15th Sunday - A (July 16, 2023)

 

Little Seeds

Matthew 13: 1-23

 

Last week, Jesus spoke of the little ones to whom God “graciously will” to reveal the mystery of God and God’s love. 

 

Today, Jesus speaks of the little seeds of “the word of the kingdom” that he sows with generosity and without discrimination.  The seeds though small can “bear fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”  Such is the power of God’s words.

 

Now, we are empowered by Jesus, the Word of God Made Flesh, to also sow the seeds of God’s Kingdom in our attitudes, words, and actions, generously and without discrimination.  These can be little things, but with God’s grace, can “bear fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold.”  Such is the power of God working in and through us.  

 

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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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15th Sunday - B (July 11, 2021)

 

Jesus’ Mission, with His Authority

Mark 6: 7-13

 

Jesus “gives [the Twelve] authority” and sends them out.

 

As they go, they “preach repentance,” “drive out many demons,” and “cure the sick.”

 

These are the same ministries that Jesus has been doing with the Twelve accompanying him.

 

Now, Jesus sends them to continue his mission.

 

So it is with us.  He sends us out today to continue his mission, with his authority.  

 

 

Image source:  James Tissot, He Sent Them Out Two by Two, wikimedia.org

 

15th Sunday - A (July 12, 2020)

Blessed!

Matthew 13: 1-23

“Knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you.” 

Continuing the Gospel we heard a week ago, we are the “little ones” who God, in God’s “gracious will,” has “revealed” these mysteries to us. 

Indeed, “blessed are our eyes, because they see, and our ears, because they hear.”

All is grace.

There is no room for a sense of entitlement. 

Only humility and gratitude. 

15th Sunday - C (July 14, 2019)

The Compassion and Mercy of the Kingdom of God

Luke 10: 25-37

Jesus continues to travel toward Jerusalem to fulfill his mission.  Last week, we learned that he sent out his disciples to proclaim “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”  Their message includes the gift of peace.

Today, Jesus continues the proclamation of the Kingdom of God in calling us to live with compassion and mercy. 

In between the two passages, Jesus declares that his Gospel is a gift from the Father, “Lord of heaven and earth,” to “the childlike.”  Moreover, it is “hidden from the wise and the learned” (10:21). 

The Jewish audience of the parable of the Good Samaritan is in for a big surprise.  Jesus challenges them, Jewish people, to imitate a Samaritan.  This outsider “was moved with compassion” for the victim of the robbers.  He goes out of his way to care for the victim.  He spends money, the amount equaled to two days’ worth of labor, and even goes into debt for whatever it might cost him, to make sure the victim is cared for while he is absent.

The Samaritan indeed has “treated him with mercy.”  

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15th Sunday - B (July 15, 2018)

We Are God’s Children

Ephesians 1:3-14 & Mark 6:7-13

Today’s second reading and the Gospel complement each other in giving us an exhortation in our identity and mission in the world. 

In the second reading, we hear Paul’s conviction that even before God created the world, “God chose us in Christ to be holy and without blemish.”  Moreover, “in love, God destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ.”  Thus, in Christ, by God’s grace, we have become God’s children.

Then in the Gospel, Jesus “summoned the Twelve and began to send them out” with his power to do what he himself had been doing – to preach, to drive out demons, and to cure the sick. 

What was given to the Twelve continues with us today.

By God’s favor, we are children of God, sharing in the mission of God’s only Son. 

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15th Sunday - A (July 16, 2017)

Commentary

Matthew 13: 1-23

A Path, Rocky Ground, Thorny Ground, or Rich Soil

This parable has three elements: the sower, the seed, and the ground.

The sower is the focus of the parable.  In fact, Jesus entitles it “the parable of the sower.” [1]  The outstanding and ever peculiar quality of the sower is that he sows generously and indiscriminately of the kinds of ground.  This is not typical behavior of farmers.  What does Jesus tell us here about the way God sows the seed of God’s word?

The seed is small, and may appear insignificant [2].  Yet, the genetic code for a plant or a large shrub is all there in that small seed.  The seed of God’s word has all the potential “to bear fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” 

Then there is the ground.  That’s me!

