I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27–39 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened when Jesus was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering or your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Levi, also known as Matthew, answer's Christ's call to "follow Me."  He leaves his occupation to become a disciple, my study Bible comments.  It notes that from the beginning of Christ's ministry, He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him (as we read a little further on in the text).  Levi was possibly one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (Luke 3:12).  

 

 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  My study Bible comments that this feast is an expression of Matthew's joy and gratitude.  The guest register, it says, is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness. 

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."    My study Bible tells us that Christ's earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But, of course, there will come a time when Christ's followers will be practicing the fast.  Jewish fasting practices would be transfigured in Christianity to reflect preparation for the wedding feast of the Messiah/Bridegroom at the end of the age.  Thus historically there have been practices of fasting in the Church to prepare for the feast of Easter, and also for Christmas and other short fasting periods before certain feasts or commemorations.  

 

 Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"   Christ here gives this parable of wineskins to illustrate the growing ranks of His Church, the New Covenant as it transfigures the Old.  My study Bible remarks that this final saying regarding old wine occurs only in Luke's account of this story.  It suggests that this last remark illustrates, first of all, the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, and secondly, the inner resistance which a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life.  Finally, it teaches us about the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

The analogy of the old wineskins and the new illustrates an important aspect of the difficulties of repentance.  We always want what we are used to, and it's often hard to accept the new and what is unfamiliar to us.  We're used to doing things a certain way, or being taught that a particular habit or way of doing things is good and preferable in general.  But just as the new wineskins allow for expansion, for new members welcomed into Christ's Church, so the practice of repentance asks us for a constant type of growth and expansion.  Often our faith and our prayers might lead us to make new choices, new decisions we haven't made before, new concepts we hadn't considered to embrace, or perhaps new alternatives to the ways we've always done things in the past.  Occasionally we run into seeming roadblocks in our lives, and we can't understand why things are not working or we seem to have hit a dead end.  It's then that prayer and spiritual guidance can help us find ways to move forward out of our "stuck" places, giving us options and insight into new possibilities and new ways of thinking.  The "new wineskins" of Christ offer us an opening to consider that within His Church and as His disciples we are always asked to grow and to expand, for we are made to learn (the word disciple in the Greek of the Gospels literally means "learner").  To grow within the discipline of following Christ is an expanding way of life, inviting us to continue toward that wedding feast of the Bridegroom and His Church, for union with our Lord has an infinite horizon beyond what we know.  While we may consider that repentance entails turning toward something we already know, the word in Greek (μετανοια/metanoia) actually implies change, and it literally means "change of mind."  Let us consider the ways Christ calls us to change, to expand our own ways of thinking, to follow Him.  

 

 

Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?

 

 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding."'  But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests.  But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."

 

- Matthew 22:1-14 

 

In our recent readings, Jesus is in Jerusalem, and it is Holy Week.  He has made His Triumphal Entry into the city, He has cleansed the temple, and He was quizzed by the religious leaders as to His authority to do so.  In yesterday's reading, He told them, "Hear another parable:  There was a certain landowner who planted vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the LORD'S doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet. 

 

  And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding."'   My study Bible comments that, like the preceding parables, this one also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless among the Jews to the faithful who will come even from among the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet, as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29), and St. Paul uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33).  The repeated sending out of servants shows the Father's great desire to have God's people with God in the Kingdom.  The first group of servants is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while the second group is made up of the prophets, who repeatedly were sent to the "first-called," the Jews.  Additionally, my study Bible explains that the oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fattled cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  It notes that "fatted" is better translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally, "formed from wheat."  So both Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church. 

 

"But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."   My study Bible says that, according to St. John Chrysostom, Christ is here prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70, and therefore attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of human beings.  Nonetheless, patience was shown by waiting some forty years from the time of Christ -- thus giving an entire generation a chance to repent. 

 

"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests."  This third group of servants are the apostles, sent out across the highways among the nations, the Gentiles. 

 

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."  According to my study Bible, the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, so there was no excuse for this man who was without one -- therefore he is speechless.  His refusal to wear the wedding garment provided by the king is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want God's kingdom on their own terms.  Specifically, says my study Bible, the garment refers to the baptismal garment, and through extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.   For many, an Aramaic expression repeated frequently by Christ, means "for all."

What is the wedding garment?  It is an intriguing speculation to consider.  My study Bible clearly states an affirmative explanation that it is one's baptismal garment, but also composed of the life one leads afterward, of "faith, repentance, virtue, and charity."  We can consider, then, the garment a type of weaving of the soul, if we may so phrase it.  It invites us to think of our own souls as those things in which we will come clothed to God, and the image in which we will appear at Christ's final judgment, which coincides with the time of the wedding banquet.  It's interesting to think of our souls as comprised of thread after thread of our lives, our choices, our faith lived or not, and woven into a garment that expresses more truly who we are than any clothing we could choose to wear.  Think about the weaving process, in which cloth is spun from threads woven on a framework which holds in place a basic structure, while chosen threads of whatever quality or color or substance are woven constantly through them, back and forth, to make a garment of whole cloth.  It is said by reference to a similar idea, that the word "history" comes from the ancient Greek word ιστός/histos, meaning loom.  Therefore in this same sense, history is like a tapestry or cloth being constantly woven until we can see the shape and pattern and quality of a cloth, thread after thread across the loom.  Our own histories, therefore, are written in the soul -- a wedding garment, then, is a life lived through faith in what God has given us, the teachings we're given for eternal life and attendance at this wedding banquet.  Certainly this is a gift of God, of Christ, and the working of the Holy Spirit throughout our lives, as well as our cooperation with the same, our "yes" to a life so lived.  And this is the invitation we're given, for the gospel message is clearly meant to be our invitation to the life Christ wants us to live with Him in His Kingdom, entering into His wedding banquet of the Bridegroom and the Church.  Let us consider how we weave our lives, the garments of our souls, and what we want that to look like -- composed of beauty beyond our knowing but that will shine forth in the Kingdom.  "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:43).

And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'"

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." 

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27-39 

 

Yesterday we read that it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

  After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  My study Bible comments that Levi (Matthew) answers Christ's call, "Follow Me," and leaves his occupation to become a disciple.  From the beginning of his ministry Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners, which is one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him, as we read in the verses that follow these.  My study Bible adds that Levi may also have been one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (Luke 3:12). 

 

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  This feast expresses Matthew's joy and gratitude, according to my study Bible.  It says that the guest register is a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.  

 

 Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved."    My study Bible comments that Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast.  In Jewish life, there were both regular fasts and occasional fasts which were proclaimed.  Most solemn was the Day of Atonement, and in times of mourning.  But the time of the Messiah was a joyous wedding feast -- a time of great celebration and gladness.  My study Bible comments that Jesus proclaims that day, effectively calling Himself the Bridegroom -- and the guests the friends of the Bridegroom.   Times of Christian fasting, on the other hand, are considered not to be gloomy but desirable, called a "bright sadness" by my study Bible, for we gain self-control, and prepare ourselves for the Wedding Feast through specific periods of fasting as a community.

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  This saying occurs only in Luke's account of this story.  According to my study Bible it is illustrative of the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant.  It also represents the inner resistance which a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life.  Additionally, it describes the general stubbornness of the human heart. 

