Tuesday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philippians 2:5-11

Yesterday we saw Paul urging the Philippians to greater unity and he gave them some motivating reasons to help bring it about.  Today he gives what is the strongest motivation of all: the example shown by Jesus.

Paul begins by asking that the Philippians make their own, or assimilate into the very core of their being, the thinking patterns of Jesus himself:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

Paul then goes on to explain this pattern of thinking.  It is a call, not just to model oneself on the moral behaviour of the historical Jesus, but on the entire Christ event as is depicted in the beautiful hymn that follows.  The same relationships should exist among the Philippians as they have with Jesus Christ, that is, they are to love and serve each other as they love and serve Christ.  There can be no separation of these two realities.

This comes in the form of a hymn.  It is not certain whether this was an already existing hymn which Paul borrowed or whether he composed it partially or in full himself.  Clearly, it expresses exactly what Paul wants to say.

The hymn is in a number of parts, each one highlighting a stage in the ‘mystery’ that is Christ for us:

• divine pre-existence
• the kenosis or self-emptying of the incarnation
• further kenosis in death
• glorification in resurrection and ascension
• adoration by the whole universe or cosmos
• the new title of ‘Lord’

As stated in the Jerusalem Bible:

“This hymn is concerned solely with the historical Christ in whose personality godhead and manhood are not divided; Paul nowhere divorces the humanity and divinity of Jesus, though he does distinguish his various stages of existence.”

Next Paul affirms that Christ had all the attributes of God himself and is fully God, who always was and always will be:

Christ Jesus, who, though he existed in the form of God…

Yet Jesus did not cling—hold on tenaciously—to that “equality with God” with all its status and privileges.  This does not mean that he renounced in any way his divine nature; that would be impossible.  But, in contrast to Adam who was seduced into wanting to be ‘like God’, he let go of all the honours and reverence that were his inherent right. Instead, Jesus:

…emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
assuming human likeness.

He took on the the human condition which we all share.  He became a slave (Greek, doulos) although he was Lord (Greek, kyrios).  There is probably a reference here to the Suffering Servant we read of in Isaiah (52:13—53:12), parts of which we read during the Good Friday liturgy.

Above all, Jesus lived in total submission to his Father, saying during his agony in the garden:

…yet not my will but yours be done.

In the words of John’s Gospel, “Jesus hid himself” (John 8:59). He hid his true Self by assuming human nature and:

…has been tested as we are, yet [is] without sin. (Heb 4:15)

Or, as the hymn today puts it, he assumed “human likeness”. This ‘emptying’ in Greek is kenosis, the word often used in commentaries for what Jesus did for us.

The glory which was his by nature and by right could now not be seen (except in the momentary breakthrough of the Transfiguration).  He was seen as just a man, a human being. He shared all our limitations, like us in all things except sin.

That said, we have to be careful to keep a balance in our understanding—Jesus was truly God, but he was also truly and in the fullest sense, a human being (Greek, anthropos homo) and a male human being (Greek, aner vir) at that.  Even today, one hears Christians understating Jesus’ humanity, as if it was only an external veneer.  It was a real man who suffered and died on the cross; anything less diminishes the full meaning of the Incarnation and the witness of God’s love which the Passion is.

But Jesus was not just incarnate as a human being.  Even in human terms, he further:

…emptied himself…he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.

Here is the ultimate submission and obedience to the Father’s will: the surrender of his life.  And it is the ultimate in self-emptying.  There was hardly anything more degrading and humiliating than crucifixion.  The crucified person was a convicted criminal and put to death by a method of appalling cruelty in full view of the public. He was left hanging naked, stripped of every vestige of human dignity.  This was the degree of degradation that Jesus accepted in order to show the depth of God’s love for us sinners. (And for us, there is no shame in Jesus’ nakedness. It is a sign of his total innocence. It is a reversal of the situation of our First Parents, when, after their sin, their nakedness became a badge of shame and guilt.)

If his death on the cross had been the end, Paul says:

…then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain.
(1 Cor 15:14)

But, Paul says:

Therefore God exalted him even more highly
and gave him the name
that is above every other name…

“Exalted” in the original Greek means “raised him high” through his resurrection and ascension. The Risen Jesus’ “name that is above every other name” means that he is now addressed as “Lord”—the name that belongs to him as the Son of God, sharing the very nature of his Father.  It is a name which puts him above all other created beings, including angels and archangels.

Across the whole universe:

…every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth…

Bending the knee expresses even greater submission than standing in the presence of a greater person.

And finally, the hymn says:

…every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

This is the very essence of our Christian belief: Jesus is Lord, sharing in the very nature of God.  By calling Jesus Lord, we give glory to God the Father.

This hymn is one of the crucial passages in Paul’s letters and indeed in the whole New Testament.  It goes right to the heart of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.  As Paul states at the beginning, it expresses the very mind of Christ, and until we have fully assimilated that “mind” into our own way of seeing our lives, we are not yet fully his disciples. We, too, have to learn how to empty ourselves and surrender ourselves totally into the hands of Jesus and the Father.

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Friday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philippians 3:17—4:1

Today, Paul continues to warn the Philippians about not being led astray in the living of their Christian faith, and he urges them to follow Paul’s own example. This might sound arrogant, but Paul, who had been himself such a devout and observant Jew, is utterly convinced that his whole life has now been taken over by Christ. As such, he now sees life in a completely different way. He is equally convinced that the Way of Jesus goes far beyond what the Law demands, and that it is the only test of a true interior spirituality. He also urges them to use as models other members of the community who see things the same way as Paul does.

Once again he deplores the presence of some who “live as enemies of the cross of Christ”. Their lives are in glaring contrast to Paul’s own conduct and to the truth of the Gospel. They are behaving in a way which negates all that Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. Jesus’ death was our liberation, and these people want to go back to a stifling and arid observance of the Law.

Paul writes:

…their god is the belly…

This does not quite mean that they live to eat, but rather that they have given a quite irrational importance to dietary laws. They act as if a person who eats ‘clean’ food is good, and one who eats ‘unclean’ food is bad. Jesus had this accusation thrown at him more than once. He responded by saying it was not what went into the stomach that counted, but what came out of the mouth and the heart.

Paul continues:

…their glory is in their shame…

This is a veiled reference to the prominence that circumcision gives to the male sexual organ, something that in all modesty (‘shame’ in actual meaning) we normally keep out of sight.

Furthermore:

…their minds are set on earthly things.

The Law is something “earthly”. Although it was given by God on Mount Sinai, people’s goodness and virtue is being measured not by spiritual values, but by the external, physical observance of certain actions and rituals.

But it is different for the followers of Christ:

…our citizenship is in heaven…

That is, our eyes are focused not on the things we do in this world, including religious actions, but on God our Father, on Jesus his Son and our Brother, and on the Spirit that guides us into all truth and love. We live here, we “work on [our] own salvation” (Phil 2:12) here, but ultimately we do not belong here. We are on our way to a better home, where:

he will wipe every tear from their eyes… (Rev 21:4)

We look forward to the day when Christ Jesus, Saviour and Lord of the whole universe, will come to take us to himself and transform our corruptible selves into something glorious that shares the very life of God.

Jesus’ power, earned by his total obedience in accepting death and given to him in his resurrection-ascension, is total and absolute. He will “transform the body of our humiliation”, subject to weakness, decay and death, to be like his glorious Body. The resurrection body, received already by Christ, who is the “firstfruits”, will be shared by believers in the future resurrection ‘harvest’. Then, the glorified Christ, as Alpha and Omega, will draw all creation—us included—into total conformity with Himself, who is the image of the Creator God.

So hang in there, urges Paul:

…stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

They are not to be led astray by the “dogs” and “cutters” who do not understand the call of the Gospel and are creators of division.

Our communities, too, can be undermined by people who, perhaps with good intentions, actually act against the spirit of the Gospel. Sometimes they are those who want to turn the clock back and restore old customs which the Church sees as no longer relevant in our day. Sometimes they are those who neglect all tradition, and act in an individualistic and self-centred way, where freedom becomes licence.

It is only by constant listening to God’s Word, constant sharing and careful discernment of the signs of the times, that we can remain faithful to the true spirit of Jesus’ teaching and the Gospel.

In the last sentence today, Paul expresses his deep affection for the Philippians, arguably his favourite church community:

…my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown…

Once again the word “joy” comes in. And they are also his “crown”, the high point, as it were, of his evangelising work. This is great praise indeed for them.

How would Paul value our community or our local church, if he were to come among us today? Would we be his joy? Could we be seen as a crowning example of a Christian people?

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Monday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philippians 2:1-4

In today’s reading, Paul makes an eloquent appeal for unity among the Christians of Philippi. As he writes from prison, the encouragement and comfort he wishes most from them is that they:

…be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

As will become clear in later readings, the Philippians, like many of the churches to which Paul wrote, had their own internal problems which were a source of sometimes deep division.

He proposes four motivating forces which might help them to resolve their differences:

1. Their life in Christ: the over-riding element in all Christian living is our warm, intimate, personal relationship with Christ. If this is really the guiding factor in our living together, there will not be much room for serious divisions.
2. Love (agape): for Christians, love is, of course, the very central force in all our behaviour with each other. It is, first of all, the love that God has shown us in Christ, especially by his suffering and dying for us on the cross. Secondly, it is the law which embraces all other laws. It is the criterion by which we judge all words and actions. And where there is genuine love between brothers and sisters in the community, there cannot be any serious divisions.
3. The Spirit we have in common: that Spirit is God communicating to us the Gospel message we have received from Christ, and uniting us together in a true fellowship. If we are all filled with that same Spirit, then we are going to speak and act in real harmony with each other, driven as we are by a common vision.
4. Tenderness and sympathy: this expresses the deep care and concern that we have for each other. It is this encouragement, comfort, fellowship, tenderness and compassion which will dissipate any disunity and discord in the community.

If their community life can be guided by these qualities, then, says Paul, they can:

… be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

This is not so much a plea for total uniformity, but rather the ability to work together towards a common goal in a spirit of tolerance and acceptance of each other.

Paul in general is very pleased with the church at Philippi, but if it could realise the unity he is urging on them, that would make him completely happy. The implication is that complete unity has not yet been achieved; that there are some divisions among them.

As a step towards that unity he gives some advice. They should be free of a competitive spirit, where different groups claim to have the truth, and self-centred conceit (‘all out of step except me’). Such ambition or self-centredness is destructive of real unity in the community. And alas, such competitiveness and conceit is not at all unknown in our own churches today.

On the contrary, the Philippians are to:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit…

That is, they are to be free from arrogance and self-centredness and focused more on the needs of their brothers and sisters.

They are to:

…in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others.

That does not mean denying one’s gifts and talents, but it does mean that the love that each one has for others leads them to giving preference to the needs of others. They are to have the attitude that my gifts are not to be focused on myself, but rather are to be used for the benefit of others—just as others will use their gifts for my benefit. In this way, we all gain by reaching out to each other.

All of what Paul says can be applied to our Church living today. We, too, need to be more united, more tolerant and more accepting. We, too, need to be filled with those four elements which will make any real disunity and division—as opposed to acceptable diversity and pluralism—impossible among us.

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Monday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 14:12-14

After giving the scribes and Pharisees advice on how (not) to choose a place at a banquet, Jesus goes on to teach his host what to do when he holds a dinner. He should not invite family members, relatives, friends and the influential rich from whom he can expect to get similar invitations in return.

Rather he should go out of his way to:

…invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind…you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.

This will be a proof of the genuineness of his generosity. Sharing meals with friends is a lovely thing, but Jesus is making the point that our mutual entertainment should not be at the expense of those who do not have enough to eat. It will be a real act of love, and not be a form of self-seeking and self-aggrandisement or mutual back scratching in a never-ending entertainment circus.

It reminds us of what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount about loving those who love us:

Do not even the gentiles do the same? (Matt 5:47)

There is no real virtue in this. In fact, it can be a way of using people to our own advantage. It also reminds us of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In such circumstances, uncaring self-indulgence can in no way be justified.

We might remark here, of course, that there is no such thing as pure altruism, that is, an action that is done purely for others with absolutely nothing for self. Everything we do, we do ultimately for ourselves. We have no choice but to seek our own good—to act otherwise would be quite silly and even wrong. It all depends on how and why we do it.

A person can seek self by using, manipulating, and exploiting others for one’s own gain. But a person can use all their energies for the good of others, and in doing so, there is a feeling of satisfaction in doing the right thing. Even one’s life can be sacrificed as the only way of satisfying self. For instance, a mother may not hesitate to sacrifice her life to save a child in danger. Not to do so would lead to a situation she might find difficult to live with for the rest of her life.

We do have to seek our own interests. We can do that at the expense of others, or we can realise that it is by sharing what we have with others in need that we become enriched in a very special way.

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Wednesday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philippians 2:12-18

Today’s reading follows immediately on yesterday’s hymn about the “mind of Christ”, depicted in his ‘self-emptying’ as his way to glory. Paul now exhorts the Philippians to follow the teaching he has given them, which is none other than the teaching of Jesus and the Gospel. They did follow his teaching when he was with them (during visits on his second and third missionary journeys) and he hopes that they will continue to do so now that they are separated from each other.

He tells them to:

…work on your own salvation with fear and trembling…

Working on their salvation means leaving themselves continually open to the loving influence of God in their lives. Salvation is not something that one achieves by one’s own efforts; it comes from accepting the love of God into one’s life and behaving accordingly. As Paul says today:

…it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Every good thing we say and do, we say and do in him and through him—and for him.

The phrase “in fear and trembling” is a biblical cliche‚ used several times by Paul and is not intended in a frightening sense. Rather it calls for that sense of awe and reverence which comes when we begin to grasp the transcendence and unknowability of our God.

Paul now indicates some of the areas where we ensure that we experience the saving power of God and have the mind of Christ. All that has to be done should be carried out without complaining or arguing. One senses that, in fact, there was a certain amount of complaining and arguing going on among the Philippians. Such complaining could indicate discontent with their lot, resulting in grumbling against God. The arguing could be over issues in the church, which resulted in division and disunity.

Paul wants the Philippians to be:

…blameless and innocent, children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

He wants them to give a convincing witness of the Gospel vision in the unbelieving and immoral world which surrounds them.

In the surrounding darkness of sin and immorality, they will then shine out like stars. This reflects the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount when he told his disciples to be:

…the light of the world. A city built on a hill…[letting] your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works… (Matt 5:13-16)

An invisible Christian is a contradiction in terms; and an immoral Christian is a wound on the Gospel.

But if the Philippians are able to act as Paul urges, it will give him great pride on the day of judgment, for it would mean that all his efforts among them had not been in vain:

…so that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

And he goes so far as to say that even if his present imprisonment ends in shedding his blood through a martyr’s death, it would still be an occasion for great joy and thanksgiving both for him and for them:

But even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with all of you…

This is another example of the mood of joy which pervades the Letter.

Libations, or the pouring out of blood, were common in both Greek and Jewish sacrifices. Paul uses this image to express his share in the overall offering that the Philippians have made and are making through the living out of their Christian faith. He may be referring to his whole ministry as one large thanksgiving sacrifice, or it is more likely he is speaking of his present imprisonment, which might well bring him a martyr’s death. His life would then be poured out as a drink offering accompanying the sacrificial service of the Philippians.

