Ordinary Time

Reading the prophet Isaiah, we find that when God enlightens our mind and heart, we begin to see things differently. We discover our responsibility for the life and welfare of others, especially those who are poor and oppressed. Enlightened by grace, we are moved to share our bread with those who are hungry, care for those who are homeless and oppressed; when we do this, we bring light and hope into the darkness of their lives. By the light of God’s grace, we see and we are seen. In the Gospel, Jesus lets His disciples know that He hasn’t shared the light of His love with them so that they can keep it to themselves. He wants His light to shine in them and through them for all the world to see.

When we think about all the issues that face our world today, we can be overwhelmed and wonder how we can possibly make a difference. The lives of millions of people across the globe have been disrupted by war and violence. Wherever we look, the darkness is closing around us. We need a light to help us navigate through this hopeless prospect. Jesus has enlightened us with a Gospel of love. He has sent us to bring the light of His love to others. With the light of Christ, we ourselves can see and we will be seen helping the world to avoid the greatest catastrophe of self-destruction.

The Gospel gives a summary of Jesus’ activity. He preaches in synagogues, He heals sick people; this does begin to sound like Good News for those involved. Today’s passage consists of the most familiar of all Gospel text, covering a surprising range from ordinary Sundays and weekdays to major seasons, from funerals to weddings, and on a variety of commemorations, sacramental ceremonies and saints’ days. The one who proclaims the Good News assumes the guise of an authoritative teacher. In New Testament times, teachers simply sat down in an open space and began to teach. In the Beatitudes, Jesus makes plain what the Good News consists of: it is the possession of the list: the kingdom of heaven.

The Good news is that the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus turned word into action when He cured sick people, cleansed lepers, forgave sinners; that is when He made the words of Beatitudes a concrete reality for those whose lives were broken. In Jesus’ final sermon in Matthew, in the last judgment parable, He tells His followers that whatever they behaved towards the least of His brothers and sisters is the way they behaved to Christ himself.

The Church invites us to think about the end of things. Our world, in which we spend so much time planning and securing our worldly future, is only temporary. Our own lives in this world will not last for ever, but, while on earth, we have a duty to be faithful witnesses to the message of peace and love given by Jesus. Jesus warns that His followers will be manhandled, persecuted, summoned before synagogues and imprisoned because of their faith. Some will be betrayed by family, relatives and friends. Jesus asks His followers to remain committed to Him in an often hostile environment. He counsels them not to be frightened but to be faithful. Each follower is encouraged to accept whatever persecution or rejection may come as an opportunity for witnessing to that commitment.

The Gospel challenges us to get involved in the world, working for the common good, justice and peace. Jesus urges His followers not to be passive, complacent or apathetic, but to be willing to take a stand to promote God’s kingdom, regardless of cost. We are called to remain steadfast in our faith in God’s reign. In our times, we are seeing terrible famines, wars and environmental crises, which are threatening life as we have known it, and they frighten us. Jesus promises that good will triumph over evil, love over hate, justice and peace over injustice and war, life over death. However, for many of us, the problem is not anxiety about the end of our world but living as if there were an eternity of tomorrow. The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel are ignored. Yet the readings remind us how short and precious life is, calling us to reflect upon our lives, urging us to look ahead to see where we are headed and ask ourselves: What do we need to go to get ready for Christ?

Today’s readings confront us with the question of what death is – and what comes after. And that question is important because it helps us to shape how we live in the present. In the first reading, those 7 brothers were able to endure terrible hardship because of their faith in God’s ability to raise them up after death. Their belief in the resurrection enabled them to remain true to their identity, to their values, to their God. In the Gospel, the Sadducees, who believed there is no afterlife, dragged up a little-used law about marrying your dead brother’s wife in order to ridicule Jesus’ belief in the resurrection of the dead. Jesus says that for those who belong to God, there is no need for such devices to try to cheat death. Those who have died and “are judged worthy” are living with God, where there is no need to think of marrying and having children to try to preserve your name or to carry on the human race. Why? Quite simply, because there is no more death. Jesus is crystal clear: this life is not the end. God wants us to live in God’s presence for ever.

Our belief in the resurrection shows us that to God, life is absolutely important. God created us for life, not death. God is God of the living, Jesus tells us, and what we do with our life determines our future life with God. Faith in the resurrection led the 7 brothers to resist an evil king. It led Jesus to the cross. For Christians, it leads us to cherish life in the here and now and to defend life for all – especially those whose quality of life is most threatened.

For many people in Jericho, Zacchaeus was a write-off, a selfish waste of space. He was beyond the pale and beyond redemption. Many people in the world believe this to be true of others. The selfish behavior of human beings can lead us to conclude that this world is beyond saving. Certainly the extremes of violence that we see and hear of every day tend to make us feel somewhat hopeless about the prospects for a brighter future. Recent scientific studies by the Common Cause Foundation have turned up surprisingly positive results about human beings. The first says that we are far more unselfish than we are given credit for. The second conclusion is that others are thought to be more selfish than in fact they are. Science is coming to the same conviction that our faith already teaches us. Human kindness is greater than human wickedness. Salvation can come to this house. Followers of the Lord live by this conviction.

In Gospel according to St. Luke Jesus teaches us about prayer. First we learn to pray with Jesus to the Father in what we called “Lord’s Prayer”. We learn that we must remember to give thanks and praise to God, and that we must persevere in our petitions to God. God favors prayer which is humble. Such is the lesson within the parable of the 2 men who went up to the temple to pray. God wasn’t pleased with the prayer of the proud Pharisee. Actually it was no prayer but only a list of self-congratulations. But God was pleased with the humble tax collector. His was a sincere prayer of mercy. Jesus took delight in making the least likely candidate for imitation the hero of His stories. Everybody despised tax collectors, the ancient version of IRS, but this man acknowledged his sins and begged God for mercy.

The tax collector made the right choice. He went to the right person for the repairs he needed. He made no excuses. He diagnosed his own problem and asked God for the grace he needed in his simple prayer, “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”

The tax collector’s prayer was one of to God. Authentic petitions, a plea for help, the type of prayer we often offer to God. We asked God favors because we know He is the right person to turn to, that He has the power to help us. That is half of humility: to acknowledge God’s power which is greater than any power in the universe. The second half of humility is to admit that we need God, that we cannot go it alone, that we depend on God’s love as well as on His power. Humble prayer expresses God’s power and our need. Our humble prayer goes right to heaven because the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds and does not rest until reaches its goal.