At this stage, perhaps we could say that the hostility of the religious leaders isn't quite in full bloom, hasn't reached the great peak it will reach later.  As such, their criticism focuses on what looks different from what they are used to; that is, what is surprising to them about Christ's ministry.  In yesterday's reading, the Pharisees and scribes criticized Jesus (at least in their thoughts!) for declaring that someone's sin was forgiven.  "Who can forgive sins but God?" they reasoned, thinking He blasphemed.  But then the astonishing happened, and He healed the paralytic.  Here in today's reading, the surprising and possibly unnerving thing (to them) is that even the disciples of John the Baptist (as well as the disciples of the Pharisees) fast often, but they're watching even tax collectors having a feast with Jesus and His disciples!  Jesus offers a very simple explanation -- that their Bridegroom is with them.  If we think of it even in modern terms, this analogy makes sense; for how could the friends of a bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the time will come when the bridegroom is taken away.  This rejoicing at having found Christ is revealed as something truly new, a deep change in the reality that people know.  Wine is symbolic of covenant, and this is new wine and a new covenant that has come to be -- and if it looks completely different from what they're used to, there's little wonder.  It must do so.  And there must be new wineskins for this new wine -- it must have time to do what new wine does.  It will grow and ferment with hidden, mysterious enzymatic action -- the energies of the Holy Spirit forming and shaping a new covenant and a new people within that covenant.  Jesus seems already to have grasped the impossibility of pouring this new wine into the old wineskins (so to speak) that cannot expand to take them in and hold them.  Even sewing a patch on the old -- some sort of augmentation or modification, even a sort of "band-aid" to breach the tears -- won't work, either.  We must assume, therefore, given this imagery, that Jesus already knows there will be no compromise on these issues, but a new vessel is necessary to contain the great expansion that is going to happen, even the multitudes who will be caught in the net of the apostles, like the fish in the apostles' net in yesterday's reading (above).  But this final verse that is only in Luke tells us also about the perspective of the scribes and Pharisees, and their attitudes to this "new" thing they observe happening.  It will never look "right" to them.  It hard to give up what one is used to in order to try something new.  Let us consider Christ's words as a metaphorical teaching also for the changes we might go through in our lives, especially a maturing in our own faith, a new time of renewal and repentance and "change of mind."  What is around the bend can feel alien and unknown, making changes means we step into new territory and break new ground.  We need to "expand" to accommodate it.  There are times when growth in our faith will ask us to go forward and do this, just as we watch the disciples doing throughout the Gospels.  So let us not simply think of this story as only a "tell" on the scribes and Pharisees, but a surprising metaphor for our own calling going forward.  Can we be like Matthew the tax collector, or the fishermen in yesterday's reading, and leave all behind to "Follow Him?"  Sometimes it seems to me this is the whole of the ongoing life of faith in Christ, and our participation in it, in His communion, for He expands in us, the new wineskins.  Let us go forward with the saints, and Christ's call in our lives.  Today's reading also makes it clear that these changes are meant to heal ("Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance").   Quite often, to heal after one has been sick for a long time requires the acceptance of change as well, a new way of life, and a new perspective on life.  Let us then consider the call of our Physician, and the changes that His new life and new wine will bring for us to accept and to live.

 

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance

 

Feast in the House of Levi (retouched), Paolo Caliari, Il Veronese, 1573.  Galleria della Academia, Venice

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

 

- Luke 5:27–39 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus was in a certain city, a man who was full of leprosy saw Him; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And he charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say,'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

 

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.   My study bible says that Levi (also known as Matthew) answers Christ's call, "Follow Me."  He leaves his occupation to become a disciple.  It notes that from the beginning of Christ's ministry, He has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners -- one of the Pharisees' complaints against Him in today's reading.  Levi quite possibly was one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist, as referenced in Luke 3:12.

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  This feast is an expression of Matthew/Levi's joy and gratitude.  My study bible calls the guest register a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.  Let us note Jesus' own characterization of His ministry as ultimately healing:  He is the Physician to the sick.  Repentance is restorative, healthful medicine for what ails us.

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  My study bible says that Jesus' earthly life is a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast, such as in Lent when we do so in preparation for Easter and Christ's promise of return.  The day of the Messiah was seen as a wedding feast, a time of joy and gladness.  Here Jesus declares Himself to be the Bridegroom.  Christian fasting is called a "bright sadness," as it is a way to learn self-control in preparation for the wedding feast.

Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  My study bible says this last saying of Christ, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better,'" is reported only by Luke.   It illustrates several things:  the difficulty with which the Jews would accept the new covenant, the inner resistance that a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life, the general stubbornness of the human heart.

