The Gospel reveals how God accepts those who are “unacceptable” by the world’s standards. The September Living Seasons of Change “Season of Acceptance” gleans the parables from the Gospel of Luke. The parables have a multipurpose and allow for the growth that takes place in each hearer of the Word. Recognizing the wrong way/path. Surrendering to the will of God. Parables guide us in understanding who is acceptable to enter the kingdom of God. [ Download Show ] Radio show was originally broadcast September 2007
To listen to this show online Click Padua Media Catholic Radio. For outlines and references continue reading.
Transcript Season of Acceptance
Patti Brunner Welcome to Living Seasons of Change. I’m Patti Brunner. Today, Monsignor David LeSieur and I will glean the parables that appear in the Gospel of Luke during the 22nd to the 26th week of Ordinary Time. Our listeners can find this season’s readings and the references from our show today at PatriarchMinistries.com. Welcome Monsignor.
Msgr. David LeSieur Hi, Patti, thank you. Parables are “a characteristic feature of the teaching of Jesus. Parables are simple images or comparisons which confront the hearer (or the reader) with a radical choice about his invitation to enter the Kingdom of God.”[i]
Patti Brunner That is so true. Listening to the parables cause us to think about the meaning of their simple images and comparisons. The better we know Jesus, the better we understand the parables. And as the parables take on deeper meaning for us the better we get to know Jesus!
Msgr. David LeSieur When Jesus talked in parables, he used images common to his listeners, such as sheep and shepherds, seeds, stewards and banquets. “Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one [we] must give everything” [ii]
Patti Brunner We will hear 6 parables during this season. The Banquet Etiquette lesson, Leaving the 99 for the One, the Lost Coin, the Prodigal Son, the Unjust Steward, and the Rich Man and Lazarus. There is a connection or theme in this section of the liturgical calendar. It is the acceptance by God, especially of the “unacceptable” by the world’s standards. Mercy triumphs over justice.
Msgr. David LeSieur Luke is well known for his portrayal of “role reversals.” And he has a heart for the poor that is not common to the Pharisees and the scribes. We will see many ‘twists’ from the prevailing culture and the world’s standards.
Patti Brunner On the 22nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, we hear the parable of the wedding banquet. It starts with the seating chart and Jesus ends by telling the host to “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind;”[iii] and if you do this “blessed indeed will you be”.
Msgr. David LeSieur “The banquet scene is found only in Luke and provides the opportunity for teachings of Jesus on humility and presents a setting to display Luke’s interest in Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor.”[iv]
Patti Brunner Did you know that“ancient dinner parties sometimes called attention to the social rank of the invited guests and the esteem in which their host held them. Depending on social status and the degree of friendship between each and the host, the different guests could receive food and drink of different quality.”[v]
Msgr. David LeSieur Well, I wouldn’t want to go to a banquet like that. Jesus told the parable to those invited to a banquet where he, himself, was a guest. He noticed how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.”[vi] So, when you go to a banquet do you shoot for the seat next to the host or at the head table? You might sit there if you want to be seen as someone important, if you are concerned about your image and how you are going to be observed and looked at. But then, more than likely, you are going to be asked to go further down. Then, with shame, you’ll have to go down to your place; with embarrassment, take the lowest place. Jesus said, take the lowest place first and maybe you’ll be invited up higher. I guess the lowest place would be where the poor or the least important would sit. And if we associate ourselves with the least important, there might be more value in that than in grabbing the most important place at first.
Patti Brunner So, it’s a parable of pride and humility.
Msgr. David LeSieur That’s right!
Patti Brunner “The Gospel of Luke repeatedly reverses the expected social order.”[vii]
Msgr. David LeSieur Yes he does, Patti.
Patti Brunner So, he is doing the flip-flop by saying “invite the poor” and then he’s also saying, “take the flip-flop in your own heart by lowering yourselves so that you could be honored by the host”.
Msgr. David LeSieur Exactly! By projection, the host is God. And to associate with the poor by sitting in the lowest position, the farthest position, the least valued position, God is given an opportunity to bring you up higher. But if you think you already belong up higher, God can’t do much with that because your heart is so full of yourself.
Patti Brunner Even though the culture now and then tends to favor the rich and famous, God shows us that He accepts the poor and actually favors the humble over the proud.
