Prayer must not be a way to force God to do our will. Why are we invited to turn to him persistently? What is the meaning of prayer? To these questions, Jesus responds today with a parable (vv. 1-5) and with application to the community's life (vv. 6-8). The parable starts with the presentation of personages.
Jesus is the first to grasp that God is not far from the lepers truly. He does not escape nor reject them. He knew what he must say to those who institutionalized the marginalization of the lepers in the name of God to get over with religion that excludes, judges, and condemns impure persons! In Jesus, the Lord appeared in their midst; he touches and heals them.
Jesus considers both greed for goods of this world and honestly earned wealth as almost insurmountable obstacles to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. The deceitfulness of wealth chokes the seed of the Word (Mt 13:22); it tends to gradually conquer the whole human heart and leave no space for God nor the neighbor. Blessed is he who makes himself poor, who is no longer anxious for what he will eat or drink, who does not worry about clothes and does not get restless for tomorrow (Mt 6:25-34). Blessed is he who shares all that he has with his brothers/sisters.
An administrator is a person who often appears in the parables of Jesus. We have one ‘faithful and wise’ who does not act arbitrarily but uses the goods entrusted to him according to the owner's will. In the absence of the master, we also have another one who takes advantage of his position to ‘make himself the owner’ gets drunk and dishonors the other servants (Lk 12:42-48). There is the enterprising administrator, who commits himself, dares to risk, and makes the master’s capital gain profit, and then there is the one who is a slacker.
The crucifix is a symbol with which Christians manifest their faith, yet for three centuries it was intentionally not used. Believers recognised themselves as such in other symbols - the anchor, the fish, the bread, the dove, the shepherd - but shied away from recognising the cross as a symbol because it evoked the infamous death of their Master, a death reserved for slaves and bandits, and was also one of the reasons why pagans mocked Christians.
The three parables emphasize the complementary aspects of conversion. The first two stress God’s initiative, not man’s, in the conversion process. It is God who is always looking for those who are lost. The parable of the ‘prodigal son’ (Lk 15:11-32) highlights God's respect for human freedom. The Father does not force his children to stay indoors nor even compels them to return: He can wait!
A Christian does not aspire for pain (even Jesus did not seek it) but love. However, when love is "lived up to the end" (Jn 13:1), it becomes a gift of life. That is why the cross, from a sign of death, becomes a symbol of life. Until the end of the 3rd century, the Christian symbols were the anchor, the fisherman, and the fish but never the cross. It is only in the 4th century.
Jesus asks the disciples to love freely, to do good in pure loss. He recommends welcoming home those who cannot give anything in return. God will provide the reward in heaven. This statement needs clarification. The call to help the poor, thinking of the wealth accumulated in heaven, can still be selfish behavior. It is using the poor to ‘transfer one’s capitals to heaven.’ This love is detestable; it is sneaky.
The path to the banquet of the Kingdom of God is not an easy walk. The road that leads there is narrow, and the door—Jesus says—is constricted and hard to find. This statement does not contradict the optimistic and joyful message of the prophets who proclaim universal salvation. Yes, all will arrive, but it would be better to get there in time for the banquet.
Mary is remembered for the last time in the New Testament at the beginning of the book of Acts: in prayer, surrounded by the apostles and the first Christian community (Acts 1:14). Then this sweet and reserved woman leaves the scene, as silent and discreet as she had entered, and we know nothing more about her; the canonical texts do not mention where she spent the last years of her life or how she left this earth. From the sixth century onwards, numerous versions of a single theme, the Dormition of Our Lady, spread among Christians.
Jesus warned his disciples: "If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before you. This would not be so if you belonged to the world because the world loves its own" (Jn 15:18-19). He calmed their perplexed and vacillating spirits, recalling that a dramatic destiny puts together, for always, all the just ones. "Remember, that is how the ancestors of this people treated the prophets. Alas for you when people speak well of you, for that is how the ancestors of these people treated the false prophets".
Jesus repeats his disconcerting proposal several times: Sell everything, give the proceeds to the poor. How do we interpret these words? Is he aware that he is asking us to give up the joy of our hearts? Does he come to undermine all our safety? Yes, and he does, to make us blessed.
Three times in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was asked for indications about inheritance. "What shall I do to receive eternal life?"—they ask, first a doctor of the law (Lk 10:25), then a rich ruler (Lk 18:18). Jesus responds to both, explaining in detail the conditions for having a part in this legacy. In a dialogue with the disciples, he introduces the eternal inheritance discourse: "As for those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children or property for my Name’s sake they will receive a hundredfold, and be given eternal life" (Mt 19:29).
No evangelist insists so much on prayer as Luke. He remembers that Jesus prayed seven times. He was praying—Luke says—at baptism (Lk 3:21); "He withdrew to the wilderness to pray" during his public life (Lk 5:16); he prayed when he chose the disciples (Lk 6:12), and before asking them to say something about his identity (Lk 9:18). He was praying at the time of the Transfiguration (Lk 9:28-29) and when he taught the Our Father (Lk 11:1). He prayed especially in the most dramatic moment of his life, in Gethsemane (Lk 22:41-46).
For Christians, hospitality is a reminder of their status as pilgrims in this world. But it reminds them above all that Christ came into the world as an alien: "He came to His own, yet his own people did not receive him"(Jn 1:11). Today he continues to ask for hospitality: "Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my call and open the door, I will come in to you and have supper with you, and you with me" (Rev 3:20). He seeks to enter into the life of every person, every society, and every institution.
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Love of neighbor, above all the poor, orphan, widow, and stranger, is viewed in this frame: this is practiced because it is a work pleasing to God. The New Testament gives us the whole light that allows us to understand what it means to love God. The first letter of John is very explicit: "This is love: not that we loved God but that he first loved us... Dear friends, if such has been the love of God, we, too, must love one another" (1 Jn 4:10-11).
God does not get angry, seek revenge, or punish those who do not accept his Word. He is goodness and mercy and loves always. Jesus uses the language and imagery of his people. He speaks of God’s punishment to show the disastrous consequences the rejection of the Gospel entails. Whoever does not accept his word becomes responsible for his unhappiness; he is devoid of peace.
Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
The mission given to the disciples is more urgent and more important than that of Elisha. The whole creation eagerly awaits that the Kingdom of God appears and is realized. Every moment is precious. Luke also uses the third example of a vocation to send a message to his communities. They cannot waste time in gossip, useless discussions, and debates on trivial matters while the world urgently needs the Gospel’s announcement.