Again we see Paul’s total and unconditional giving of himself to Jesus and the work of proclaiming the Gospel. In this, his own life is secondary. The only thing that matters in life or death is being close to Jesus, his beloved Lord. And if Paul loses his life, it will not only be a source of joy for Paul himself, but something over which the Philippians too should rejoice, because it is another victory of the Gospel over sin and evil.

Let us reflect today on the quality of our witness to the Gospel, both individually and collectively. What image do we have individually and collectively in our society? It is not a question of being loved and admired. When we are being most Christian may be a time when we will be most violently attacked. But never let it be said that we are clearly unfaithful to the vision of the Gospel we claim to follow.

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Wednesday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 14:25-33

Luke’s Gospel is noteworthy for its extremes. On the one hand, it shows the radical and uncompromising demands that Jesus makes on those who would be his followers and, at the same time, emphasises as none of the other Gospels do, the gentleness and compassion of Jesus for the sinful and the weak. Both pictures have always to be kept simultaneously in view and they are in no way contradictory. Today and tomorrow we will see both of these images of Jesus back to back.

In today’s passage we see Jesus, as was often the case, surrounded by a huge crowd of people. They are full of enthusiasm and expectation, but Jesus very quickly pulls them up short. He says:

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

This is a very shocking demand, especially for a society where people’s whole lives were centred on their families.  Luke is alone in asking that even the wife, too, be abandoned, but this is just an example of the totality of our commitment to following Jesus.

However, we have to make two qualifications.  First, the word ‘hate’ is a Semitic expression not to be taken literally.  It could not be so taken, as the whole of Jesus’ teaching is based on love, not only of blood relatives, but of strangers and even enemies.  It is rather a dramatic way of saying that anyone who puts any person, even those closest to them, before total commitment to Christ and his mission is not ready to be a disciple. There can be no compromise here—it is all or nothing.

Second, we also have to say that Jesus is not recommending a literal abandonment of one’s family. That would be highly irresponsible and a violation of that commandment of universal love. But it is clear that, for those who want to be part of Jesus’ work, they have to give themselves completely and unconditionally.  And where there is a choice between the clear call of the gospel and personal attachments, they have to let go of the latter.

It is important for the crowd to hear this. Following Christ is not just like football fans stalking their favourite player or ‘groupies’ following a pop star from city to city.  There is a price to be paid, and they need to know that there is one, and what it is. That price is the cross, a level of sacrifice and suffering—perhaps even of one’s life—that each one must be prepared to undergo for the sake of the gospel and the building of the Kingdom.

So, to illustrate this Jesus gives two examples. The first is of a man who had a plan to build a tower. Before he started, he made sure that he had all the necessary resources. Otherwise he might find that, after laying the foundations, he could not finish the work and he would become the laughing stock of others. “Ha! Ha! He began to build what he could not finish.”

In the second example Jesus speaks of a king with 10,000 soldiers who finds he is going to war with another king who has 20,000. If he thinks there is no way he can win, he will send an emissary to negotiate the best peace terms he can get. Similarly, says Jesus, no one can be a disciple of his who is not ready to let go of everything he has.

Following him has to be absolute and unconditional. How many of the crowd listening were ready for that?  How many of us are ready for that?  Am I ready?  What are the things I am clinging to?  What are the things I cannot let go of?  And why is that?

To be a disciple of Jesus means being absolutely free.  It reminds one of Francis of Assisi leaving his family and taking off all his rich and fancy clothes to replace them with a beggar’s rags, and being filled with a tremendous sense of joy and liberation.  Do I want to be a disciple of Jesus?  To what extent?  Am I ready to pay the price he asks?

The paradox, of course, is that once I pay the price, I will get so much in return. Just ask St Francis or St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa) about this.

