25^th Week in Ordinary Time

Feast of the Archangels September 29, 2001 Saturday

    John 1:47-51 The Stairway of the Angels      Luke 9:43-45

The gospel reading for the Feast of the Archangels is taken from the response of Jesus to Nathanael after this latter has professed belief in him as "Son of God, King of Israel." In his response to this profession of faith, Jesus tells Nathanael that he is going to see a greater sign, that of angels descending and ascending upon him.

And he saith to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

The sign is an allussion to a vision that Jacob saw in Bethel (Genesis 28:11-19). In that vision, Jacob saw a ladder standing on the earth and stretching towards heaven. It is on that ladder that angels ascended and descended. The ladder in Jacob's vision is the Stairway of God's Revelation upon which heavenly messengers passed on their way to earth and back again. That vision of the ladder was followed by God's voice telling Jacob that a great nation will arise from him and that he shall be given land to inherit (The promise previously given to Abraham his father, Gen. 12). In the morning, Jacob realized that the place where he saw the ladder should be called the House of God (Bethel).

What Jesus tells Nathanael - a guileless son of Jacob -- is that He is the Ladder of God's Revelation, and that he is the true "Bethel," the House of God that will be built in three days (cf. Jn. 2:13-22).

That the reading should be proferred on the Feast of the Archangels is purely didactic on the Church's part. Even the belief in Angels is to be understood within the whole of Revelation, the Word of God who is Christ. The Archangels are the generals of God's army of "messengers" sent out to carry the designs of His Providence. If God is Light, then the angels are the rays of light that radiate from his heart and touch our world, bringing every corner of it under His brightness. Michael, Raphael and Gabriel are powers that extend to earth the goodness of Divine Providence. Michael, the prince of angels, is the conqueror of Satan and his hordes. Raphael is the one who brings healing. Gabriel is he who brings consolation, encouragement and hope.

September 28, Friday

Luke 9:18-22 Peter's Confession

"And Peter said that he was The Anointed (Christ) of God." In Luke's account, the confession of Peter is expressed in an indirect statement. No emphasis is given as in the case of Mark and Matthew. Perhaps this is because Luke found it unnecessary first, because his audience were mainly converts from the Gentiles among whom the title "Christos" for Jesus was already established (see the references of Paul to the Christ) and second, because in Luke's literary plan, the title "Christ" has been given to Jesus as early as 2:11. There was no need for a direct declaration (as Matthew and Mark does) since the readers already knew the identification. (See the occurences of CristoV in Luke 2:11;3:15;4:41. 9:21 is the last time that Jesus is referred to as Christ before he is put in trial. )

What remains impressionable, however is Jesus' statement in verse 22. In Luke's version it is a direct quote from Jesus (unlike Matthew and Mark who express it in an indirect statement). It is a statement that Luke's account of the Transfiguration will force the reader to look back to (cf. vv. 28-32 ) Luke stresses this first saying about the coming Passion to prepare the reader for Jesus' Exodus.

   Luke's Gospel narrative stresses Jesus' Journey to Jerusalem, the journey that is required by Jesus' Exodus to the Father, and the Gospel's Exodus to the Gentiles and to the whole world (cf. Acts of the Apostles).

   "Anointed of God" "Messiah of God" The title will keep recurring during the account of the Passion. In fact, it is the title that Luke uses for the apparently vanquished just man, Jesus, but whom God vindicates in the Resurrection. (cf. 22:67;23:2;23:35.39; 24:26.46

September 27, 2001 Thursday

Luke 9:7-10 Herod's Interest In Jesus

This short passage about Herod's state of mind is sandwiched between the sending of the Twelve and their return. Suddenly, the whole ministry of Jesus is placed under the shadow of death.

The Gospel of Luke does not include a narration of the death of the Baptist at the hand of Herod. But it is the only Gospel that shows Herod's open hostility to Jesus (see 13:31;23:11-12).

In Matthew (14:1-2), the powers that Jesus was displaying leads Herod to think that he is the Baptist come to life. In Luke, modifying Mark (6:14), rumour identifies Jesus with a resurrected John the Baptist, with Elijah and "one of the great prophets." To the last two, Luke has been preparing his readers since the episode of the raising of the widow's son. Later, the disciples will repeat these rumours when Jesus asks them what people say of himself (9:19).

Herod's interest in Jesus is unlike the interest that other people have shown to Jesus. "He hoped to see him perform some miracle (23:8)," writes Luke. When he finally meets Jesus, he is confronted by His silence. It was then that he became friends with a long time enemy: the man who will hand Jesus over to the mob, Pilate (23:12).

This short passage foreshadows the hostility that will meet Jesus and his disciples. It is a hostility that will continue on even after the Lord's ascension (see Acts 4:27, 12:1, 12:6,11, 19.20.21; 13:1). Placed between the accounts of the sending of the Twelve and their return, Luke prepares the reader for the Peter's confession (as an answer to Herod's "who is this" (v.9)), and Jesus' first declaration about the Messiah who is to suffer.(9:18-27).

September 26, 2001 Wednesday

   Luke 9:1-6 The Sending of the Twelve

The sending of the Twelve is narrated in all three synoptic gospels. In Luke, what is unique is that it will be followed later by the sending of the Seventy-Two.

Beginning 8:1 we find the Twelve with Jesus as he was "preaching and showing the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God." These were the Twelve whom he called to himself (6:13-16) from among his disciples. It is to them that he shares his power, authority (over demons) and mission.

"He sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick."

