Pentecost 7 (year C proper 12)- Luke 11:1-13- Prayer

 The Gospel for this Seventh Sunday after Pentecost is from Luke 11:1-13. It begins with a disciple asking for instruction in prayer. The request results in Luke's sort version of the Lord's Prayer. Then in Luke 11:5-13, our Lord gives a general encouragement to pray that is illustrated by two short parables and concludes with a brief statement about prayer.

The Lord's Prayer is at the heart of the Christian devotional life. Its words and its pattern provide basic guidance for spirituality and worship. Briefly, it teaches believers that God is our heavenly Father who is to be honored and served on earth as in heaven. We pray that His rule may be known everywhere and that He will always be merciful to our bodily and spiritual needs. We depend on His mercy and forgiveness to us, sinful creatures, and we should be merciful to others. We must always depend upon His guidance and His power to deliver us from evil of all kinds.

In the two parables, Jesus stresses the need for us to be persistent in prayer, to keep asking for divine help.  We should also trust God, who is good and loving, to give spiritual blessings to those who pray. So, in today's Gospel, besides providing a meaningful basic prayer, Christ teaches His followers two general principles about prayer. 1) Never stop praying; be persistent. 2) Aware of God's fatherly love for believers, be confident that the spiritual results of prayer will be good for us. As we pray daily and weekly, individually and corporately, let us keep both the Lord's Prayer and these two great principles in mind!

Pentecost 6 (year C proper 11)- Luke 10:38-42

The Gospel for this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost is from Luke 10:38-42, and it deals with the attitudes of Martha and Mary of Bethany. These two women and their brother Lazarus were followers of Jesus, and they practiced the virtue of hospitality toward Him and the apostles on more than one occasion. Today's short account adds an important detail. The house actually belongs to Martha, and she is determined to be a good hostess. Her sister Mary is more relaxed, and she takes the time to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from His teaching.

In differing ways, both sisters love Jesus and do good things, but Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better way. Her attitude and priorities are more spiritual. Hard work and social duty have their place. Serving guests is a good deed. Concern for human physical needs is valid. Yet, such concerns should be subordinate to higher values, such as feeding the heart, mind, and soul. Sometimes, mundane concerns should be on pause while we relax and pursue spiritual matters. In other words, we all need time to calm down and spend time with Jesus!

Pentecost 5 (year C proper 10 )- Luke 10:25-37

 The Gospel for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost is from Luke 10:25-37. This passage contains the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In the parable, a despised Samaritan shows greater compassion toward a wounded Jew than representatives of the Jewish religious elite do.  This striking parable is very important as an encouragement to show mercy.  Unfortunately, the story has often been taken out of context and simplified so that it just means "be nice to everybody." Although Christians certainly should be kind and should show mercy to other people, the context in the Gospel deals with a more basic spiritual and moral issue.

The issue concerns the attitudes toward both God and neighbor that lead to eternal life. The Parable of the Good Samaritan is addressed to an outwardly pious lawyer. The man likes to follow the rules, and he wants to test Jesus. The man thinks that he already has all the answers. However, instead of debating the man, Jesus tells a story that transcends legalistic categories. The point is that any human being can be a neighbor, and basic attitudes and actions are more important than social conventions. Qualities such as faith, love, mercy, sincerity, fairness, etc., transcend legal definitions and societal norms. 

Although rules can be of some practical use as guides, the underlying attitudes accompanied by kind deeds are the key. So the parable is not a legalistic principle. Rather, it is an encouragement to seek divine grace and embody loving attitudes to God and neighbor!

Pentecost 4 (year C proper 9)- Luke 10: 1-20

 The Gospel for this Fourth Sunday after Pentecost is the account of the sending forth of the seventy (seventy-two in some manuscripts) from Luke 10:1-20. When we think of Jesus' followers in the New Testament, we usually focus on the Twelve. The Twelve are certainly important, but we should remember that there are others involved in Christ's mission from the beginning.

The mission of the Seventy is to prepare localities for the personal ministry of Jesus. On this preparatory mission, the disciples travel lightly and bring the message of repentance and faith in the kingdom of God. They also do deeds of healing and mercy. They are warned not to expect universal success. Some people and some places will not be open to Christ and His message. In such cases, the disciples are not to waste their time and energy. Rather, they are to warn people of the dangers of rejecting Christ and move on to minister elsewhere.

In our time, Christians still have a similar mission. We still try to prepare people to receive Jesus Christ. We continue to perform deeds of mercy and call people to repentance and religious faith in Christ and His kingdom. Yet, we also recognize that everyone will not be open to the Gospel. So at times, we must simply warn people of spiritual danger and move on. Finally, as Christ tells the disciples in Luke 10:20, we should not rejoice in our external successes, "but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven."