Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 16:19-31 
Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table. Even dogs used to come and lick his sores. It happened that the poor man died, and angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died, and was buried. From the netherworld where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus, with the tip of his finger dipped in water, to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire!’

Abraham replied, ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off, while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune. Now he is in comfort, and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you, or from your side to us.’
The rich man implored once more, ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house, where my five brothers live. Let him warn them, so that they may not end up in this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham; but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Reflection:
“They will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.”
The situations of the rich man and Lazarus in life are reversed after death. While in life the rich man dressed in purple linen and feasted every day. Now the rich man suffers continuous torment. He ignored Lazarus, who in life merely wished for table scraps from his table. Now they are separated by a chasm that cannot be bridged—a chasm that reproduces the breach which in life prevented the rich man from even acknowledging the existence of Lazarus.
For those who live in the affluent world, indifferent to the misery of the majority who struggle to survive, the message of this parable could not be more challenging. Pope Francis has spoken of the effects of affluence and consumerism that foster a “culture of indifference” that makes it impossible even to see our brothers and sisters. “Who weeps for these?” he says, referring to families who drown in the sea while seeking to escape from lives of misery. The deaths of countless poor people is simply a statistic, an anecdote that doesn’t disturb our sleep, or sup- press our appetites.
What if one of them could come back from death to warn us of the fate that awaits us? Yet we already have Moses and the Prophets. For that matter, we have Jesus, who died and returned from the dead. What more do we need?

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Matthew 20:17-28 -
When Jesus was going to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, “See, we are going to Jerusalem. There, the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law; and they will condemn him to death. They will hand him over to the foreigners, who will mock him, scourge him and crucify him. But he will be raised to life on the third day.”

Then the mother of James and John came to Jesus with her sons, and she knelt down, to ask a favor. Jesus said to her, “What do you want?” And she answered, “Here, you have my two sons.   Grant, that they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
Jesus said to the brothers, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We can.” Jesus replied, “You will indeed drink my cup; but to sit at my right or at my left is not for me to grant. That will be for those, for whom my Father has prepared it.”
The other ten heard all this, and were angry with the two brothers. Then Jesus called them to him and said, “You know, that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants, and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you: whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many.”

Reflection:
“You do not know what you are asking.”
The gospel writer is hardly subtle in depicting the wide gulf between Jesus’ teaching and his disciples’ capacity to comprehend. Here he delivers a chilling forecast of the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem:betrayal, arrest, torture, and death. At least Peter’s previous reply, “Lord, this shall never happen!” is appropriate to the subject matter. But it is hard to surpass the obtuse request of the mother of James and John, that her sons may be afforded places of honor when Jesus comes into his kingdom. Even the two disciples seem to have focused purely on glory.
They are confident that they have joined a“winning team.” But are they truly prepared to drink from the cup from which he will drink—the cup that even Jesus prays might pass him by?In the cup that Jesus will drink, there is no separating the glory from its bitter price. And Jesus’ kingdom is not a reflection of worldly hierarchies where greatness is a matter of lording it over and oppressing others. It is a way of humility, an emptying of power. To be first in this kingdom is to be the servant of all. But words fail. Jesus will have to show them what this means.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a (or Luke 2:41-51a) -
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ —the Messiah.
This is how Jesus Christ was born: Mary his mother had been given to Joseph in marriage, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, made plans to divorce her in all secrecy. He was an upright man, and in no way did he want to disgrace her.

While he was pondering over this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She has conceived by the Holy Spirit, and now she will bear a son. You shall call him ‘Jesus’ for he will save his people from their sins.”
When Joseph awoke, he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do, and he took his wife to his home.

Reflection:
“He did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do.”
In both the Gospel nativity narratives, Joseph and Mary were betrothed when Mary was discovered to be pregnant. Luke recounts Mary’s side of the story, while Matthew focuses on Joseph. In his story, the discovery of Mary’s pregnancy precedes any divine reassurance, thus presenting Joseph with a terrible dilemma. According to the law, Mary should be stoned to death. But Joseph, “being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame” (a delicate reference to the alternative), resolves to divorce her quietly. Fortunately, an angel appears in Joseph’s sleep to explain the source of Mary’s condition, and he is apparently satisfied. We have become accustomed to the happy, and seemingly inevitable, outcome of this story. In that light, it is good to stop and consider Joseph’s extraordinary leap of faith, which silently echoes Mary’s prayer, “Let it be done to me according God’s will.” Note well: Joseph was reassured in a dream. On that basis he decides to spare his betrothed and her unborn child the penalty of the law. Thus,In both the Gospel nativity narratives, Joseph and Mary were betrothed when Mary was discovered to be pregnant. Luke recounts Mary’s side of the story, while Matthew focuses on Joseph. In his story, the discovery of Mary’s pregnancy precedes any divine reassurance, thus presenting Joseph with a terrible dilemma. According to the law, Mary should be stoned to death. But Joseph, “being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame” (a delicate reference to the alternative), resolves to divorce her quietly. Fortunately, an angel appears in Joseph’s sleep to explain the source of Mary’s condition, and he is apparently satisfied. We have become accustomed to the happy, and seemingly inevitable, outcome of this story. In that light, it is good to stop and consider Joseph’s extraordinary leap of faith, which silently echoes Mary’s prayer, “Let it be done to me according God’s will.” Note well: Joseph was reassured in a dream. On that basis he decides to spare his betrothed and her unborn child the penalty of the law. Thus,Jesus’ very birth is a triumph of faith over the cruel letter of the law.
A silent figure throughout the Gospel, Joseph utters no words to correspond to Mary’s heartfelt prayer. His actions, however, reflect the same faithful consent to a plan beyond his understanding.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 6:36-38 -
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Don’t be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven;  give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”

Reflection:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.“
We are all familiar with the economy of the marketplace: goods and services have their price, determined by the law of “supply and demand.” But Jesus describes a different kind of economy,  a marketplace of spiritual goods, which follows its own rules. If you want to receive mercy, then practice mercy. If you wish to be forgiven, practice forgiveness. The measure you give will  be the measure you receive. Of course we know that this doesn’t always work out so neatly in practice. An act of trust may be repaid with betrayal. I may forgive someone, only to be  cheated or robbed. I may refrain from judging another, only to be judged harshly or unfairly in return. The economy that Jesus describes presumes that we occupy a wider spiritual realm.
Jesus taught that his fol- lowers would be persecuted for his sake—regardless of whether they were merciful or forgiving of others. The rewards for mercy and forgiveness may not be visible  immediately or in this life. But we can make a start now, in this life, to live by God’s values, already living in hope of the Kingdom we wish to enter.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019