1 One Sabbath Jesus had gone to eat a meal in the house of a leading Pharisee, and he was carefully watched.
2 In front of him was a man suffering from dropsy;
3 so Jesus asked the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
4 But no one answered. Jesus then took the man, healed him and sent him away.
5 And he addressed them, “If your lamb or your ox falls into a well on a Sabbath day, who among you doesn’t hurry to pull it out?”
6 And they could not ans wer.
The first places
7 Jesus then told a parable to the guests, for he had noticed how they tried to take the places of honor. And he said,
8 “When you are invited to a wedding party, do not choose the best seat. It may happen that someone more important than you has been invited,
9 and your host, who invited both of you, will come and say to you: ‘Please give this person your place.’ What shame is yours when you take the lowest seat!
10 Whenever you are invited, go rather to the lowest seat, so that your host may come and say to you: ‘Friend, you must come up higher.’ And this will be a great honor for you in the presence of all the other guests.
11 For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised.”
12 Jesus also addressed the man who had invited him and said, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, or your brothers and relatives and wealthy neighbors. For surely they will also invite you in return and you will be repaid.
13 When you give a feast, invite instead the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.
14 Fortunate are you then, because they can’t repay you; you will be repaid at the Resurrection of the upright.”
A man once gave a feast
15 Upon hearing these words, one of those at the table said to Jesus, “Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God!”
16 Jesus replied, “A man once gave a feast and invited many guests.
17 When it was time for the feast he sent his servant to tell those he had invited to come, for everything was ready.
18 But all alike began to make excuses. The first said: ‘Please excuse me. I must go and see the piece of land I have just bought.’
19 Another said: ‘I am sorry, but I am on my way to try out the five yoke of oxen I have just bought.’
20 Still another said, ‘How can I come when I have just married?’
21 The servant returned alone and reported this to his master. Upon hearing the account, the master of the house flew into a rage and ordered his servant: ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 The servant reported after a while: ‘Sir, your or ders have been carried out, but there is still room.’
23 The master said: ‘Go out to the highways and country lanes and force people to come in, to make sure my house is full.
24 I tell you, none of those invited will have a morsel of my feast.”
The cost of following Jesus
25 One day, when large crowds were walking along with Jesus, he turned and said to them,
26 “If you come to me, without being ready to give up your love for your father and mother, your spouse and children, your brothers and sisters, and indeed yourself, you cannot be my disciple.
27 Whoever does not follow me carrying his own cross cannot be my disciple.
28 Do you build a house without first sitting down to count the cost to see whether you have enough to complete it?
29 Otherwise, if you have laid the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone will make fun of you:
30 ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’
31 And when a king wages war against another king, does he go to fight without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand can stand against the twenty thousand of his opponent?
32 And if not, while the other is still a long way off he sends messengers for peace talks.
33 In the same way, none of you may become my disciple if he doesn’t give up everything he has.
34 However good the salt may be, if it has lost its taste, you cannot make it salty again.
35 It is fit for neither soil nor manure. Let them throw it away. Listen then, if you have ears!”
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Comments Luke, Chapter 14
• 14.7 Here Jesus develops a biblical proverb inviting us to be modest in social gatherings (Pro 25:6-7). Such behavior befits God’s children. Whatever the area of human activity may be, we should let others seek the first place, while stepping on other people as they do so. We know that what matters is not what is seen: God knows how to exalt the humble and place them where it best suits him.
Moreover, when we go from the earthly church to the Kingdom of heaven, there will be changes in who occupies the first places. Someone who was pope, or bishop or a prominent “Catholic” may count less than the little old lady who was selling newspapers.
• 12. Everyone of us seeks to be near those who are above us, since we think we benefit more from being connected with those who are superior than with those who are inferior.
Jesus’ warning points to one of the main causes of injustice. We all share in the guilt when we decide with whom it is more beneficial to be associated; consequently everyone tries to climb higher, always leaving the weakest in the most isolated and helpless position.
It would be a strange sight to see public officials pay more attention to the poorly dressed, or to see the poorest areas supplied with water and power before the residential districts, or to see doctors go to the rural areas to practice.
EXCUSES
• 15. In many parts of the Old Testament there was talk of a “banquet” that God would prepare for good people, for his servants, when he would come to establish his Kingdom. Jesus also developed this theme many times because the banquet represents the communion of saints. The parable here is very similar to the one which Matthew relates in 22:1.
Happy are those who eat at the banquet in the kingdom of God, says the man speaking to Jesus. Perhaps he did not suspect that in order to participate in the eternal feast, it was necessary to respond then to the call from God inviting everyone to gather in his community, the church, and to build a more loving world. The one who turns away from his brothers and sisters today will not eat with others at the banquet.