Msgr. David LeSieur In the 22nd week, the first week we have, all three readings seem to talk about what is acceptable to God. In Sirach, it says humble yourself more, the more you humble yourself, the greater you are.
Patti Brunner The more favor you find with God! So there are Old Testament verses that show us how to be acceptable to God through humility. Obviously these people didn’t pick up on that! In Hebrews, the story is about Moses and the people that are afraid to come and talk to God. After the trumpet blast and the voice speaking they beg that no message be further addressed to them. They want God on their own terms. They want God to talk to them through someone else.
Msgr. David LeSieur They want God to talk to Moses. When Moses went up on the mountain for 40 days, God said “tell the people not to approach the mountain, not to even touch the place because they would die.” So there was that fear, almost instilled by God himself. But in the second half of that reading from the 12th chapter of Hebrews, we’re told you can approach Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem! You can approach Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. Every thing is new now. You approach through Jesus, “the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel”.[viii] Once they may have had an excuse from staying away from God’s presence on the mountain and fearing God and letting God speak only through Moses. However, now, in the New Covenant, we don’t have to do that.
Patti Brunner So, we are getting the flip-flop. We are made acceptable through the blood of Jesus.
Msgr. David LeSieur It’s another reversal. Now, we’re supposed to approach.
Patti Brunner Yes, we’re supposed to approach. In the 23rd Week reading from Philemon we hear about another reversal. Paul is talking about the slave Onesimus. He is writing Philemon and trying to get the slave’s owner to welcome the new convert—the runaway slave—back as a brother in Christ, even though he is still going to be a servant. So there’s a reversal of being his property to being his brother. When we hear the gospel that week, God is showing who is acceptable to be a disciple. It’s pretty strong stuff.
Msgr. David LeSieur Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple”; and then later says in the same way “every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” [ix]
Patti Brunner So in other words, if we hang on to everything ourselves; if we are selfish with our possessions, then that is unacceptable to God. We are unacceptable to God as a disciple when we do that.
Msgr. David LeSieur What does it mean to renounce all your possession? [laugh]
Patti Brunner Would it be that un-attachment?
Msgr. David LeSieur Yes, to live, to own something as if you didn’t own it. To not let it control your life. Not be so acquisitive, that we have to have this, and we have to have that, in order to be happy. I joke with myself sometimes, it’s only a joke, but I’ll drive by a house or see a car and say “if only I had that, I would be totally happy!” [laughter] I’m only kidding when I say it. I don’t know why I do that, its just a little joke I play on myself, because I couldn’t care less.
Patti Brunner I have one, too. There is a line in a movie about Abraham from the book of Genesis. Abraham says to Lot, “Ah, yes, that is important” “That is important” and its very tongue in cheek, because the audience knows that it is not important to Abraham at all, to him it doesn’t matter, but to his nephew Lot it is all important. Abraham was detached from possessions. Abraham shows us that when he allowed Lot to choose the better land when they split apart their herds. So I find myself in conversations saying, “Ah, that is important.” And it helps me to step back, to be “unattached”. It’s my “inside joke”!
Msgr. David LeSieur Inside joke! On the 24th week, we hear directly of Moses in Exodus. Moses is pleading with God not to take his wrath against the people, who are acting totally unacceptably in their own stiff-necked actions. Moses is pleading for mercy based on the fact that they are Abraham’s descendants reminding God that he promised to give Abraham’s descendants perpetual heritage.
Patti Brunner In the second reading from Timothy, Paul shares about his own role reversal, “I was once a blasphemer, and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because [I acted out of arrogance,] I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief.”[x] It is so clear with Paul, the mercy of God called him to that conversion experience.
Msgr. David LeSieur Paul says “I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my own belief”. The Prodigal Son, the Gospel of this same week, Week 24, was mercifully treated; the Prodigal Son, too, was acting out of ignorance or immaturity. He found the truth as he returned home.
Patti Brunner What the world finds “acceptable” seems to reverse the truth of who is actually acceptable by God. That is highlighted in our final parable on the 26th week, the Rich Man and the Poor Man Lazarus. The rich man was esteemed, valued in life while Lazarus sat as a beggar in his doorway covered by sores. Extreme wealth versus absolute poverty! Again we have a role reversal of the two, at death, when Lazarus is accepted into heaven and the rich man is not!
