Deacon Joe

Jesus frequently took his disciples aside to teach them how to live after he would leave them.  The disciples had no idea what was in store for Jesus and how he would die.  But Jesus knew and prepared them to build the church after his resurrection. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.  I have come to bring not peace but the sword.”  Jesus continued to say, “and one’s enemies will be those of his household”.  Extremely harsh words for someone who proclaimed the Good News to the poor.  But Jesus had to prepare his disciples for the future. 

Then Jesus begins to put things into perspective.  He said:

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

These were the conditions of Discipleship that Jesus gave to his disciples.  Absolutely nothing could come in between them and God.  And they apply to us today just as much as to Jesus’ Disciples in that time. 

Jesus was teaching that they had to follow him without any reservations.  Nothing in their life could be more important than following him.  Jesus knew that they would have doubts and fear for their lives, even to the point of denying that they knew him.  But Jesus had to plant the seed, teach the important truths so when the Holy Spirit comes, they would have the knowledge to know what to do and what to teach others. 

Jesus was preparing his disciples to understand that people would hate them just as people of that time hated him.  But he did not stop with the cost of discipleship.  Jesus also taught them the rewards for being a disciple.  Jesus said that regardless of which position we serve him; whether a prophet meaning a leader, a righteous person meaning a layperson living a holy life or a person who is providing a drink of cold water to his disciples, they will be rewarded. 

The message that Jesus taught in his day was to love God more than anything else; more than family, more than power, more than comfortable lifestyles, more than themselves.  This last one, more than themselves, is probably the most difficult value to release to Jesus. 

In our consumer materialistic world today, it’s all about me; what I want, what I need and what makes me happy.  It’s all about me.  Jesus said this in the Gospel: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” 

We can find our life in the success of work, material wealth and control over others.  We think that we have achieved success with these things and we are in control of our lives, but we have let these things come between us and God.  It is only when we have completely surrendered our lives to Christ; when we have made him the most important value for us, even to the point that we are willing to die for our faith in him, that we will find our life in heaven. 

Let us pray that Jesus will help us lose our lives to the enticements of this world so we can find our life serving others and sharing Christ’s love with them. 

In ancient times, honor was more important than life.  It was considered acceptable to lie or even kill an opponent if that person dishonored your family’s name.  Bringing shame on an opponent was a tactic that is still practiced today.  Our current political polarization and feuds exemplify that human nature remains unchanged over the millennium. 

In today’s Gospel, Luke makes the point that the reason the scholar of the law asked this question was to test Jesus, to try to dishonor Jesus with a question that he could not answer correctly.  “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

Jesus, like he so often did, asked a question in return.  “What is written in the law?  How do you read it?”

The scholar replied: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”  This is the same answer Jesus gave another scholar previously. 

Jesus commended him for his response.  But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

Jesus was a great master at using parables to make a point.  He tells the story of a person who is on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho.  Traveling in those days was dangerous because of the robbers along the highways.  The man is robbed, beaten, striped of his clothing and left along the road for dead. 

Jesus tells of three people who pass by the victim; a priest, a Levite who served in the temple and another person that everyone probably expected to be a Jew, but Jesus uses a Samaritan instead.  This really turned the story on a different level for the listeners because the Jews and the Samaritans were enemies and the treatment by the Samaritan to a Jew would make the victim unclean. 

The priest probably considered helping the victim but the risk of becoming unclean was too great.  The Levite probably considered helping the victim but passed on for the same reason.  “What if the victim was not a Jew?” was in their minds because that would make them unclean.  We don’t have the concept of being unclean and needing to go to Jerusalem to be purified so we could be holy again.  But in that day, it was paramount to avoid anything that could make one unholy. 

John Pilch tells us:

“The Samaritan offers the first aid (wine, oil, and bandages), which the Levite could have done but neglected to do.  The Samaritan’s risk is that this victim might hate him upon
regaining consciousness.  Samaritan wine and oil were considered impure and would have made the (very likely) Judean victim impure too!” 

Finally, the Samaritan, in contrast to the robbers, promises to return and pay any additional expenses.  This is perhaps the most foolish part of this story.  If the victim should die, his family, who will not be able to find the robbers, may kill his benefactor instead.  Or if the victim survives, he may rage at this Samaritan for making him impure with Samaritan wine and oil.  It is impossible to underestimate the importance of purity, that is, the determination to “be holy as the Lord is holy”. 