There is some correspondence between the authority and power that Jesus gives to the Twelve and their mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. By giving them the "power and authority over demons and to cure diseases" Jeus was actually enabling them to create the space where the reign of God can expand. Jesus has shown that the boundaries between clean and unclean cannot hold back his liberating advance. Since 7:1, Luke shows how with the progress of Jesus' ministry, people who were traditionally held to be beyond the pale of God's blessings (the pagans and the public sinners) begin to take part in the same -- life, peace (=the conquest of Chaos), liberation from the captivity of demons, etc.

The Twelve go out with nothing for their journey. The probable motivation is total dependence on God who exercises his reign in the goodness of men's hearts. Those who receive the Twelve and make them welcome will receive the Peace that characterizes God's reign. Those however who do not receive them will be treated like the dirt in one's sandals: rejected like so much dirt (see 7:31-35).

   For a better appreciation of the passage, it should be read as the climax of the section that goes from 7:1.

The proclamation of the reign of God is accompanied by healing and the driving away of demons. This is something that should be deeply considered by anyone who considers oneself a minister of the gospel. What are the demons of our times? What are the maladies that need a cure?

September 25, 2001 Tuesday

Luke 8:19-21 The Lord's Family

The whole section [including the Parable of the Seed] until this point has given emphasis on the Word. From Luke 8:11 until this section, there are five occurences of "word" (vv. 11,12,13,15,21]. In these occurrences "word" is always an object of the verbs "accept/receive" "hear" and "put (it) into practice" (v.21).

The account of Jesus' mother and relatives wanting to see him is found also in Mark and Matthew. But in Luke, the reference to what the mother and brothers think of Jesus is omitted. Mark writes that these thought he was out of himself. Luke doesn't include that detail here. The intent is to emphasize how the Lord looks at those who habitually (the verbs are in the present participle, akouonteV and poiounteV) listening and doing his word.

My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice. (Luke 8:19-21)

Some think that by this statement the Lord is denying any importance to his blood relatives, especially his relationship to his mother Mary. They fail to notice that it is in the Gospel of Luke that special emphasis is placed on Mary as the one whose acceptance of the Word proclaimed by the angel occassioned the birth of "the Son of the Most High." They also fail to mention that it is only in Luke where we find the Baptist described as a relative of the Lord, being the son of Mary's cousin Elizabeth.

Albert Nolan, OP has pointed out in his "Jesus Before Christianity" that far from declaring blood relationships null and void, the Lord has, by the declaration in v. 21, given a new dimension to the idea of "family." Thenceforward, anyone can already speak of the family of the Lord where the familial bond is constituted by fidelity to the Word of God.

The idea in Luke 8:21 is further developed in John 15 in the key idea "Remain in the Lord." Here, "to remain in the Lord" is "to remain in his love" and "letting his word remain in (you)" in a relationship that is described in terms of biological symbiosis.

When we think of the Church as the Family of Christ, we are in a sense, actually echoing Luke 8:19-21. The word "Church" itself derives from the adjective kuriakh which means "belonging to the Lord." But it is Family not in the sense that we can be "familiar" with the Lord, but in the sense that all those who consider themselves part of it are habitually hearing and doing the Word of God.

September 24, 2001 Monday

Luke 8:16-18, Take Heed What You Hear

The reading follows upon the Parable of the Seed and the Sower (Luke 8:4-15). In these passages, Luke follows the order already set in Mark 4:21-25), but omits Mark's verse 24 [a passage which Luke employs in two other places of his Gospel]. The words of Jesus once comprehended must be allowed to shine forth. Those in the educational sector would recognize in here the idea that the cognitive must pass on to the psychomotor level. Church language speak of witnessing, living out the Word. Here, Luke, following Mark, employs the image of the lamp. It would be totally nonsensical if the lamp is not allowed to shine. The Words of Jesus is like a flame that lights up the lamp from within; those who have accepted that flame must allow its radiance to break forth where it is needed (e.g. a darkened room).

Putting it in another way, the evangelist switches to the contrast between secret and public knowledge. What Jesus reveals in secret to the disciples must be made known; they must come to light faneroV. The adjective phaneros is related to fwV (phoslight, in v.16b), and means "to shine out", Hence the translation, "to come to light."

What follows is a caveat: "Take heed how you hear..." If hearing requires attention in faith, and the effort to comprehend what has been said, it will also require allowing what has been comprehended to bear fruit a hundredfold. The power is in the seed that is shown, as the flame is energy inside the lamp. But the soil must have a certain quality that will allow the seed to grow and mature. The lamp too must have oil and a wick to be able to let the flame that is received shine forth. From the one who receives the Words of Jesus, there must correspond an effort to cooperate with the Word. Otherwise, what one thinks to have received, "even that will be taken away."

   Matthew uses the imagery of the lamp within the context of the Sermon on the Mount. There, the stress is on the quality of Christian presence in the affairs of men: like a well lighted city that serves as a beacon for the lost wayfarer. In Mark, the stress is on "bearing fruit" "Bearing Fruit" in New Testament language is to have a life in consonance with one's membership among God's people. Paul speaks of bearing fruit in the spirit. John, in speaking of the True Vine, explains that the measure to which one adheres to the commandment of Christ and to His Person, to that measure one will bear fruit. Luke, as does Mark, puts together the images of a seed bearing fruit, a lamp shining in the dark, and a secret that is made manifest to explain how the Good News proclaimed by the angels and displayed in power by Christ, is proclaimed in the lives of the disciples.

   "Take heed how you hear..." Discipleship is not different from the mechanics of learning in an ordinary school. Cognitive elements must pass on to the Affective and translated into Psychomotor Activities. The passage from understanding to life, however takes some time and practise. But no matter how much time it takes, like the germination of a seed, what has been learned must be allowed to permeate one's humanity so that it becomes part of one's way of interacting with the world and other human beings.