REFLECTIONS TODAY Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain” has a counterpart in Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount” (5:1—7:27). Luke’s introductory portion consists of four blessings and four woes. The theme of beatitudes and woes is one of Luke’s central themes. Those who are favored by God are...
Another consideration to which the institution of Sabbath rest must yield is the law of charity. Jesus performs a work of mercy not on behalf of his disciples, but on behalf of an unfortunate individual, a man with a stunted hand. The Pharisees admit of exception to the Sabbath rest only in danger...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Luke 14:25-33 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The Sabbath is connected with the Hebrew word shabbath which means to rest or to cease. Its basis is the rest of God “in the beginning”: “ rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken” (Gn 2:2). The observance of the Sabbath later became one of the Ten...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In a “parable” or wise saying, Jesus says that no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for the drinker says, “The old is good.” The wine connoisseur will indeed attest to this, but in the Gospel reading, Jesus refers to the “old mentality” that does not...
REFLECTIONS TODAY In 1986, marine archaeologists discovered an ancient boat a little north of Magdala and calculated that the boat was built only a few years after the ministry of Jesus, very likely the kind of boat used by the disciples who were Galilean fishermen. The Sea of Galilee yielded a...
REFLECTIONS TODAY When Jesus started his ministry in the towns of Galilee, he would preach in the open: on the mountain, the plains, and the seashores. He would also preach in the synagogues where the Jews would gather on the Sabbath. Especially after the destruction of Solomon’s Temple (587 BC),...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The people of Capernaum are astonished because Jesus teaches them with authority (Greek exousia). “Authority” here refers to Jesus’ power to proclaim the Word of God that not only reveals, but commands and effects its message. Jesus’ word has the power (dunamis) to command...
REFLECTIONS TODAY The passion of John the Baptist prefigures Jesus’ own. Just as John is arrested and bound, so will Jesus be arrested, bound, presented before the court of Pontius Pilate, and sentenced to death (Mk 14:46—15:1). John’s sentence is pronounced amid revelry and debauchery....
REFLECTIONS TODAY LUKE 14:1, 7-14 On a Sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. He told a parable to those who had been invited, noticing how they were choosing the places of honor at the table. “When you are...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Matthew 25:14-30 The eschatological discourse of Jesus is again illustrated by the parable of the talents. A talent (Greek talenton) was an ancient unit for measuring the value of precious metals, usually gold and silver. In the New Testament, a talent was a value of...
REFLECTIONS TODAY Gospel • Matthew 25:1-13 The parable of the Ten Virgins points to the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time. Matthew alludes to Jesus as the “bridegroom,” to the community of God’s faithful (the Church) as the “bride,” and to the joy of God’s Kingdom as the...