Msgr. David LeSieur That’s right, and it is very common in Luke! It’s like the poor are almost a conscience for us. You know, the rich man didn’t do anything wrong except he ignored Lazarus. It doesn’t say here that he was a bad man; that he was a crook or anything like that. He just ignored this poor man. And he lost his soul over it.
Patti Brunner And you know, he ‘wises up’ too late. The rich man asks Abraham to send someone back from the dead, “send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment”[xi] And Abraham replies to the rich man, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’” So, he and his five brothers, none of them seem to get the message.
Msgr. David LeSieur Didn’t get the message, didn’t “get the memo” did they? I guess they were all used to high life style. It was like the rich man and the barns; eat drink and be merry. He forgot about “tomorrow you die” part. He left that out.
Patti Brunner That’s right. This rich man had so much and lying at his door was the poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores. And he never even feeds him his leftovers. If someone is at your door you’ve got to see them every day.
Msgr. David LeSieur I think that points out the seriousness of his blindness to Lazarus. If Lazarus were downtown he might not see him, because you might not go downtown very often. But if he’s at your door! You practically have to step over him to get to your banquet table.
Patti Brunner The people that Jesus talked to would be familiar with seeing the poor. There was no social security, no welfare. They would be used to seeing poor people in need. So they could understand where Jesus is coming from in the original baseline of the story. In our area we don’t have people lying in our doorway with deep needs yet they are in our community.
Msgr. David LeSieur They are in our community. They come to our pantry. Of course the pantry is there for that purpose. You know I think the hard part of dealing with the poor today is it takes time to deal with them. I don’t think it’s the money. It’s easy to give a twenty dollar bill or a five dollar bill and say “here, go get yourself a hamburger”. I think the poor make us feel very uncomfortable because they need something and we have it. The poor, they call us up short, I think, they enter our comfort zone. And this man just ignored it. I guess he had enough money and enough insulation from that to ignore Lazarus. He ignored Lazarus to his own peril.
Patti Brunner Jesus shows the depth of the consequences of that.
Msgr. David LeSieur Yes, eternal consequences!
Patti Brunner The chasm between heaven and hell!
Msgr. David LeSieur Mathew says the same thing in Mathew 25: “I was hungry and you did not give me anything to eat.”
Patti Brunner As we go to the connection between those that are acceptable by God and those unacceptable by the world’s standards, we definitely see that the poor in these stories were considered socially unacceptable.
Msgr. David LeSieur Right. Because they didn’t have anything.
Patti Brunner The rich were considered blessed by God and the poor were considered cursed by God. But by a story like this, Jesus gives that role reversal to help us understand that that’s not the way God sees it; that’s not what God is doing at all.
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Patti Brunner Welcome back. You’re listening to Living Seasons of Change with Patti Brunner and Msgr. David LeSieur, a priest of the Diocese of Little Rock. This season we also have readings from Paul’s letter to Timothy. We’ll hear portions of the 1st, 2nd and 6th chapters.
Msgr. David LeSieur As we mentioned earlier, in week 24, Paul is telling Timothy about how he, Paul, had been a blasphemer and had received mercy and he says, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of that I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated,”[xii] That description can apply to the Prodigal Son as well.
Patti Brunner Yes. Then in the 25th week of Ordinary Time, Paul is asking for prayers for everyone. He talks about Jesus the mediator between God and the human race.[xiii] He says, “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands.”
Msgr. David LeSieur Supplications, prayers, petitions and thanksgivings,” “for kings and for all in authority”.
Patti Brunner And we have the 6th chapter of 1 Timothy on the 26th Sunday. “But you, man of God, avoid all this.” ”Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,” “to keep the commandment without stain or reproach.” [xiv] The continuing words to Timothy show the encouragement found in the Lord. Solace is always found in the Lord
Msgr. David LeSieur “To keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the approach of our Lord Jesus Christ that the blessed and only ruler will make manifest at the proper time, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Patti Brunner So, I guess if we look at the three readings together, Paul is first reminding Timothy of the changes in himself, so that Timothy knows that even though he is not perfect, there is hope.