I really like that Christ characterizes Himself as Physician, thereby His entire ministry as healing, restorative, setting-aright.  The important thing is that we understand our faith in His gospel mission and ministry as such.  How does your faith help you to heal the ailments that beset humanity?  In the Eastern Orthodox tradition there is the important understanding of what is called "theosis."  This is a term that describes a growing union with Christ that defines the journey of faith, and the mystical reality of grace at work in us.  It is a way to describe the transforming reality of faith, and the healing work of the Physician, a way to understand the power of spiritual fruitfulness such as St. Paul describes in Galatians 5:22-23.  In this understanding, repentance -- which, in the Greek, μετάνοια/metanoia, simply means "change of mind" -- becomes an ongoing process, a the progressive characteristic of a lifetime journey of faith.  That is, as we grow in our own faith and dependency upon Christ, so we are also transformed in the light of Christ.  This has to be understood as a process of grace at work in us, God coming to us and making a home in us as Jesus declares in John 14:23.  It is not simply a conscious mental or intellectual process of following the rules, or reasoning out what is good behavior and what is bad.  As we have seen from all of Jesus' healings, faith works at deeper levels within us than we can know, in some sense "cooperating" with the grace of God.  At some depth level within ourselves, we give our "yes" to God and to the energies of grace at work.  In this mysterious action, fostered through prayer and worship, reading the Scriptures, and all the ways in which we support and nurture our faith, is a process of change and transformation.  It encourages us to grow, to develop the virtues understood as fruits of the Spirit, to "change our minds" about the ways in which we think, the values we've accepted, the habits we need to change.  This is "repentance," the medicine of Christ for all of us who are in some way sick, who contend with what's wrong or bad for us, and need help from our Physician to come to terms with what real health would look like in us.  It's that long process of how we reconcile with our Physician, the One who comes to call us to healing, and out of what is bad for us.

 

 

But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, "The old is better"

 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.  Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"

- Luke 5:27-39

Yesterday we read that it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."  Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed."  Immediately the leprosy left him.  And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded."  However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of Him by their infirmities.  So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem.  And the power of the Lord was present to heal them.  Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him.  And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.  When He saw their faith, He said to him, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."  And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies?  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins" -- He said to the man who was paralyzed, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house."  Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.  And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen strange things today!"

After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office.  And He said to him, "Follow Me."  So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.   Levi is also known as Matthew (author of the Gospel that bears that name).  He answers Christ's call to "Follow Me" and leaves his occupation as a tax collector to become a disciple.  My study bible says that from the beginning of His ministry, Christ has been a friend of tax collectors and sinners (see the Pharisees' complaint again Him, further along in today's reading).  Levi was possibly one of the tax collectors prepared for Christ by John the Baptist (see the reading Teacher shall we do?).

Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house.  And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them.  And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."  Levi/Matthew gives a great feast to express his joy and gratitude to the Teacher.  My study bible calls the guest register a stirring demonstration of the fruit of Jesus' love and forgiveness.  And Christ here clearly expresses His purpose, for which He is sent:  "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."   And He puts it in the context of medicine, with Himself as Physician; repentance, then, is for whole health of our being, for addressing our sicknesses.

 Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"  And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."  Then He spoke a parable to them:  "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.  But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved.  And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  My study bible calls Christ's earthly life a time of joyous blessings.  But there will come a time when His followers will practice the fast, as He says.  The true wedding feast is the union of Christ with His Church, to be fully realized at His Return.  Jesus uses the illustration for the religious authorities of wine, the new vintage being prepared.  He addresses their discomfort with the unfamiliar aspects of His ministry, such as dining with tax collectors and people known for their sins.  My study bible notes that Jesus' final saying to them, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better'" is found only here in Luke's Gospel.  It illustrates several things:  the difficulty with which the new covenant would be accepted, the inner resistance a person faces in turning from a sinful way of life, and the general stubbornness of the human heart.