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Thursday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philippians 3:3-8

Paul has already mentioned divisions and arguing among the Philippian community. Today he indicates one source of the problem, namely, the agitation of the Judaisers (those who believed that Levitical Law should be binding on Christians). We already saw this problem when reading the Letter to the Galatians. Clearly it was a fairly widespread phenomenon. Perhaps it was less expected in Philippi, where there were not many Jews and apparently, not even a synagogue (see Acts 16:13).

The first Christians were all Jews and in the beginning they naturally followed many of their traditional customs. But once non-Jews began to be accepted as full members of the Christian community, many of these traditions and the place of the Mosaic Law were seen in a different light. It gradually became clear that the teaching of Jesus transcended this Law. It was not that the Law was abolished, but rather that the demands of the Gospel included and went far beyond the Law. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is quoted as saying:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
(Matt 5:17)

One of the most basic marks of identity for the Jews was circumcision. The Jews were not the only people to practise it (Muslims did also), but for them it had a very special religious significance as God’s people. Soon after non-Jews, ‘pagans’, began to be admitted to baptism, it became clear that the custom of circumcision should not be extended to them. (It would have been a very painful operation for adults, who formed the bulk of converts, to undergo.)

However, in many places, especially in more outlying areas of the Jewish diaspora*, there were Jewish converts who felt that traditional Jewish customs should be preserved, in particular, the custom of male circumcision. As we saw, Paul has much to say about this in his letter to the Galatians.

But in Philippi, too, he was faced with this problem. After attacking his critics and referring to them contemptuously as “dogs” and “evil workers”, he claims that the Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, were the real people of the circumcision. ‘Dogs’ was a highly insulting term, often applied to Gentiles, because of their ritual uncleanness. As scavengers that would eat anything, dogs were regarded as very unclean. Even Jesus used the term about Gentiles, indicating their ‘uncleanness’ (Matt 15:26). Paul is suggesting that the Judaisers are also, in a sense, unclean.

He sees circumcision in a spiritual sense. The truly ‘circumcised’ are those who are inwardly united with God through his Spirit, not those who have had a physical operation on a part of their body. The cutting of the body by itself is no guarantee of true allegiance to God. (We might say the same of the purely external observance of a sacramental ritual, e.g. pouring water and saying some words in Baptism.)

In some translations of the Bible, Paul contemptuously calls his critics ‘cutters’. Paul is using a term (Greek, katatome, literally ‘cutting down’) as a contemptuous pun on ‘circumcision’ (peritome, literally ‘cutting around’). By doing so, he is implying a comparison between physical circumcision and the self-inflicted gashes in pagan cults, as described in the famous ‘competition’ between Elijah and the priests of Baal, who slashed themselves in their frenzy (see 1 Kings 18:28).

Instead, it is the Christians who “are the circumcision”. They are the ones who worship through the Spirit of God and whose boast is in Christ Jesus, and who do not put their confidence in the flesh—that is, merely outward observances of the Old Law, or weak human nature.

And Paul does not speak as a gentile ‘outsider’. On the contrary, Paul claims he is more qualified than most other Jews, especially those in the Greek-speaking diaspora. He then proceeds to present his Jewish credentials, credentials that probably none of his Judaising opponents could match:

• Even though born in Tarsus, Paul is a true Hebrew, belonging to the tribe of Benjamin. His Jewish roots are deep and unambiguous. Jerusalem, the Holy City, lay on the border of the tribal territory of Benjamin.
• Both his parents were Hebrew (unlike some of the diaspora Jews or those converted to Judaism) and Pharisees too, as he says elsewhere. We know also that, unlike Hellenist Jews who would have spoken Greek, Paul knew Aramaic (Acts 21:40).
• He was physically circumcised at eight days after his birth, as laid down by the Law (Gen 17:12).

When it came to observing the Mosaic Law, Paul was a Pharisee. Nothing more needed to be said about his orthodoxy. As we know from the Gospels, the Pharisees made a point of observing the Law in its tiniest details. As for working for his religion, Paul was one of the most zealous in persecuting the infant Church. If observing the Law could make a person perfect, then Paul was absolutely without fault.

