XXII Sunday of the Year

KINGDOM ETIQUETTE

Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a; Luke 14:1, 7-14

Readings for the XXII Sunday of the Year

Someone asked Leonard Bernstein, the conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, to name the most difficult instrument to play. Without hesitation, he replied: “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.”

Most of us want to be in the spotlight. This Sunday’s readings challenge us to be humble, and to be willing to play second fiddle.

At a Sabbath dinner, Jesus notices guests jockeying for positions of honour. He teaches them kingdom etiquette of humility; he echoes the wisdom of Sirach in the first reading: “Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favour with God.” Humility is not self-abasement but a realistic understanding of oneself and of one’s strengths-weaknesses. It is an “interior at-homeness”, being at home with oneself!

In the second part of the gospel, Jesus shifts focus from guest etiquette to host etiquette. Through his preferred guest list, he reminds us of his preferential option for the poor. Throughout his ministry, Jesus sought the least, the lost, the forgotten. Further, he wants inclusion, not exclusion; he has opened wide the narrow door of last week to let all people in.

We live in an era which fosters self-glorification and emphasizes the self. We live in a world that judges mainly by externals: our clothes, degrees, positions, designations… we believe these determine our status.

In kingdom etiquette, status—which society confers—counts for nothing. Our status is measured not by our rank/ occupation, but by the quantum of love we offer God through service; it depends not on how others look at us, but on the care and compassion with which we look at them.

Do I jockey for position? Am I humble: do I acknowledge my strengths and shortcomings, and recognize others’ feats and forgive their failures? Is there place in my heart/life for the world’s “nobodies”: the least, the lost, the forgotten?

May you and I learn kingdom etiquette! 

XXI Sunday of the Year

ENTRY FOR ALL…
… THROUGH THE NARROW GATE

Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30

Readings for the XXI Sunday of the Year

Outside a place of worship in South India hangs a signboard that reads: “No entry for dogs and Christians.” There are some beaches and restaurants in India where no Indian is allowed! Shocking!

But there are places with equally shocking “no entry” signboards even if these are less obvious and perhaps invisible.  Some churches in India do not allow Dalit Christians to enter. In Anumanthanpatti in southern India, they have a separate cemetery and an exclusive hearse. 

Very little has changed from biblical times! The Jews, especially the Pharisees and the Scribes, had a “no-entry” sign for heaven: “no-entry” for non-Jews, for tax collectors and prostitutes, for those broke the smallest of the commandments. The Jews considered that they were the “chosen ones”; the kingdom of heaven was exclusively for them.

This attitude prompts the question we heard in today’s Gospel: “Will those who are saved be few?”

Jesus does not answer the question. He refuses to speculate on numbers; he looks forward to the time when people will come from all parts of the world and sit at table in the kingdom of God. He looks forward to the fulfilment of Isaiah’s vision in the first reading (Isaiah foretells a time when people from all nations, on all modes of transport, shall come to Jerusalem). 

The “no-entry” signs are off. Jesus’ signboard reads: entry for all; there are neither reserved places nor favoured people. But there is the fine print: entry is restricted to those who choose the “narrow gate”! Jesus changes the focus from general statistics to the individual and to individual responsibility. We must walk his way of the cross and keep his commandment of love.

All of us have no “no-entry” signboards. 

What are the “no-entry” signs in my life? Whom do I exclude from my circle of life and my circle of relationships? 

What is the meaning of the narrow gate for me? Am I ready to choose the discipline of the narrow gate? 

Let us ask Jesus who welcomed all and loved all to help us remove the “no-entry” signs from our lives and to give us the strength to walk through the narrow gate.

XX Sunday of the Year

JESUS BRINGS DIVISION

Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48

Readings for the XX Sunday of the Year

The Robe (the Lloyd C. Douglas’ novel, which Henry Koster directed as the epic film) explores the experiences of the Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio. Marcellus won Christ’s robe after the crucifixion. He set forth to find the truth about the robe, a quest that took him to the roots and heart of Christianity. He and his slave Demetrius became Christians. Eventually, Marcellus’ father disowned him as an enemy of Rome, and Demetrius’ physician denounced them to the authorities. 

The Robe captures the division that Jesus brings within families, a division that he experienced and predicted, a division that arises because of a conflict of values. 

To understand the “why” of this division, we look at the peace that Jesus gives: it is not a compromising, anything-for-a-quiet-life kind of peace; it is a peace that comes from living according to God’s will and kingdom values. 

Recall Jesus’ experience: each time he did the Father’s will, it divided him from those who would not take the step with him, and it moved him deeper into the peace that comes from being true to oneself. When we understand this meaning of “peace”, the talk of “division” is no longer strange! 