Everybody wants to follow what they are used to, what they already know.  This is our nature:  we know what we have already learned and experienced.  But this is also the nature of sin.  In patristic commentary, sin is often mentioned as akin to paralysis:  we're stuck in something.  It's a way of life, a habit, something we might like to break but find ourselves "paralyzed" to change.  Interestingly enough, modern science also sees our brains as functioning in the same way, with medicines such as Prozac designed to help us to break thought patterns formed within our own biochemistry, and so combat rumination and the resulting depression.  But our Physician's medicine is repentance, which literally means "change of mind" in the Greek.  Repentance is a way of turning around, changing direction, following a different set of commands.  It is the antidote to our spiritual illness, which quite often is the root of emotional and physical illness as well.  Christ has announced to the Pharisees that His own ministry is one of change.  He likens it to "new wine" -- a vintage that is being fermented with enzymatic action, one that needs time to age, and certainly a true taste for those unfamiliar with it to come to know and to understand its goodness (Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who trusts in Him! - Psalm 34:8).  The change that He is bringing is that His work as Physician is all about change and transformation, and His Holy Spirit works within us, in a kind of enzymatic action, to help us bring about that change (see 13:20-21 in which Jesus likens the kingdom of God to leaven; the word for leaven in Greek is ζύμη/zyme, the root of our modern word enzyme).  Clearly the Gospel is already setting out for us the startling nature of the changes that God brings into our world through the Incarnation.  He is Physician, a note that the Gospel of Luke, written by a disciple who was a physician himself, will repeatedly teach.  He is here to heal the sick, and the sick need to change their patterns of life for healing.  What the process, action, and results of healing a sickness might mean can often mean change for all of us, and for all of those in the environment of the person who needs to heal.  Jesus sets us out with the right understanding:  the new vintage might not be what we already know or expect, and yet we will see how good it truly is.

Go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come.  Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." ' But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.  Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests. 

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."

- Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus is currently in Jerusalem, and it is early in Passover week.  In yesterday's reading, He gave a parable before the leadership in the temple:  "There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.  And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.  Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.  Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.'  So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"  They said to Him, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.  This was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?  Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.  And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."  Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them.  But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet.

 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said:  "The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come."  My study bible says that, like the preceding parables (see this reading, and this one), this parable also proclaims the transfer of the Kingdom from the faithless among the Jews (let us remember that all of the disciples are Jews, as is Jesus Himself) to the Gentiles.  It is set as a joyful wedding banquet (see also 25:1-13), as Christ is often called the "Bridegroom" (9:15, John 3:29).  St. Paul uses a marriage analogy for the Kingdom (Ephesians 5:21-33). 

"Again, he sent out other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready.  Come to the wedding." ' "   The repeated sending out of the servants shows the Father's great desire to have His people with Him in the Kingdom.  The first group is interpreted to be Moses and those with him, while this second group is composed of the prophets.  These groups call those initially invited -- the Jews.  The oxen represent the sacrifices of the Old Covenant, while the fatted cattle represent the eucharistic bread of the New Covenant.  Fatted is more accurately translated as "wheat-fed," or even more literally as "formed from wheat."  Therefore, both the Old and New Covenants are fulfilled at the wedding of Christ and His Church. 

"But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.  And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them.  But when the king heard about it, he was furious.  And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city."   St. John Chrysostom comments here that Christ is prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.   Therefore He attributes this destruction to an act of God rather than simply to that of men.  But nevertheless, their is mercy shown, and patience.  In waiting 40 years from the time of Christ, the entire generation of the time of His Incarnation was given a chance for repentance and faith. 

"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.  Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.'  So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good.  And the wedding hall was filled with guests."  The third group of servants, sent out into the highways, represents the apostles sent to the Gentiles (all the nations); that is, those not initially invited, but now called.  

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.  So he said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?'  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'  For many are called, but few are chosen."  My study bible explains that the wedding garment would have been provided by the king, and therefore the man had no excuse for not wearing one.  Therefore he's speechless.  His refusal to wear the garment that was provided is an illustration of those who refuse God's hospitality, or who want His Kingdom on their own terms.  My study bible says that the garment specifically refers to the baptismal garment, and by extension, a life of faith, repentance, virtue, and charity.  Without these, a person will ultimately be cast into outer darkness.

