IT IS THE LORD WHO GIVES BREAD TO THE HUNGRY

XXVI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 16:19-31

This Sunday, with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, we are confronted with the realities of poverty and wealth and forced to think about the value (or lack of value) of the riches of this world. The wealthy man enjoys life, spending his time feasting “magnificently every day”. We may ask what is the purpose of his life? He is a useless man and his life serves no purpose. Others worked for him to keep his lavish lifestyle. Despite all his merriment, he left this world empty-handed. That’s why he does not deserve to have a name.  It is as if he is nobody, despite all his wealth. Outside the rich man’s house, at his gate, there laid Lazarus, who was poor, sick and starving. Nobody pitied him but the dogs who seemed more friendly than the humans that surrounded him. The rich and the poor lived side by side, separated just by a gate, which enclosed the rich within his palace, stopping the cries of the poor from reaching his ears.

We may be puzzled by the parable. We don’t know anything about the behaviour of both the rich and the poor. It seems that it didn’t matter. The poor Lazarus was welcomed to a place of blissfulness because he had suffered beyond any reasonable measure in this world. And the rich man was thrown into a place of punishment because he had had more than his share of happiness in this world. 

This parable is a graphic representation of the beatitudes in the Gospel of Luke:

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. (Lk 6:20, 24).

Indeed, we “cannot serve God and money.” (Lk 16:13).

And the parable ends with the dialogue between the rich man and Abraham, in which we are told that the only to avoid ending our life in a place of torment is to listen to the Word of God that we find in the Scriptures (Moses and the prophets). Only the word of God may convince us of sin and lead us to repentance and conversion. The wealth which is not put at the service of others will never be a source of happiness. 

TO BE GOOD STEWARDS OF GOD’S GIFTS

XXV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke  16:1-13

Last week, we heard the parable of the father with two sons, commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son,  and we may have remained with the impression that, no matter what we do, God will accept us. Being merciful, God will never be hard on us. 

In this week’s gospel, we hear the parable of the unfaithful manager (steward), which comes immediately after the parable of the prodigal son, providing us with its counterpoint. While the parable of the father with two sons puts stress on God’s initiative and boundless mercy, the parable of the unfaithful manager puts stress on the attitudes we must take before God and before others.

Like the younger son, the manager squandered the wealth that did not belong to him. Indeed, God has entrusted us with so many goods. He is the rich man, who has called us to be his stewards here on earth and we should examine ourselves and our stewardship. Have we not been wasting the goods entrusted to us? Like the manager, we shall be called to account. 

When confronted with his careless and wasteful management, the unfaithful servant decided to make a U-turn and change course. He had to live life differently, changing the way he related to others and the way he lived. Despite being dishonest, he is called wise and shrewd, because he had a good sense of converting. Like him, we also deviate from the straight path and go astray. Thus, we must learn with him to change our behaviour, getting friends with the tainted money. making sure that “they will welcome you into the tents of eternity.”

Jesus invites us to deal with the goods of this world in a manner completely different from the one used by those who put their heart and their trust in money. Money cannot be our god; it only leads to exploitation and oppression. We cannot serve both God and money. And only God is the source of life.

A LOVING AND MERCIFUL GOD

XXIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 15:1-32

In the first reading, taken from the book of Exodus 32:7-11,13-14, we are told about God’s reaction to the apostasy of the People of Israel. To be like the other nations, they wanted a god that looked like them, made in their own image; one that they could control and that would allow their human vices. The golden calf was the image of a god made by their own hands. By that, they rejected the living God who had called them to enter into a relationship of love with him. They broke the covenant and proved to be unfaithful to the God who had set them free. Before such betrayal, God became very angry and, in his wrath, He wanted to annihilate the people of Israel, who did not deserve His friendship and love.  Then, “Moses pleaded with the Lord his God.” and, through his intercession, God “relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

In the gospel, we hear the story of a father with two children. The younger one, who stands for most of us, turned his back on the father. We are no different from the people of Israel. To God’s love, we respond with unfaithfulness and disdain. However, in the father, Jesus presents a merciful God who cannot forget us, being always ready to accept us back. In the end, the elder son, who seemed to be faithful, turned out to be full of himself, leaving no space for God and the others. All of us are sinners who turn our backs on God or have no place for him in our lives. All of us need intercessors who plead for us before God. Moses, like Abraham before him, is a model of intercessor. He prayed earnestly for his people. We must do the same, praying for humanity: May God be merciful to us. And we should never forget that Jesus is the great intercessor. Jesus is the one who reconciles us with the Father, opening the gates of heaven for us and inviting us to sit at God’s table in his kingdom. For that, we must do like the younger son who recognised his sin and foolishness and went back to ask for forgiveness.

BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST

XXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 14:25-33

We may ask ourselves: What do we need to be Jesus’ disciples? We may be in for a big surprise if we think that it is an easy thing to achieve. In fact, in this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus puts forward some radical demands for all those who want to be his disciples.

To help us understand his demands, Jesus presents examples of two undertakings: to build a tower and to go to war. For someone to build a tower, he has to make a plan and then have enough money to complete the project. Otherwise, the project will be no more than something I dream about.  The one who starts and doesn’t finish will become the laughing stock of the village. It is pointless to dream of becoming Jesus’ disciple if I am not prepared to make the needed sacrifices to be a true disciple.

About the war, Jesus uses common sense in the piece of advice that he gives. To go to war, one must prepare and plan. In case one sees that it is impossible to win the war, then it is better to negotiate and look for peace. It is senseless, as we see in the war in Ukraine, to go on fighting and sending ill-prepared soldiers to the front just to be killed. It is very hard to understand how the so-called West incites the Ukrainians to go on fighting, thus leading to the destruction of a nation, instead of facilitating negotiations and looking for possible ways of peace. They speak and act in the name of “our common values”, and we remain in the dark about those values. Better to negotiate for peace - that is Jesus’ advice.

As for becoming Jesus’ disciples, we must come to terms with God. There is no way we can fight him. We must have the common sense of following the path of reconciliation. And this reconciliation is done in Jesus Christ.

And addressing his disciples, Jesus told them: 

“If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. Anyone who does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

We may be surprised by the word hate, which represents a typical Semitic hyperbole and means to love less. In another passage, Jesus speaks of the respect due to the parents (Mk 7:10) and he reminds his audience that such respect is one of the commandments of God. However, the parents, the brothers and sisters, the children, the wife or the husband can’t be an obstacle to becoming Jesus’ disciples. For the true disciple, Jesus has the first place in his heart and his life. The true disciple must be ready to lose his life for Jesus. He must be ready to carry the cross like Jesus.

May the Lord give us the resolve to leave everything behind us to follow Jesus.