He’s saying, “Look what the Lord can do. Look what the Lord did with me. We can all have those self-doubts. If he did it with me, he can do it with you. We move on to the importance of prayer and then we end up with that encouragement to just keep pursuing God, to keep living the faith, keep trying to do what God has called you to do.
Msgr. David LeSieur There is more to consider on these parables. They are in the main section of the traveling narratives as Jesus travels to Jerusalem. He’s going to his death. He knows it.
Patti Brunner Just as we are in the harvest season, so too, we can glean the parables for every morsel of truth, if we linger, if we follow up. The more often we hear the story it begins to take on new depth, and stronger meanings, which I think is the purpose of the parable, that you can hear the story over and over and get something more.
Msgr. David LeSieur The parable about the banquet, at first, seems more like etiquette advice than a parable. Jesus told the parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor.
Patti Brunner In Luke 14 it says “When you have been invited by someone to a wedding banquet do not recline at the place of honor, A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place.” So, Jesus would get their attention by giving them practical advice, he’s giving them table manners, something they can really relate to, then he pushes it, he pushes it a little further by bringing in the poor. So he’s going deeper with that.
Msgr. David LeSieur This teaching of Jesus is about humility. It takes us beyond the story. Often parables say something about the kingdom. Heaven is like this or that situation. After hearing a parable about the kingdom, we’re supposed to get an understanding of what the kingdom is about. It won’t be the fullest because you can’t really define the kingdom.
Patti Brunner On the 25th week we have a difficult Parable of the Unjust Servant. The unjust steward, because he’s cheating, gets fired. It seems he’s continuing to cheat, as he contacts the people who owe his master money and he gains favor with them by knocking down their debt. And then he gets this praise by Jesus because he’s of the world acting of the world, I kind of get lost in this one.
Msgr. David LeSieur The steward is being fired and trying to line up his next job when he turns to his master’s customers and he says, “How much do you owe my master?” The customer replies, “one hundred measures of oil’ and then he said “Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty”[xv] to another he said, “How much do you owe?” “A hundred kors of wheat’ “well, here, make it for eighty.” “And the master commended the dishonest steward for acting prudently.” Now, it appears that the steward is cheating his master when he is taking what these two debtors owe and trimming it. But the way I’ve come to understand it, from the commentaries I have read, that what the steward is doing is telling them to reduce his commission. In other words, what you owe me in commission, just knock it off. So the master is still getting his full payment.
Patti Brunner Okay, that helps.
Msgr. David LeSieur The steward is just saying, well I’ll do without my commission, in order to ingratiate myself to these people. He knows he has lost his job. If he can curry favor with someone else, even by reducing his own pay, he’ll do that. And so when the master found that out, he probably said, “Well that’s a pretty smart to do. Jesus says that “children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light” [Luke 16:8] “Make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth,” he says, “so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.”
Patti Brunner The parable contains the message of detachment from wealth. The footnote in the New American Bible helps us understand the “Palestinian custom of agents acting on behalf of their masters and the usurious practices common to such agents. The dishonesty of the steward consisted of the squandering of his master’s property and not in any subsequent graft. The master commends the dishonest steward who has forgone his own usurious commission on the business transaction by having the debtors write new notes that reflected only the real amount owed the master”[xvi]
Msgr. David LeSieur The footnotes continue to say: “The dishonest steward acts in this way in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors because he knows he is being dismissed from his position. The parable, then, teaches the prudent use of one’s material goods in light of imminent crisis.”
Patti Brunner So, if a hurricane were coming, and your car was out of gas or something, you would do what you had to, to get gas or get another car. You’d give your house away or you’d pay a hundred dollars a gallon.
Msgr. David LeSieur We’re not far away from that, I’m afraid. The stories of the Prodigal Son, of the Lost Coin, of the Lost Sheep are parables about God’s mercy. The reality of the parable about the sheep that wanders off is probably true, it probably happens all the time. What we get from that is that we wander off too, and just like the good shepherd that goes looking for the sheep, God will not rest until we are found.
Patti Brunner And in the parable of the lost coin, the woman will not rest until she has swept her house and found her coin.