But that all changed when Christ came into his life. All those things he formerly believed brought him closer to God, he saw now as barriers. The former advantages were seen now as grave disadvantages; the former profits seen now as losses. For him now, everything is outweighed by the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. And this is not knowledge about Christ, but a personal, intimate, and mutual knowing which colours every facet of his life.

It is not that the Law is wrong; it is just not needed—it has been superseded. Union with God is now seen not as the external and perfect observation of laws, regulations and traditions, but the establishment of a close, personal relationship with God through Jesus. This relationship allows God to work in a person and bring about a complete transformation in one’s thinking and behaviour.

Unfortunately, there are still Christians today who measure the quality of Christian life by strictness in keeping rules and regulations, and these tend also to be very critical of those they see as less observant than themselves. Obviously, for the sake of good order, the Church, like any other society, needs a certain number of laws and regulations.

But we must never forget that, ultimately, we will be measured not by our keeping of these regulations, but by the depth of our relationship with God in Christ, and our living out of the Gospel in relationship with others. It is the level of our loving that will be the criterion:

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)

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*It is not unusual for ethnic or religious groups living overseas and surrounded by “outsiders” to be more conservative and more concerned with preserving traditional marks of identity than those who are at the centre.

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Thursday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 15:1-10

The previous Gospel passage seemed to show Jesus at his most radical:

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

Today we see Jesus’ compassionate and understanding side. These two views are not contradictory.

The Gospel says that tax collectors and sinners were gathering round to listen to Jesus. To some of the Pharisees and scribes this was quite scandalous. They say: “This fellow [Greek, houtos; and one can hear the contempt in the phrase] welcomes sinners and eats with them.” As far as they were concerned, any God-fearing person, not to mention a rabbi (teacher), would have absolutely nothing to do with such people.

It was bad enough socialising with them, but to share their food was unthinkable. They were unclean, and one became unclean by sitting at the same table with them. To eat with people was a sign of recognition and acceptance. As far as the Pharisees were concerned, these were contemptible, unclean sinners. It only confirmed the opinion of the Pharisees and scribes that Jesus was a person to be removed.

In reply, Luke gives us three separate parables, each touching on the same theme. We have two of them today. The third and most famous—the Prodigal Son—appears elsewhere in the liturgical readings (24th Sunday in Year C). Each one is a picture of God’s attitude towards the sinner, and it is very different from that of the Pharisee.

The first is of a shepherd who has lost one of 100 sheep entrusted to his care. The theme of the sheep and the shepherd is common in the Old Testament. We think of the famous Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd…”) and a beautiful passage in Ezekiel (34:11-16). Without hesitation, the good shepherd leaves the 99 ‘good’ sheep and goes off looking for the stray. When he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders and comes back in jubilation, inviting all his friends and neighbours to celebrate:

Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.

Similarly, concludes Jesus, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who sincerely repents and comes back to God than over many (self-) ‘righteous’ people who have no need to repent, or who think they have no need to repent. There seems to be an ironic and sarcastic tone here. Who does not need to repent of something at some time? Jesus presents a totally different attitude to the repentant sinner, and he gives it as God’s own attitude.

The second parable is similar. A housewife who has “10 silver coins” (drachmas)—probably the sum total of her wealth—has lost one of them. Will she not turn the whole house upside down looking for it? A house like this would typically have no windows and rough earthen floors (and, of course, no electricity!), making a search quite difficult. But when she does eventually find it, she will call in all her friends and neighbours to share her joy:

Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.

Jesus concludes:

…there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

“In the presence of angels”, of course, means ‘with God’.

We need to remember that these stories were told as Jesus’ response to the criticism of some scribes and Pharisees. He had absolutely no reason to apologise for his mixing with tax collectors, sinners and other social and religious outcasts. He was like the shepherd or the housewife in the parables. He was looking for people who were lost so that he could bring them back.

He spent time in their company, not because he did not mind what they did; on the contrary, his whole purpose was to change them. But he could not do that at a distance.