We are given the reasons why those invited did not respond to the call of the Lord, when he summoned them to build a better world along with him. I have bought a land… I just got married… These are all good reasons. Yet financial concerns of the family must not stop our community involvement, nor prevent us from participating in the Christian assembly. Many times, those who enjoy greater cultural formation allow themselves to be paralyzed by the needs of a “happy home” with well-educated children. If we are not very demanding with ourselves we will be soon among those in whom the thorns have choked the seed.
Bring the poor… compel them to come to my church; force them also to fulfill the role fitting to them in society. God relies on the poor and the marginalized to maintain the aspirations toward peace and justice in the world, to awaken the consciences of those “good” peo ple who are too comfortable.
• 25. Jesus thinks about people who, after becoming enthusiastic about him and giving up their personal ambitions to dedicate themselves to the work of the Gospel, turn back to seek what ordinary people see as a more “normal” and secure life. Jesus needs disciples who commit themselves once and for all.
Why this comparison with the king going to war? Because the per son who frees himself for the service of the Gospel is, in fact, a king to whom God will give greater rewards than anyone else would give (see Mk 10:30). He must also know that the fight is against the “owner” of this world, the devil, who will stop him with a thousand unexpected tests and traps. Had he not totally surrendered, the disciple would surely fail and be worse off than if he had not even begun.
So long as you don’t give up… (v. 33). Jesus asks some people to give up their loved ones and their family problems. To all he shows that we shall never be free to answer God’s call, if we do not want to rethink our family links, our use of time and all that we sacrifice in order to live “like everyone else.”
Without giving up your love for your father and your children… (v. 26). This is found in Matthew 10:37. Luke adds: your wife.
THE BLACK SHEEP
• 4. Why do the Pharisees complain? Because they are scrupulously concerned about ritual purity. In this perspective – present in the Old Testament – in a relationship between two people, the one who is unclean will contaminate the other. Since “sinners” by definition never think of purifying themselves of the hundred and one impurities of daily life, Jesus could then be considered a teacher ready to become impure at any moment. So it is that Jesus will speak of God’s mercy that has not swept away sinners from his presence.
Then again, is not there some thing more human in the indignation of “good” people: let everyone see the difference between the rest and us! Once more Jesus battles against the old idea of merits that have been gained and therefore worthy of God’s reward.
Happy the one sheep Jesus went after, leaving the ninety-nine! Poor righteous ones who do not need God’s forgiveness!
In large cities today, the church seems to be left with only one sheep. Why does she not get out, namely, let go of her income, privileges or devotions of a commercial style, to go out looking for the ninety-nine who got lost? To leave the comfortable circle of believers who have no problems, to look beyond our re newed rituals, and to be ready to be criticized just as Jesus was criticized, is the challenge today.
Who lights the lamp, sweeps the house and searches except God himself? Out of respect for God, the Jews of Jesus’ time preferred not to name him, and they used expressions such as the angels or heaven.
ORIGINAL SIN
THE PRODIGAL FATHER
• 11. There are three characters in this parable: the father, representing God; the older son, the Pharisee. Who is the younger son? Is he the sinner or perhaps Man?
The Man wants freedom and thinks, many times, that God takes it away from him. He begins by leaving the Father, whose love he does not understand and whose presence has become a burden to him. After having wasted the heritage whose value he does not appreciate, he loses his honor and becomes the slave of others and of shameful actions (pigs were unclean animals to the Jews).
The son returns. Having be come aware of his slavery, he con vinces himself that God has a better destiny in mind for him, and he begins on the road back to his home. Upon returning, he discovers that the Father is very different from the idea that he had formed of him: the father is waiting for him and runs to meet him; he restores his dignity, erasing the memory of the lost inheritance. There is a celebration of the feast to which Jesus referred so many times.
At last we understand that God is Father. He did not put us on earth to collect merits and rewards but to discover that we are his children. We are born sinners: from the start of our lives we are led by our feelings and the bad example of the society in which we have been raised. There is still more: as long as God does not take the initiative and reveal himself to us, we cannot think of freedom other than in terms of becoming independent of him.
God is not surprised by our wickedness since, in creating us free, he accepted the risk that we might fall. God is with all of us in our experience of good and evil, until he can call us his sons and daughters, thanks to his only Son, Jesus. Note this marvelous phrase: I have sinned against God and before you. Sin goes against Heaven, that is, against God who it truth and holiness. But God is also the Father concerned for his son; the son has sinned before the one who draws good from evil.
Such is our God and Father, the one who creates us day after day, without our being aware of it, while we go on our way; the one who seeks sinners whom he can fill with his treasures.
The older son, the one who obeys, though with a closed heart, understands none of this. He has served with the hope of being rewarded, or at least, the hope of being seen as superior to others; and he is incapable to welcome sinners or to participate in the feast of Christ, because, in fact, he does not know how to love.