Faith

Radical love – Seventh Sunday in ordinary time  – Lk 6:27-38

The reading of today is a continuation of the ‘sermon on the plain’ which is so called because some of the saying of Jesus also found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, is found here. What is most definitely different from Matthew’s Gospel is the setting; Jesus does not deliver the sermon on a mount but “has come down with them to a level place” 6:17 and hence is called the ‘sermon on the plain.’

One needs to keep in mind that when Luke writes the Gospel his perspective of an ‘all inclusive’ Jesus shines forth constantly and within this perspective are special focus groups like the poor.  Jesus proclaimed that membership in the “poor of God “was not restricted to an exclusive group. For Luke, those who accept and confess that God’s kingdom is brought about by Jesus on behalf of the “poor of God” or the anawim (Hebrew for the poor) are members of the kingdom.

It is for this reason that today’s Gospel begins with the words, “but I say to you who listen”. It is to the would be disciples who are willing to listen that these words are addressed. It is these disciples who will face persecution as a consequence of their choice to stand with Jesus and His kingdom. The response of the disciple must be radical so that those who see the disciple’s response of love in the face of violence are left amazed. Being slapped in the face or stripped naked flies in the face of the natural human tendency to place self-protection first. It is for this reason that Luke introduces the theme of love of enemies here and the same theme will pervade this Gospel in several stories dealing with the Samaritans who were the enemies of the Jews.

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Faith

Not a pie in the sky when you die – Wednesday, 23rd week in ordinary time – Lk 6:20-26

If Matthew had his “Sermon on the Mount” (5:1-7:29) Luke pens his “Sermon on the Plain.” In Luke’s account, this is Jesus’ second major policy statement of his ministry. Previously in   Luke 4:14-30 he had proclaimed ‘good news to the poor’. Now to those ‘poor’ He gives them a set of attitudes.

Clearly Luke is setting an agenda for Jesus; this is the Messiah that has come for ‘all’ but who makes a preferential option for the poor. For most of us today the very word poor wraps its self around an outcome; namely material poverty which would make today’s reading very hard for an affluent person to swallow, for the four beatitudes in Luke’s Gospel are followed by four ‘woes’ for those who are rich. How could Jesus who has come for ‘all’ now start excluding some?

It makes sense therefore for us to examine the text to understand what Jesus wanted to say. The focus of Jesus’ address is the disciples (not to be confused exclusively with the apostles). These are those, like us, who follow Jesus freely and hence make a choice in accepting His calling and way of life. Despite the fact that most of us were born Christian (by convention) it is in the reception of the sacrament of confirmation that we accept Jesus freely as a disciple (by conviction). Remember that Jesus never held a gun to our head and forced us to be His disciples, His words were, “IF you wish to be my disciple”

In addressing the disciples and us, Jesus is asking us to make a choice in our way of life and is not declaring a particular social class blessed. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is reconstituting a ‘new Israel’. Remember that a few days ago he picked 12 apostles; His reconstitution of the 12 tribes of Israel. Hence the kingdom that Jesus establishes is not exclusively ‘of the poor’ but one that freely choose ‘to be poor’.

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Faith

A call within a call  – Lk 6:12-19

For Luke, the call of the disciple to be sent out as apostles is an important moment in the life of Jesus. We know this because Luke precedes this narration with a detail that might miss our eye. Jesus went up the mountain to pray and He spent the night in prayer to God. It is wonderful to see how Jesus is in communion with His Father every step of the way but even more at crucial moments of His ministry. We see this at the transfiguration, the multiplication of loaves, the night at Gethsemane and on the cross when he is in agony, to state a few. It is no wonder that Jesus, in the Gospel of John proclaims, “I and the Father are one.”

The Gospel of Luke has Jesus calling Simon and his companions and Levi to follow Him. However up to this point they are called to be disciples. The Greek word for a disciple is μαθητής mathetes, which translated means, ‘one who thinks things through.’  Mathetes is the same root word for MATHEmatics. Just as one has to think things through with a maths problem one has to think discipleship though before saying yes.

Having accepted to follow Jesus , the many disciples of Jesus  are now filtered for a specific ministry and not for  some singular honour The word for apostle in Greek ( the language in which the NT was written) is απόστολος apóstolos and translates as, ‘one who is sent’. Jesus is clear that these are not honorific titles but commissions to carry out specific work. Incidentally the Holy Father and the Cardinals in the Catholic Church are not some honorific titles but they are primarily Bishops ‘set apart with a specific commission or task’. The Holy Father is primarily the ‘Bishop of Rome’ with a task of being the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church. The Cardinals are Bishops with the calling to be the first ones to shed their blood for Christ (that is why they wear red cassocks) and not merely to be elected or elect the next Pope.

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Faith

When reformist become terrorist – Monday, 23rd week in ordinary time – Luke 6:6-11

This is the third of the six stories concerned with Jesus’ liberating action on the Sabbath and is linked to the second incident which takes place just before the reading of today in which Jesus’ disciples pluck ears of corn and eat it.

Even though the pericope of today ends with the words “they (the Pharisees) were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” ( verse 11) there is no evidence in Luke’s Gospel to show that the Pharisees were responsible in plotting the death of Jesus. Chapter 19 is the last time we hear of the Pharisees after which they disappear from Luke’s Gospel entirely.

So this text must be placed in our understanding of who the Pharisees were and what is the point being communicated in this passage or we might end up misdirecting our anger at the Pharisees, making them as we have, our favourite whipping boys.

In the 400 years before the coming of John the Baptist, the silence of the prophetic voice was filled by a group of zealous people known as the Pharisees or ‘separated ones’ . Primarily their aim was to protect the people of Israel from being corrupted by the process of Hellenization (embracing Greek culture and language). In short they could well be called reformist for they desired a true change in the faith of Israel which had now been corrupted.

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Art/ Heritage

MARY – A MASTERPIECE: ‘The Meeting at the Golden Gate’ by Filippino Lippi (1457 – 1504)

One of the leading exponents of High Renaissance Art was undoubtedly Filippino Lippi, son of the renowned yet controversial painter Fra Filippo Lippi (1406 – 69). Highly innovative and expressive, Filippino was first trained under his father and subsequently under the most outstanding painter of the time, Botticelli. The influence of both these master artists is evident in his masterpieces including ‘The Meeting of Joaquim and Anna at the Golden Gate’. Richly detailed and characterized by lightness and grace, the composition is housed at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, England.

We are drawn into the narrative by a gentle handmaiden who aligns her gaze to ours. She invites us to delve deep into the depicted scene and witness the marvellous mystery. The scene recounts the birth narrative of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Having had his offering rejected in the Temple of Jerusalem, the distraught Joaquim retires in shame to the countryside. Anna, his beloved wife, bitterly bewails her barren state.

Her prayerful knocks opened the gates of heaven. The angel of the Lord appeared to her saying, ‘Do not be afraid for a daughter will be born to you. She will be called blessed for generations. Arise, therefore, and go up to the Golden Gate. As a sign of what I have said, you will meet your husband of whom you have been so concerned.’ According to the Golden Legend the angel repeated the same message to Joaquim.

Fillipino Lippi, with utmost elegance, captures the tender embrace and the joyful reunion of Joaquim and Anna. Lippi cringes not from depicting the advanced age of the couple. While Joaquim reflects the kindness and concern of a father, the immaculate face of Anna foreshadows the heavenly grace of Mary. Allegorically, their affection represents the moment, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was immaculately conceived.

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