It’s hard for us to understand this concept of hatred and avoidance of people just because of their race or culture and the impact that they might make us unholy and impure.  As Catholics, we believe that all people are created in God’s image and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.  And yet, we find it all around us if we look with open eyes.  We find it in our attitude toward immigrants, toward Pro Abortionists who attack us, and toward those who don’t share our views. 

In the Gospel, Jesus turns the question on the scholar and asks, “Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”  The scholar is now backed into a corner and must answer Jesus.  He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” 

We often avoid the person standing on the street corner with a cardboard sign asking for help, or wish the person wasn’t there.  We look the other way, so we don’t have to make eye contact. 

We are fortunate that when we go to the grocery store to get food, the shelves are stocked, and we can buy it.  Even though the pandemic had some shortages, we have forgotten the inconvenience.  It’s easy for us to forget that the war in Ukraine is creating a food shortage in Africa and thousands are expected to die of starvation because of it.  We must do what we can through Catholic Relief Services and like organizations to help them. 

Closer to home, it is imperative that we remain “Neighbor” to those who vandalize our churches and the Blessed Body because of our stand for Life.  It is easy for hatred against them to creep into our hearts. 

It is also imperative that we stand against Capital Punishment and Euthanasia for the old and terminally ill.  Eight states have enacted laws making a prescription for medication to end one’s life accessible to everyone.  These have fallen into the shadows of the fight against Abortion but must remain in our prayers and our fight for ‘Life from Conception through Natural Death’. 

So, who is my neighbor?  In today’s parable, Jesus said that even our enemy is our neighbor, and we must care for them like family.  Sometimes those two become the same.  How many of us have a family member we can’t stand or even hate?  Regardless of the reason, Jesus tells us that we must treat them as our neighbor too. 

It’s so easy for little things to creep into our hearts without our recognizing them for the impact they have on our spiritual lives.  Dislike for someone gradually over time becomes hatred.  Irritations from the loud obnoxious family member gradually becomes avoidance of the person.  Distain for the poor on the corner asking for help hardens our hearts against helping anyone. 

Jesus gave the scholar an invaluable lesson that applies for us today.  After the scholar answered the question, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said, “Go and do likewise.” 

We must examine our hearts and ask ourselves “Do I treat everyone with mercy as Jesus taught?” 

Today’s Gospel has not just one, but two examples of what I would call “Extreme Faith”. 

In the first account, “an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died.  But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.”  This miracle is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels. 

While the ruler’s name is mentioned in the other Gospels, it’s the miracle that is important rather than the synagogue ruler’s name.  Jesus goes with the person to heal his daughter.  The Gospel of Luke tells us that “As he went, the crowds almost crushed him.” 

In all 3 Synoptic Gospel accounts, the story of the raising of the synagogue ruler’s daughter is interrupted by the story of healing for the woman with a hemorrhage. 

In the second account, “A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.  She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.” 

With the crowds around Jesus so dense that they almost crushed him, many people had to be pressing against and touching Jesus.  But Jesus knew that someone with great faith touched him because he felt that power had gone out of him.  Only someone with a desperate need and great faith could have drawn power out of him. 

This is the only instance of someone being healed by touching Jesus that I could find.  In all the other miracles in the Gospels, Jesus touches the person to heal them.  In that culture, a woman would not have dared to touch a man let alone a Rabbi.  The woman’s faith was so great that she was healed.  The Gospel tells us “And from that hour the woman was cured.” 

“Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, “Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you.”  Notice that he didn’t say your faith has healed you.  He said, “Your faith has saved you.”  Jesus so often forgave the sins of the person in addition to healing them.  He was concerned about the whole person rather than just the physical body ailments. 

The synagogue ruler knew that Jesus’ touch would heal his daughter.  And the woman who suffered from hemorrhages knew that if she could just touch Jesus’ garment, she would be healed.  The power of Jesus’ touch is still there for us today if we have faith. 

Jesus wants healing, both spiritual and physical, for us today like he did when he walked this earth.  But it takes faith on our part. 

