he had kept the Law. Like him, we too sometimes justify ourselves by saying that we are blameless before God because of our regular attendance in the church and faithfulness to his commandments. Just as Jesus proved the lawyer wrong in those days, he proves us also wrong today. He teaches that care and mercy should be shown both to friends and foes when they are in need or in distress. According to Jesus, both the terms ‘love’ and ‘neighbour’ are not a matter of academic debate. To answer the question who is our neighbour, we need to bother neither about the definition of the term nor its limits. Anyone whom we meet by chance on the road of life and is in need or suffering is our neighbour. We become true neighbours when we, after getting moved with pity for the needy and the suffering like the Samaritan, reach out to them with service and care, by crossing all the boundaries.

According to the lawyer’s understanding, the priest and the Levite were his neighbours because they belonged to his own ethnic community and religion. But in this parable the heretical Samaritan who is not considered a neighbour by the Jews turned out to be the real neighbour by showing his concern and care for the suffering person. Today, who is our neighbour? Our neighbour could be the one whom we know and has lost a child; one who cannot repair the roof of his/her house before the rains come; one who has no helping hands to do agricultural activities; one who is weak in studies in our classroom; one who is absent in the class for many days; one who is sick and nobody to take care of; one who has gone astray from God or the Church; etc. Loving such people does not mean mere pity, words of sympathy or a few tears. It means meeting their concrete needs by rolling up our sleeves and dirtying our fingers. Actually speaking, there is no end or limit to the list of neighbours for those who have love in their hearts and have eyes to see. Instead of asking as the lawyer asked, who the object of my love is, we must ask how we can be the subject of love towards the needy by doing what the Samaritan did. In fact, Jesus demolished all the boundaries and circles established by Jewish exponents of the Law to determine who one’s neighbour is.

Normally we consider our neighbours as good neighbours if they do not trouble anybody or do not get involved in our or in somebody else’s affairs. When there is a tragedy or accident, they may help. Otherwise they may not go out of themselves in sharing and caring. However, according to Jesus, neighbours are those who get involved in the troubles or concerns of others. Naturally, when we reach out to those in distress, it will cost us a bit of our time, energy, money, conveniences, comforts, and demand sacrifice of these things. A lot of people try to escape from the discomforts of these sacrifices by making excuses. But those who have genuine love for God in their hearts do not consider this as a loss or waste of time or these sacrifices too costly. Thank God; we have people who are willing to render selfless service in our society and in our own parishes. But as our society gets more and more modernized and secularized, we are given the impression that latest things in the market like iPod or iPhone must be loved and people must be used (even abused) for our purpose. When we begin to love things and use people, we become much worse than the priest and the Levite in today’s gospel; we bypass not only human needs but humanity itself.

Like the three characters in this parable, we too journey through ‘Jericho Roads’ of our daily life. In this journey, we meet by chance people left on the roadsides of misery. Today, Jesus invites us to have a heart of compassion for such needy people if we really love God with our whole heart, soul, strength and mind as the lawyer quoted from the Scriptures. To show compassion is to suffer with those who suffer and share their pain and agony.  Compassion does not leave us indifferent or insensitive to another’s pain but calls for solidarity with the suffering. Compassion means to go out of ourselves and reach out to those who are in need. The Good Samaritan is an example par excellence of what compassion really means. He also could have closed his eyes at the suffering and misery of that waylaid traveller and passed by on the other side just like the priest and the Levite. A ‘neighbour’ in his heart was born when he stopped and stooped down out of love to help the stranger when he saw him in distress. Everyone who stops at the suffering of another person and renders any form of help with love in his/her heart is a Good Samaritan. Notice the series of concrete actions or deeds of mercy done by him to the suffering man, in the explanation of the text given above. Jesus tells us to do similar acts of mercy.

We cannot serve God in the Church if we fail to serve him first on the road of life. Like the priest and the Levite, sometimes we pass by people who lie on the road of life. We are indifferent and insensitive to the needs, pain, suffering and misery of others. Indifference means just ignoring a person in need as if he/she did not exist. Like these two persons who bypassed the suffering man, in modern times we too pass by the needy and the suffering by making excuses not to help:  fear of getting involved, facing troubles, getting implicated, and considerations such as lack of time, urgency of other works, etc. Instead of thinking what will happen to me if I get involved, we should think what will happen to the person lying half-dead on the road, if I don’t help. The question each one of us needs to ask is whether I am willing to be a Good Samaritan to such people in such situations.

Today, the Lord invites all of us to repent for the times we have passed by somebody who needed our help, support, understanding and consolation. He also invites us to regret for the times we failed to show that we love God with all our heart, soul and strength by concrete deeds of compassion to the suffering, or for the times our love was limited to sentiments of pity without doing anything to alleviate pain and misery. Let us be sorry for failing to reach out in compassionate service and care to those who are in pain, misery and helplessness.

5.  Response to God's Word

This parable poses quite a few probing questions: Do we show compassion at the sight of pain, grief and misery? Does it remain purely at the level of sentiments and sympathy, or does it lead us to render concrete deeds of service? Who are our ‘neighbours’ today who are lying on the ‘roadside’ and are in need of our help now? How are we going to become good Samaritans to them by reaching out to them in a spirit of sharing and caring? If a despised Samaritan can become a model of charity towards his enemy (a Jew), why can’t we do the same to those who are not our friends or relatives?

6.  A Prayer

Jesus, you became a Good Samaritan for us by stooping down to render humble and sacrificial service for us unto death. As your disciples we have quite often bypassed the needy and the suffering by making excuses. We have failed to reach out to them with compassionate service and care. In our service and care we quite often fail to cross the boundaries of race, caste, tribe and religion. Give us the grace to deepen and strengthen our Christian commitment. Amen.