God sows the seed of God’s word generously.  The seed has all that is needed to bear fruit.

What kind of soil my ground is for the seed is up to me.  

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[1] & [2]  http://www.progressiveinvolvement.com

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15th Sunday - C (July 10, 2016)

Commentary

Luke 10: 25 - 37

“Moved with Compassion”

The Samaritan “was moved with compassion at the sight” of the victim of robbers.

This same expression appears two other times in the Gospel of Luke. Jesus uses it to describe the forgiving father at the sight of his prodigal son returning in Luke 15. The other time, it is used by Luke to describe Jesus when he sees the suffering widow of Nain whose son has died in Luke 7.

This expression is similar to saying, “the person's heart aches at the sight.”

The Samaritan's aching heart (compassion) moves him to act as the neighbor to the victim.

So is God's heart for us in our sufferings.

So is the heart of Jesus at the sight of our pains, struggles, and sins.

Looking at this parable in this way, it is a parable of God's mercy and compassion for us.

In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, let us allow the compassionate heart of God to touch us.

15th Sunday - B

Commentary
Mark 6: 7-13

It is Jesus’ Mission

There are three significant verbs in the way Jesus commissions the Twelve: summon, send, and give authority.

All these three verbs point to the truth that the initiative is from Jesus.

It is Jesus who has first called these Twelve to follow him.  And it is a part of God’s plan for salvation for humanity that these people were called.  Earlier, the author of this Gospel wrote, "Jesus went up the mountain and summoned those whom he wanted and they came to him.  He appointed twelve , whom he also named apostles, that they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach” (3: 13-14).

They have been with him and learned from him as he taught.  They have experienced his power.  They have witnessed the way he forgave sinners and cared for the people who are in need.  They have learned of his zeal for his mission.  And they have seen him in prayer.

Now, he sends them with his authority.

With the same pattern Jesus is sharing with us his mission of proclaiming the Good News of God’s salvation.

He calls us.  He prepares us, and he sends us, with his authority.

It is always a privilege and a grace to be called and to be sent by Jesus.  

This should give us both humility and courage.  

It is always Jesus’s mission, not ours.

15th Sunday - B (July 12, 2015)

Readings

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15th Sunday - A

Commentary

Matthew 13: 1 – 23

Blessed Are Your Eyes, Blessed Are Your Ears

One of the themes of this passage can be seen as the continuation of a theme in the passage we heard last Sunday.  Then, Jesus praised the Father for revealing the mysteries of God’s Kingdom to the little ones.

And today, Jesus identifies the blessing given to the little ones of God’s Kingdom, “Blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear.   Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

We must recognize and appreciate what we have seen and heard of the mysteries of God and the Kingdom are God’s gifts and blessings.  Only then can we be open to receive God’s mysteries, and be the rich soil where the seed grows and produces fruit.  

15th Sunday - A (July 13, 2014)

Readings

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15th Sunday - C

Commentary

Luke 10: 25-37

Right Question, Right Attitude, Wrong Motivation

In today’s Gospel passage, the scholar of the law asks the right question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

That is the question we all should ask.  Jesus himself warns us, “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Luke 9:25). [1]

In his question, the scholar conveys a right attitude.  His use of the correct verb “to inherit” suggests his awareness that eternal life is given to us.  As a scholar, he knows the Jewish understanding that it was God who gave the Chosen People the land as an inheritance.  [2]. 

But his motivation is wrong.  As Luke puts it, the man asks the question “to test Jesus.”

He has not come to know or accept Jesus is the gift of eternal life that the Father gives to the world. 

Do we ask the right question, with the right attitude, and the right motivation?  

And do we allow Jesus to be our way to eternal life?

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[1] Matthew recorded the similar warning from Jesus with a reference to forfeiting one’s life “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?” (Matthew 16:26).

[2] Genesis 28:4.  Quoted Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke; Sacra Pagina Series.  Collegeville, MN; Liturgical Press, 1991; p. 172.

15th Sunday - C (July 14, 2013)

Readings

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