Jesus characterizes the repeated messages of the Kingdom, given through all of God's messengers through time, as invitations.  They are invitations to a great wedding feast.  All of the Kingdom will celebrate the marriage of the Son to His beloved bride, who is the Church -- that is, all of the faithful people of God, wherever they are found.  Let us remember that the invitations go out into the highways and to all whom they find, both bad and good.   There are no elites here, no privileged members.  Everybody is included in the invitation.  And each is given a wedding garment.  In this scenario of the wedding banquet, it is all a question of what we find of value, what we treasure.  And that is up to us.  Do we treasure the wedding garment we've been given?  Do we use it and wear it well?  Do we care for it?  Life, in this picture of the parable, is a true banquet.  We've been invited -- every single one of us, both good and bad, whomever is found -- to the King's joyous celebration, to this wedding feast for the whole of the Kingdom, even those who are abroad on the highways.  There is no more generous spirit possible than that involved here.  It is all up to us, whether or not we accept, we say yes to the generous offer of the banquet and the wedding garment itself.  In that spirit of understanding, and in light of the parables Jesus has already given us in the readings from Wednesday and Thursday, let us consider carefully all that we truly find good, and that we truly value.  In this banquet of the Kingdom there is the greatest joy.  Its picture is one of the greatest festivity possible.  It is this to which we are all invited, without discrimination, without barrier, bad or good,  regardless of our station.   In chapter 25, Jesus will give the parable of the Talents (25:14-30).  In it, the Lord says to one:  "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."  It is this joy into which we are all invited to participate.  The banquet continues into all time, and through all things.  In the Eucharist, we celebrate and participate continually with the angels and with the great cloud of witnesses, in the communion of all who are a part of this wedding.  Let us recall the joy to which we are invited, and our gracious Master who wants every single one to say "Yes, I accept."

Bring me the head of John the Baptist on a platter

 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known.  And he said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  Others said, "It is Elijah."  And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."  But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!"  For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.  Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. 

Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.  And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you."  He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."  So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"  And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"  Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought.  And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.

- Mark 6:14-29

On Saturday, we read that Jesus came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him.  And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue.  And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, "Where did this Man get these things?  And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!  Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?  And are not His sisters here with us?  So they were offended at Him.  But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house."  Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.  And He marveled because of their unbelief.  Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.  And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.  He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts -- but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.  Also He said to them, "In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place.  And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.  Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!"  So they went out and preached that people should repent.  And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

 Now King Herod heard of Him, for His name had become well known.  My study bible points out that Herod here is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great and governor of Galilee, called a king in popular language.  Again, Mark's Gospel emphasizes Jesus' fame in Galilee, which is extraordinary.

And he said, "John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him."  Others said, "It is Elijah."  And others said, "It is the Prophet, or like one of the prophets."  But when Herod heard, he said, "This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!"   People speak of Jesus with messianic expectation.  Elijah was prophesied to appear before the Messiah would come.  (Jesus Himself will say that John the Baptist was the spirit of Elijah returned.)  "The Prophet" was another popularly expected figure, one who was to be like Moses.  We get a sense of the feverish nature of the times, with the people looking for a deliverer.  But King Herod has different ideas; his own fears and guilt are driving his expectation that Jesus is John the Baptist returned.

For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her.  Because John had said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him.  And when he heard him, he did any things, and heard him gladly.   So important is the Baptist to the Gospel story that Mark gives us a flashback of the circumstances of his death.  My study bible calls it a "powerful testimony to his faith and zeal.   Early Christians regarded John the Baptist with utmost esteem.  Here, Mark shows John's fearlessness in telling the truth."  It adds, regarding these verses, "What a comment on the righteousness of John the Baptist:  the king feared John!  The royally clad Herod was frightened of a man clothed in camel's hair, a servant of God who lived out in the desert."

Then an opportune day came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.  And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced, and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, "Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you."  He also swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom."   The setting for this party tells us about life at this court.  So much is done for the appearance before the other people of rank. 

So she went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?"  And she said, "The head of John the Baptist!"  Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."  Herodias' daughter also acts to please others, as if she has no mind of her own.  She's under the sway of her mother.   In a profound way, she's not acting in her own true interests.  Here, the girl does not reflect at all on what she is told to do.

And the king was exceedingly sorry; yet, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he did not want to refuse her.   Again, we read of the impact of others, and Herod's reflection in their eyes.  An extravagant promise becomes a bond he's afraid to break.

