18th Sunday - C (July 31, 2022)

 

Myself, My Needs, My Plan

Luke 12: 13-21

 

Three Sundays ago, Jesus gave us the example of the Good Samaritan, who went out of his way to take care of a stranger in need. 

 

The following Sunday we learned the example of Martha, who welcome Jesus into her home.  Jesus told her not to be anxious and worried about many things.

 

Last Sunday, Jesus taught us to pray that first “hallowed by God’s name” and “God’s kingdom come,” then to pray for our daily bread.

 

Today, Jesus gives us an example of the opposite of what he taught us the previous three Sundays.  In this parable, the main character’s only concern is about himself [1].  That is why he fails to be grateful to God.  Furthermore, he erroneously thinks that his life and his future are in his control.  Unsurprisingly, unlike Martha or the Good Samaritan, he fails to concern for others and their needs.

 

Jesus again teaches to put God first, then others ahead of ourselves.

 

[1] Pablo Gadenz, The Gospel of Luke, Baker Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI, 2018, p. 239.

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17th Sunday - C (July 24, 2022)

 

“Father”

Luke 11: 1-13

 

When Jesus prayed, his intimacy with God the Father must have been so evident and inspiring.  Witnessing Jesus at prayer, the disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.

 

In response, Jesus taught the disciples then, and is teaching us now, to call God, “Father.”

 

Jesus has that inspiring intimacy with the Father.  Imitating Jesus, as we call God “Father,” may we grow in our intimacy with God.

 

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16th Sunday - C (July 17, 2022)

 

Welcome Jesus and Listen to Him

Luke 10: 38-42

 

Last Sunday, with the example of the Good Samaritan, Jesus taught the ultimate value of caring for others, especially those who are in need.

 

The week before, when sending out the seventy-two disciples, Jesus told them to stay where they would be welcome.

 

Both of those passages are taken from Luke, Chapter 10, which we continue today.

 

Against that background, it is not by accident that Luke begins today’s Gospel reporting that “Martha welcomed” Jesus into her home. 

 

We need to grow in “listening to” Jesus.  Yes.  But first, we must imitate Martha, welcoming Jesus into our hearts and our homes.

 

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15th Sunday - C (July 10, 2022)

 

Be Neighbor

Luke 10 25-37

 

The scholar of the law asks the question “to test Jesus.”

 

In response, after having told the parable, Jesus asks him, “Who was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

 

The true test of for us, followers of Jesus, is whether we are neighbors to those who are in need or not.  

 

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14th Sunday - C (July 3, 2022)

 

The Peace of God’s Kingdom

Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

 

Jesus commissions his disciples to preach.  Two parts of what they are to say seem intrinsically connected, “peace” and “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” 

 

Jesus today is sending us to continue his mission.  We must do the same.

 

In order to preach and witness to others that “the Kingdom of God is at hand,” we must people of peace.

 

May our thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions preach God’s peace.

 

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13th Sunday - C (June 26, 2022)

 

Freedom

Galatians 5: 1,13-18; Luke 9: 51-62

 

“For freedom Christ set us free.”  Paul would then explain to the people of Galatia that as children of God through baptism, they are free from the law of Moses and practices of Judaism. 

 

Paul further exhorts them to “use this freedom [to] serve one another through love.”

 

That is the way Jesus loves. 

 

We learn from today’s Gospel, when it was time for Jesus to be “taken up, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.”  There, he freely offered his life on the cross out of loving obedience to the Father and out of love for us.  

 

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Body and Blood of Christ (June 19, 2022)

 

We Come up Short

Luke 9: 11b - 17

 

At the beginning of Luke Chapter 9, Jesus “summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

 

The verse that immediate precedes today’s Gospel tells us that “when the apostles returned, they explained to [Jesus] what they had done.” (v. 10)

 

Still, there was now a great crowd of over five thousand people, who had come to listen to Jesus and to receive his healing.  What the Twelve had done was not enough.  And just to feed the bodies of these thousands of people, the Twelve realized, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have.”

 

Jesus then “took” what the Twelve had, “and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” 

 

“They all ate and were satisfied.”  And there was still more.

 

Jesus still does this for us.  Of course, now it is His Body and Blood.  

 

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