The mind of the Pharisee was different. These people with whom Jesus was associating were sinful and unclean, and the ‘good’ person had to have no contact with them of any kind or they too would become unclean.

Notice the different motivation. The Pharisee was only thinking of his own spiritual and ritual purity. Jesus was thinking of the person who was lost and needed to be brought back to a world of truth and love. And so he reached out. He went to where the sinner was. A Pharisee thought he was spiritually and morally strong, yet his avoiding the sinner showed he was afraid of contamination. Jesus was not afraid of such contamination—he was the really strong one. He could be with the sinners without becoming one of them.

Much of this is highly relevant for our Christian life today. There is probably a lot more of the Pharisee in our Christian hearts than we are prepared to admit. ‘Good’ Catholics tend to keep away from ‘immoral’ situations and the people who are there. ‘Good’ Catholics do not like to be seen in certain places which do not have a ‘good’ reputation. They even call them “occasions of sin”.

We tend to live in enclosed enclaves (we may hardly be able to call them ‘communities’), taking care of our own spiritual welfare. But that is not the Church that Christ founded. We are called to proclaim the Gospel. We are called to reach out to the sinner. To do so, we have to welcome them and eat with them. Instead of living in sanitised suburbs, we should be down in the poor sections of our cities, in our pubs and clubs, in our ‘red light’ districts reaching out and listening and, where possible, bringing back a sheep that is lost and does not know where it is going.

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Friday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 16:1-8

After the three wonderful parables about God’s mercy and longing for the reconciliation of the sinner, Luke swings back again in chapter 16 with two parables and related teaching about our use of material possessions, and he puts some of the responsibility for our salvation back on ourselves.

The first is a story about a rather dishonest steward or manager. His responsibilities were to handle all the business affairs of his employer. However, he had been mishandling his employer’s funds and was about to be fired. In this context, one may also think of the prodigal son who utterly wasted the inheritance his loving father had given him.

Immediately the steward begins to think of his future. He does not have the strength to do manual labour, and to go begging would be a terrible loss of face. So he thinks of a strategy by which he calls in all his employer’s debtors and reduces the amounts they owe.

The debts incurred were considerable. One hundred measures of olive oil was equivalent to about 800 gallons or the yield of 450 olive trees. One hundred measures of wheat was equal to about 1,000 bushels or the yield of 100 acres. Very few farmers would have had anything like that kind of land in Jesus’ time.

By doing this favour, the steward hopes to be able to find alternative employment with one of them. Surprisingly, his employer, far from being angry, praises the farsightedness of his corrupt steward.

Some commentators question whether the steward was actually acting dishonestly. Was he actually denying his employer money which he was really owed, or was he rather writing off the ‘commission’ which he was usuriously charging, thus inflating the proper amount owed? The Mosaic law forbade taking interest on loans from fellow Jews, so one way of getting round this was to overcharge debtors. By reducing the debts to the proper level, the steward was correcting an injustice and, at the same time, making these debtors favourably disposed towards him. Whatever the interpretation, the point Jesus is making is the same: the steward acted with shrewdness and intelligence to guarantee his future.

Jesus concludes by pointing out that the worldly (“the children of this age”) are far more astute in providing for their future than are those who are regarded as spiritual (”the children of light)”. Jesus is in no way condoning the steward’s dishonest and corrupt behaviour. What he does praise is his clear-sighted preparation for his future.

The lesson for us should also be clear. If a man can do that for his earthly career, what about our future in the life to come? If we want to guarantee our future life with God then we, too, need to take the necessary steps. Those steps are clearly laid out in the Gospel. In general, they involve a life which is built on truth and integrity, and on love, compassion and justice with regard to the people around us. Our task is to work with God in making his will our own and in building up the Kingdom. If we do this on a daily basis, then we have nothing to worry about and our future is assured.

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Saturday of Week 31 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on Philemon 4:10-19 (more…)

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