Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 22.8.04 Is 66,18-21; Heb 12,5-7;11-13; Lk 13,22-30 Us versus them? or me versus me? Live
beyond curse or praise.
In today’s Gospel, Luke presents Jesus making a strong exhortation, in the
process of answering a loaded question: the prejudiced question assumes, that
our life before God is a matter of “us versus them”, whereas it’s an
assessment of “me versus me” The question is: “Lord, will there be only a
few saved?”. This question as indeed the whole context hides an attitude of
false security, assuming from the start, that we are on God’s side, have been
with Jesus all along and therefore are going to beat all opponents. And it goes
without saying then, that those who disagree with us will be condemned, and it
served them right since they are evil. Today, the gospel attacks this attitude
in the strongest terms. We can never play God, nor speak for him, nor judge in
his name. We can never usurp his Spirit. The reality is that we can never take
God for granted: never, no one and at no time in life or in history. The more we
think we know, the more we should know better that God is God. In today’s
Gospel, Luke is not presenting Jesus, as if dealing only with the Pharisees of
his time. He is addressing people all times, including us today in multicultural
Australia. Indeed, His words sound amazingly modern in our society, where a
large array of conflicting lifestyles, world-views, codes of conduct - in and
out of Christianity - interact with each other and at times contrasts &
conflicts end up in an all-out condemnation & exclusion in God’s name.
Today’s message is strong indeed: in the bewildering variety of
interpretations about what matters in life, we are all at risk; no one can hide
or show-off behind God’s “signs”. Yet, God’s invitation to do something
worthwhile with our life and do it now, is for all. Live
beyond resentment. Luke
says: do not condemn others. Judging belongs to the Lord. No one can take away
this role from God. Squeeze in through the narrow door yourself and never make
neurotic claims on others. Respond to God’s invitation in your personal way
and do it now, since the time is short and you do not know if you will get
another chance: act now. Open your horizons to God’s immense possibilities for
all: right now, God is still extending his invitation to all humans of all
nations & races & times & ages & social conditions. The logic
behind such strong words of Jesus is this: As we live with people of different
persuasions, it is never a matter of “us against them”. We perceive other
people, in a way that is pre-conditioned & prejudiced by our language,
traits, history, personal likings & dislikings. We distort other people’s
world-view though our own abilities & disabilities.... The amazing ‘Good
News’ of Christianity (and Jesus makes this clear in today’s Gospel) is that
God opens the arms of his mercy to everyone, with no condition of being worthy,
since no one can claim to be worthy of God’s unconditional love and
forgiveness. But an even deeper reality in fact is that we need to be confronted
and challenged by all sorts of conflicting world-views and codes of conduct, in
order to make an informed decision about our life and our faith. Our longing for
God and our desire-system in general needs to asses itself against opposing
views & possibilities, which in turn enables us to assert our own personal
act of faith & trust in God. Could it be, that in the Church, the only way
for “traditional believers” to assess the validity, sincerity &
conviction of their standpoint is to confront it against the claims of
“progressive members”, and vice-versa? It’s a matter of “me versus
me”. So we need them, to keep our faith alive & meaningful. Today,
pray for those you disagree with. ______________________________________ |