Msgr. David LeSieur But in the parable of Lost Son, the father does not go looking for him. The son comes to his senses and goes home, but the father is watching for him and receives him back. These parables are really parables about God. You know it’s interesting. There are three parables on the 24th Sunday and they were told by Jesus because the Pharisees were grumbling because Jesus sat with sinners, ate with them.
Patti Brunner So he starts with things they understand, “What man among you having a hundred sheep[xvii] and losing one of them” would not leave the 99 to go after the one.
Msgr. David LeSieur Luke 15, Verse 5 says “he sets it (the lost sheep) on his shoulders with great joy to bring it back”. Then Jesus relates the joy of finding the lost sheep to the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
Patti Brunner We have a friend, Jim O’Leary, who has kept sheep as part of his ministry, Ole Shalom, and he said one of the reasons why the Shepherd puts the sheep around their neck is to calm them down, because they can be scared to death very easily. They literally die from being scared to death. So by putting the sheep around the neck that gives them comfort and they calm down. In the same way Jesus seeks us out when we are lost. His grace overcomes our fear.
Msgr. David LeSieur There are three parables about something lost. Jesus is telling these parables to describe why he’s sitting with sinners. Because they are lost! And someone needs to go looking for them. The first two are something of value but at the same time they are not human. One is an animal and one is a coin; and so they have to be searched for; someone has to go look for them. Make an effort.
Patti Brunner In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the father gives his beloved son the freedom to go off and get lost. He was rude to his father, demanded his inheritance, and then squandered it on fast living. When he was broke and hungry and slopping hogs scripture says, “Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat,” [xviii]
Msgr. David LeSieur So the boy somehow has to experience all of this and comes back and the father meets him. The moment the son makes an effort to come back, his father does all the rest. The son has a speech prepared “I don’t deserve to be your son”. He rehearses it. He goes home and begins his speech, and the father won’t even let him finish. He says “bring the fatted calf and put rings on his fingers; put a cloak on him”.
Patti Brunner It’s like the moment we start back, having come to our senses, realized our sins; that’s when the father welcomes us, but we have to get to that point first.
Msgr. David LeSieur Maybe God somehow arranges for those who wander off on our own, you know forget God, maybe he arranges for us in some way to hit bottom, the bottom of the bottle or the pig sty or whatever, this, for a Jewish man to be taking care of pigs, is the worst of the worse.
Patti Brunner Definitely.
Msgr. David LeSieur He can’t get any lower. He’s in the gutter; he bottoms out. He says “this is crazy. I can at least find food in my father’s house as a slave. It’s better than this.” So maybe that’s God’s grace working there. The parable does not say that. It’s definitely a parable about God’s mercy, about God receiving us back
Patti Brunner Perhaps it was the grace of God that provided the job at the pig sty. Last month, when we talked about the Good Samaritan, we mentioned how listeners would each put themselves in the different roles. I have done this with this parable at retreats, where you put yourself in each role. It’s interesting how you would react in each role. I played the father, and I felt his longing as I kept watch on the road for my son’s return.
Msgr. David LeSieur We not only have the father and the son we also have the brother. At my retreat, my group made up a story to fit the Prodigal daughter, set in modern times. We explored how the judgement of the older brother affected the family.
Patti Brunner It’s important to realize that not only our actions affect others; our attitudes and judgments can also strongly affect others.
Msgr. David LeSieur The older brother, I think, in the parable is symbolic of the scribes and Pharisees. They’re the older brother because they have always been faithful. They’ve kept the law and they can’t understand why Jesus would eat with sinners because like the Prodigal Son, who has run off, why do you give them any notice at all? Look at us; we’re the ones who have stayed, the ones who keep the law. Yet this parable is to point out how God cares about the poor, the lost, the lame, the spiritually lost, the spiritually lame and blind.
Patti Brunner You know, Father,I have used this parable a lot with the young people who have made the poor choices, especially when I ministered at the Juvenile Detention Center. They have gone off and squandered their money, their good name, their family relationships; they have squandered all of it. Sadly, most of them don’t have the loving father and that is part of their problem.
Msgr. David LeSieur They could be afraid of going home to their natural fathers.
Patti Brunner Yes. And so by having this parable, it helps them to see God in a different way. Because they long for that: to return and be accepted and to be loved.