Further, we forget how unconventional and counter-cultural Jesus was! He befriended sinners and outcasts; a Samaritan was the hero of his story; he asked the disciples to love their enemies! His open-hearted approach divided him from those with closed and hard hearts. The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews sums this up: “He endured such opposition”!

The first reading portrays the rejection and condemnation Jeremiah faces at the hands of his own people. For fearlessly speaking the word of God, he is left in a muddy cistern—without food and water—to die. The one who rescues him is a Cushite, a foreigner!

Living by kingdom values—love, justice, peace—will bring us into conflict those who do not accept such values… even when they are family. Promoting human dignity, rights, and freedom will inevitably bring us into conflict with those who want to subjugate and oppress the poor for their selfish ends.

Will I live by the values - lifestyle - choices of the kingdom (and my convictions) even at the risk of division in my family? Will I do God’s will and become the person he wants me to become even if it means going against my own?

XIX Sunday of the Year

BE PREPARED

Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48

Readings for the XIX Sunday of the Year

It was exam time during my second year of theology. I was studying after dinner. There was a knock on my door. It was my scripture teacher! 

He said: “I know your exam is day after tomorrow. I have a blood test in the morning, and I will reach late for your timeslot. I am out tomorrow. Can you come for your exam earlier?” Mine was the first slot. I asked: “Earlier? When?” He said: “Come now!” 

Now! I wanted some time to dress appropriately and to glance through my notes. My teacher said: “Come as you are!” I had no choice but to close my door… and go for the test! 

All of us will have to face a much more important—and dead-cert—test at the end of our lives. 

We do not know when Jesus—the “teacher”—will call us for the test; he tells us it will be “on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour.” In this Sunday’s gospel, through the parable of the vigilant servants and the parable of the faithful and prudent steward, Jesus advises his “little flock” to be prepared for this final test. 

An attitude that will help us be prepared is commitment to the task/ mission God has entrusted to us. Jesus calls his disciples to be “vigilant servants” (prepared for vigorous activity and do whatever their master has asked them to do) and “faithful and prudent stewards” (loyally and responsibly administer their owner’s assets and care for those who are in their charge). When we do this, we are always ready for the teacher, and we need not fear the final test.

There is another—more important—reason for being unafraid: Jesus tells us that we are a flock loved by the Father, chosen and intended for the kingdom. 

Like Abraham—our father in faith—we must trust God’s providence which sustains us always and in unexpected ways. Abraham believed that God would fulfil the promise of land and the promise of progeny. In faith, he looked beyond the present moment to a future that is held in God’s hands. 

Am I prepared for the final test? Am I a “faithful-prudent-vigilant steward” committed to my God-entrusted mission? Do I trust in divine providence?

XVIII Sunday of the Year

THE DOLLARS ARE IN THE WAY

Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23; Colossians 3:1-5, 9-11; Luke 12:13-21

Readings for the XVIII Sunday of the Year

Henry Ford asked an associate about his life goals. The man replied that his goal was to make a million dollars. A few days later Ford gave him a pair of specs with dollar coins instead of lenses. He told the man to put them on and asked what he could see. “Nothing,” the man said, “the dollars are in the way.” Ford told him that he should invest in reaching out to others, not simply in making money.

Money is important. It is necessary! But it is only a means to higher ends. When the “dollars” get in the way of our seeing God, others, and the world, it’s time to change/remove our specs! 

In the gospel, when called to arbitrate in a property dispute, Jesus warns his listeners—through the parable of the rich fool—not to focus on possessions. The rich man of the parable is a “fool” not because he is rich; but because 

a) he trusts inordinately in his riches: he cannot see beyond himself; in his barns, there is room only for grain, not for God.

b) he is totally self-centred: when he has a problem, he talks it over with himself; all his planning is for his benefit and comfort only.

The man has riches but is extremely poor in his relationships. This is why St Paul, in the second reading, cautions the Colossians: “put to death… the greed that is idolatry.” The first reading, from the Book of Ecclesiastes, sums up Jesus’ teaching!

This text appears in the section on discipleship. Having spoken of the central place of love and prayer in the life of the disciple, Jesus now stresses the need to be rich in what matters to God: becoming truly human, that is, becoming rich in our relationship with God and others.

Few of us are as rich as the man in the story; but each of us has riches: talents, time, resources, families…

Do my “riches” isolate me from others or do I share my riches with others and use these to build my relationships? Where does my security lie: in the bank or in God? On what do I focus: grain/ green/ God? Are the “dollars” in the way?