Saturday of Week 32 of Ordinary Time – Gospel

Commentary on Luke 18:1-8

One of the attributes attributed to Luke’s Gospel is that his is a ‘Gospel of Prayer’. We see Jesus praying in this Gospel more than in the others and he gives more teaching about prayer. Urging perseverance, today:

Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.

This is very much a theme in Paul’s letters (see Rom 1:9-10; Rom 12:12; Eph 3:13; Eph 6:18; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 5:16-17; 2 Thess 1:11; 2 Thess 3:13; 2 Cor 4:1,16 and Gal 6:9).

The parable features a totally corrupt judge, who fears neither God nor man. It also features a widow, probably the most powerless, the most pitiful and least pitied of people in the society of that time. She has lost her husband, re-marriage is likely out of the question, she has lost the support of her own family and her husband’s family, and there is nothing comparable to social welfare for her to lean on.

As far as a corrupt judge is concerned, she can be ignored. She has neither power nor money (for bribing). But this widow is different—she is persistent and will not give up. Eventually, the judge, for his sheer peace of mind, settles in her favour.

If, Jesus concludes, a corrupt and ruthless judge can be moved by the perseverance of a helpless widow, what kind of response can we expect when we, his people, call out in our helplessness to our loving and compassionate God?

I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

That is, he will give them what is rightfully due to them.

But asks Jesus, in a challenge which should make us sit up and take notice:

…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

Times of persecution are on the way—they have already begun as this Gospel is written—and some followers will give up under pressure. They will not persevere in keeping close contact with God in prayer, so as to find him and his peace in the midst of their sufferings.

It is easy to pray when things are going well. It is often in times of pressure that we, too, give up praying when we need it most, when our faith is really being put to the test. We have to pray constantly and consistently. We should not be afraid to ask for what we believe we really need.

But then, if God is such a caring person, why should we have to pray to him at all? We need to keep praying, not for his sake, but for our own. By doing so, we maintain an awareness that:

I can do nothing on my own. (John 5:30)

As well, the more we pray, the closer we come to God. And as we pray, what we ask for will gradually change. Ultimately what we want is what we need. And what we need is to bring our thinking, our dreams, our ambitions totally into line with God’s way of seeing things. The problem is, as Jesus says at the end today, how many people will really be doing that when he comes looking for us?

How often do I pray? How consistently do I ask? What do I ask for? What do I really want? Do I distinguish between what I want and what I really need? And do I really have that faith and trust in the loving providence of my God?

There is another and very different interpretation of this passage. When we read this parable about perseverance, we usually think of it in these terms: God is the judge and we are the widow. This means we should persevere in pestering God until our needs are met.

But what happens if we turn that around and say that we are the judge and God is the widow? In some ways, this interpretation makes more sense. We, like the judge, are basically unjust. Sometimes we, too, have no fear of God; that is, we do not allow God to scare us into being good.

Similarly, like the judge we persist in refusing to listen to the cries of the poor all around us. But God is the persistent widow who will not go away. God keeps badgering us, refusing to accept as final our ‘No’ to love. God will persist until we render a just judgment, that is, until we let the goodness out, until we learn to love.*

In Genesis, we are told we are made in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps our prayer could be:

Dear God, Persevering One, help us to be more like you!

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*This second interpretation of the parable comes from Sister Melanie Svoboda SND, Review for Religious, Sept-Oct 1996.

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Saturday of Week 32 of Ordinary Time – First Reading

Commentary on 3 John 5-8

Like yesterday’s reading, today’s, from the Third Letter of John, is also very short, and it is a genuine letter. It is addressed to a Christian called Gaius, about whom we know nothing, and again the author is simply identified as “the Elder” or “Presbyter”. Unlike Letters 1 and 2, Letter 3 does not touch on the major issues of love and right teaching, but deals primarily with the question of hospitality shown to travelling preachers.

In Letter 2, the Christians in the church to whom the letter was written were urged not to give hospitality to people who were preaching unacceptable doctrines about Christ. In this letter the opposite problem seems to exist. A person called Diotrephes (see vs 9-12), who refuses to accept the authority of the Elder, seems to be refusing hospitality to teachers sent into his territory. He even excommunicated those who gave such hospitality.

In contrast, the letter praises Gaius for the hospitality that he has been giving to “brothers and sisters”, travelling preachers, who were sometimes complete strangers and were a feature of the Church at this time. As most local churches were small and isolated, it was necessary for them to be visited by competent people sent by the Apostles to bring them up to an acceptable understanding of the Christian life.

Local churches were expected to provide hospitality and support to such visiting missionaries. Paul generally did not avail of material help because he preferred to support himself, but he did emphasise that he had a right to such support. But he would certainly have availed himself of accommodation offered to him. Jesus speaks about this also in his discourse to his disciples who were being sent out on mission (see Matt 10:5-15).

This, of course, is completely in harmony with Jesus’ teaching in the Gospel. The final judgement will be made on the basis of how we treated strangers, especially those in need or who are marginalised. In crime-ridden cities of the ‘developed’ West, the keeping of this commandment becomes ever more of a challenge. But it must not be set aside.

Gaius’ behaviour is a model of Christian charity, and he is further urged even to give them the help they need to get to their next destination. The preachers deserve this hospitality because they preach purely for the sake of the name—that is, the name of Jesus and his Gospel—and without any remuneration. They depend entirely for their support on the Christian communities they come to help and serve, and they get help from no one else. By offering them hospitality, the community is making its contribution to their work of spreading the Gospel message.

In our time too, we are expected to help support those who give of themselves full-time to the work of the Gospel. And, in most places, people are indeed very generous in supporting their clergy and religious. With the increase of more and more lay people devoting themselves full-time to evangelising and voluntary work with the Church, they too deserve from us the basic support they need in terms of shelter, food and other necessities.

As mentioned above, hospitality, which is still an essential practice in some parts of the world, has become a real problem in more developed societies. It is regarded as foolish and naive to trust the stranger. As a result, our homes are heavily secured with locks and alarms and we are slow to open the door to anyone except those personally known to us. Is this the price of ‘civilisation’ in an ‘advanced’ country?

We offload the responsibility of taking care of the poor, the homeless and the victims of addiction to social welfare bodies. We are willing to help by giving money, but not to giving our Christian love by reaching out to them on a person-to-person basis. Sometimes we may even avoid contact with a family member who has fallen between the cracks. The feared criticism of strangers can make us strangers even to our own flesh and blood.

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