Msgr. David LeSieur They may not ever have had that in this life from their earthly families. But they can certainly get it from God
Patti Brunner And so Jesus teaches his original listeners why he deals with sinners, then as we read it over and over, we start seeing ourselves, and how forgiving God is and how he welcomes us and totally forgives. We have to make the choice. We have to turn back to God. But once we do, how forgiving! How loving! And generous!
Msgr. David LeSieur It’s like the sacrament of reconciliation. That’s where we meet the merciful God. You know he also reaches out to the older son. He loves him too. “You’ve always been with me.”
Patti Brunner Yes. The contrition, and the sacrament of Reconciliation, is so tied to that parable. As Jesus approaches Jerusalem, he tells us the importance of repentance with the story of the Prodigal Son. It’s still very important; extremely important; and so is being humble, being unattached to our wealth, and welcoming of the poor.
Msgr. David LeSieur And then in the Lazarus story, where the rich man says, “O no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent!” –meaning his brothers. Then Abraham says, “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” And so that is kind of our warning here too, because Jesus does rise from the dead and there is a lot people who do not repent, who do not accept the challenge of changing their lives.
Patti Brunner Monsignor LeSieur, both of us have taken retreats and acted out the story of the Prodigal Son, but you know there is something about putting your self in the character that gives you a new understanding and perspective. I would encourage our listeners to take the time to do that with the parables of Jesus. Let them change your thinking; let them change your lives. Monsignor LeSieur, will you close our show with a blessing?
Msgr. David LeSieur [blessing]
Patti Brunner: Thank you Monsignor. This concludes our program, Living Seasons of Change. I’m Patti Brunner and I invite you to visit the website PatriarchMinistries.com for references used in our discussion.
Liturgical Readings
22nd Sunday in Ordinary
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29 humbler is greater, “alms atone for sins”, acceptance by God
Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a approaching God; acceptance by God
Luke 14:1, 7-14 [parable] places of honor at wedding banquet; humble self-placement at the banquet; invite the poor & infirm, acceptance by God
23rd Sunday in Ordinary
Wisdom 9:13-18b grasping ideas needs wisdom
Philemon 9b-10, 12-17 regard Paul a partner, accept Onesimus, acceptance by God
Luke 14:25-33 cannot hate and be disciple, renounce possessions, acceptance by God
24th Sunday in Ordinary
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14 stiff-necked people, “Moses implored the Lord”, intercession, acceptance by God
1 Timothy 1:12-17 “once a blasphemer…I have been mercifully treated…I am a sinner”, encouragement, acceptance by God
Luke 15:1-32 [parable] leave 99 for the one, 10 coins lost one, Prodigal Son, acceptance by God
25th Sunday in Ordinary
Amos 8:4-7 plans for cheating the poor, God will not forget
1 Timothy 2:1-8 pray for others, “One God”, “one mediator, Jesus”, encouragement
Luke 16:1-13 [parable] unjust steward; dismissed steward bargaining with debtors. Detachment from wealth; cannot serve two masters
26th Sunday in Ordinary
Amos 6:1a, 4-7 “Woe to the complacent” “first to go into exile”
1 Timothy 6:11-16 keep the commandment, encouragement
Luke 16:19-31 [parable] extreme wealth/absolute poverty; Rich man, poor man-Lazarus dip, won’t listen, acceptance by God
Reference:
Please note that CCC refers to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, English translation, 2nd Edition,©1994, 1997. United States Catholic Conference, Inc., Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
New American Bible readings are referenced from the Lectionary for Mass, for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition ©1997, 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.
Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
CCC glossary; “PARABLES: A characteristic feature of the teaching of Jesus. Parables are simple images or comparisons which confront the hearer or reader with a radical choice about his invitation to enter the Kingdom of God (546).” P.891
CCC 546 … “Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything.[ Cf. Mt 13:44-45; 22:1-14. ]”
Luke 14:13-14 if you invite the poor you will be blessed
Quotation: “The banquet scene is found only in Luke and provides the opportunity for teachings of Jesus on humility and presents a setting to display Luke’s interest in Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor.” Footnote reference, New American Bible, for Luke 14, 7-14. Copyright by World Bible Publishers, Inc., 1987.