Do we have faith, like the parent of the girl who died and the woman with the hemorrhage, to receive his healing? 

Today’s Gospel starts with “A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” 

Jesus’ answer seems strange to us.  We are always planning and storing food for the times that we might not have any or very little.  This is especially true of the generation who lived through the Great Depression.  And many of the children from that generation learned that you must have a house and store food in preparation for the worst. 

Jesus was making the point that we should not be overly concerned about the things of earthly life, including places to live and food to eat.  I think of Mother Theresa in our time who understood this concept and lived trusting on God to provide the daily needs of the Sisters and those they served. 

In his book, The Gospel According to Matthew, David Brown writes, (I have paraphrased this selection because it was written in the King’s English and difficult to follow)

“Will you? Jesus replies.  Understand what you are committing to do.  There is no warm home, no downy pillow, or comforts that most people enjoy.  The foxes and birds places to live. but Jesus doesn’t.  Jesus has to depend on the hospitality of others, he even has to borrow a pillow for his head.  Jesus does not reject the Scribe’s offer to follow him, nor tell the Scribe not to follow Him.  Jesus only wanted the Scribe to know what he is committing to do and “consider the cost.”  Jesus wants the Scribe to weigh the strength of his attachment to earthly things and determine if he will be able to follow Jesus through adversity and trials.  If so, the Scribe is welcome to follow Jesus, for Christ will not turn anyone away.” 

It is so easy to get caught up in the moment and want to do something about an injustice of support a cause, just as this scribe did, without realizing the extreme effort and possibly the personal cost required to follow the task through to actually change the world. 

We try to provide for the future and get so involved with acquiring a house, food, things to satisfy our desires, and to have what we want right now, that it is easy to forget the real message of the Gospel.  It’s not about this earthly life but our eternal life.  And that is hard for all of us to truly comprehend in this culture. 

Jesus was teaching an invaluable lesson – The comforts of earthly life have a strong pull on us.  Are we too attached to the good things of this life to give them up?  Has the good life on earth become so important to us that we are unable to turn away from them to serve God? 

We don’t know whether the Scribe followed Jesus.  The question for us is “Are we willing to give up the comforts we have acquired to follow Jesus and share his love with others?” 

My parents divorced when I was about a year and a half old.  My mother tried to make it on her own but eventually moved my sister and me to live with her parents.  My grandfather became my father figure and was a great example of a godly person. 

We were very poor by the standards of the world but rich in family and God.  My grandfather was a janitor at a church and was uneducated in the world of business but was able to repair plumbing, install electrical wiring and build things including a house using materials from other houses he demolished for the windows, doors wood and nails.  My grandparents and mother taught me a good work ethic that lasted throughout my life. 

When I got older, I was blessed with two men who worked in the corporate world and mentored me on how to act, how businesses worked and how to excel in the corporate environment.  I owe my success in life and in the companies where I worked to these two men. 

The first one was Carl.  Carl had a lot of sayings about how people act and how to get along with others.  One of these sayings was “We criticize others for the things we subconsciously dislike about ourselves.” 

Let’s think about this for a little bit.  “We criticize others for the things we subconsciously dislike about ourselves.”  I would like to think that it’s not true but over the years, when I found myself criticizing others, I would examine myself and realize that Carl was right. 

“We criticize others for the things we subconsciously dislike about ourselves.”

Jesus taught this same lesson two thousand years ago.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus said “You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” 

Recently, Brother Stephen talked about how Jesus taught us that the intent of the heart was what mattered.  If we have slandered in our neighbor’s character in our mind, we have committed the sin even though we did not say it out loud. 

The next time we are about to criticize someone, we must pause and ask ourselves “Do I do that?”  We must examine our lives critically and honestly.  Over the years, I have found that Carl was right.  I do that.  Then I work at being less a better person.  I pray for the person I was about to criticize and for myself that I might strive to be closer to God and worry less about others around me. 

When we are critical of someone, we are really judging that person.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus also said to his disciples: “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.  For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” 

The next time we are about to criticize someone for any reason, we must pause and ask ourselves, “Do I do that?” 

Remember. “We criticize others for the things we subconsciously dislike about ourselves.”  Lord, help me not to judge others by my criticism, that you will be merciful to me, a sinner.