Quotation: “Ancient dinner parties sometimes called attention to the social rank of the invited guests and the esteem in which their host held them. In the early second century, Pliny, a Roman of illustrious background, wrote to a friend about his experience at a dinner given by an acquaintance. Depending on social status and the degree of friendship between each and the host, the different guests received food and drink of different quality.” James L. Weaver. Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers 2007, United States Edition ©Archdiocese of Chicago. 2006.
Luke 14: 7 Jesus noticed the guests taking the best seats so he told a parable.
Quotation: “The gospel of Luke repeatedly reverses the expected social order.” Susan Meyers. Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers 2001, United States Edition ©Archdiocese of Chicago. 2000.
Hebrews 12:22-24a Jesus the mediator of the new covenant
Luke 14:27 Carrying your own cross.
Luke 14:33 Renounce your possessions.
1 Timothy 1:13 Paul the blasphemer mercifully treated
Luke 16:27-28 The rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers
Matthew 25:42 not feeding the hungry Jesus
1 Timothy 2: 5, 8 Jesus the mediator, pray with lifted hands.
1 Timothy 6:11-15 Pursuing righteousness
Luke 16:16 The unjust steward making a deal with the debtor
Quotation Luke 15:4 Leaving the 99 for the one lost sheep
Luke 15:17 The prodigal son’s decision to return home
[i] CCC glossary; “PARABLES: A characteristic feature of the teaching of Jesus. Parables are simple images or comparisons which confront the hearer or reader with a radical choice about his invitation to enter the Kingdom of God (546).”
[ii] CCC 546 Jesus’ invitation to enter his kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching.[ Cf. Mk 4:33-34. ]Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything.[ Cf. Mt 13:44-45; 22:1-14. ]Words are not enough; deeds are required. [Cf. Mt 21:28-32. ] The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word?[ Cf. Mt 13:3-9. ] What use has he made of the talents he has received?[ Cf. Mt 25:14-30.] Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to “know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.”[ Mt 13:11] For those who stay “outside,” everything remains enigmatic. [Mk 4:11; cf. Mt 13:10-15.]
[iii] Luke 14:13-14 “invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be”
[iv] “The banquet scene is found only in Luke and provides the opportunity for teachings of Jesus on humility and presents a setting to display Luke’s interest in Jesus’ attitude toward the rich and the poor.” [NAB footnote for Luke 14, 7-14]
[v] “Ancient dinner parties sometimes called attention to the social rank of the invited guests and the [2007 lector workbook, James L. Weaver]esteem in which their host held them. In the early second century, Pliny, a Roman of illustrious background, wrote to a friend about his experience at a dinner given by an acquaintance. Depending on social status and the degree of friendship between each and the host, the different guests received food and drink of different quality.”
[vi] Luke 14: 7 “He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table.”
[vii] This commentary [Susan Meyers 2001 C] “The gospel of Luke repeatedly reverses the expected social order.”
[viii] Hebrews 12:22-24a Jesus the mediator of the new covenant
[ix] Luke 14:27 Carrying your own cross.
Luke 14:33 Renounce your possessions.
[x] 1 Timothy 1:13 Paul the blasphemer mercifully treated
[xi] “send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment” [Luke 16:27-28] “If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’” [Luke 16:31]
[xii] , “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of that I am the foremost.” [1 Timothy 1:15-16]”But for that reason I was mercifully treated”
[xiii] Jesus the mediator between God and the human race.[1 Timothy 2:5] [v.8] “It is my wish, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands
[xiv] But you, man of God, avoid all this. [1 Timothy 6:11-]” Instead, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith , love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith. Lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called when you made the noble confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you before God, who gives life to all things,” “to keep the commandment without stain or reproach .”
[xv] “one hundred measures of oil’ and then he said “Here is your promissory note. Sit down and quickly write one for fifty” [ss Luke 16:6] to another he said, “How much do you owe?” “A hundred kors of wheat’ “well, here, make it for eighty.” “And the master commended the dishonest steward for acting prudently.”
[xvi] “…Palestinian custom of agents acting on behalf of their masters and the usurious practices common to such agents.” Footnote reference, New American Bible, for Luke 16,1-8a. Copyright by World Bible Publishers, Inc., 1987.
[xvii] “4 “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?” [ss Luke 15:4]
[xviii] “[ss Luke 15:17] 17 Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat,”