And he went and beheaded him in prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb.  This grim and terrible scene is the result of manipulation and a complete lack of care for the real matter of our choices, a giving in to the image before others.  John's disciples, we note, simply come and do the right thing; there is no sworn vengeance here, no return of blood for blood, but rather acceptance through faith, as will also happen with Jesus' disciples.  It is an example, for us, of righteousness carried on.

Today's reading tells us a lot, but it also gives us hints about Herod and his personality, his court, and his surroundings.  He's easily bound by all the temptations of power, what is influential among those who are of rank in his kingdom.  Once he makes a lavish promise, he's bound to keep it through the manipulations of Herodias, which also makes him a vulnerable person. We contrast these persuasions of his own "crowds" that surround him -- the court and Herodias and her daughter -- with John the Baptist, who remains fully righteous whether pursuing his ministry out in the open by the Jordan, or locked up in Herod's prison, and repeatedly summoned before him.  We read of similar aspects of Herod's character on display when it comes to his interactions with Jesus:  Herod is curious about Him.  When Pilate sends Christ to Herod for judgment as Jesus is a Galilean, Jesus fails to perform any miracles for him, not satisfying the perplexed fascination Herod also has for John in these verses.  Jesus then is sent back to Pilate, and we are told in the Gospels that then the two rulers became fast friends, just as Herod here is locked into the eyes and expectations of his court, rather than the righteousness of John.  None of these people considers righteousness, a relationship with God, in their choices, but lives for the others of rank or status.  (We can count on the idea that Jesus' teaching to invite others who cannot repay us socially isn't followed here!)   The girl, in the hands of her mother, becomes the instrument of the most vile bloodlust, the gruesome scene of John beheaded, and his head "served" on a platter at this banquet.  Without faith in the one thing necessary, we're all liable to be misled in our lives.  What is ostensibly a laudable characteristic of human loyalty becomes perverse and manipulated for evil ends:  a mother's influence on her daughter, a king's curiosity and even fear of a holy man.  The attachments these people have to others in their circle become a kind of hideous stumbling block leading them on the worst of roads, into places of great treachery and blood-guiltiness of deeds committed against the good, the righteous.  All of this emphasizes the importance of putting God first in our lives, holding to the good before all else.  It doesn't matter what the relationship is:  a king to his court, or mother and daughter, without this emphasis in our lives of clinging to the Good for direction, we are easily lost.  The most beautiful and cherished of our notions of loyalty become instruments of the worst evil.  And that's what the Gospel emphasizes for us today.  A purely worldly view is one in which manipulation holds sway:  along with envy, and pride of place or position, and false loyalties.  In the view of the Gospels, without our relationship first to God, that which defines righteousness for us, we are somehow less as human beings, weak and empty.  We fail to be all that it means to be a human being in the fullest sense of our capabilities.  Even the most exalted worldly realities:  a court of power, those of high station, love of man and woman, fidelity of a daughter to her mother -- all of these things become corrupted in the absence of reverence first for the good:  true righteousness, relatedness to God who is the source of good.  When we're tempted to put other goals first, let us remember this failing, and where a solid hope and true direction lies.  Each one of the people in this story could have said "no" at some time, consulted with a conscience, remembered a loyalty to God's laws of love and righteousness.  But each failed.  In that, too, is a foreshadowing of events to come in Jesus' life, and what He called the power of darkness.  It's our choice that is the bulwark against that darkness; it's up to us to hold to the light before every other loyalty.  This is the way to illuminate the good in all things.  Above all let us remember there is no mercy, no graciousness, no charity or kindness in this elaborate scene of worldly extravagance, vanity and vulgarity.  In a righteous perspective, those products of humility are where true beauty (and nobility) live.   It is grace that teaches us what is good.

When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought  a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"

- Luke 14:12-24

In yesterday's reading, we read that as Jesus went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.  And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 Then He also sad to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."    My study bible tells us that this "story of God's compassion toward the poor appears only in Luke.  To share hospitality with the needy is to imitate God's love which welcomes the lowly into the banquet of His Kingdom."  But elsewhere we read of a similar idea of exchange:  in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says to someone has has already followed all the commandments of the Law, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven."  Elsewhere, He teaches, "When you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly."  There is a kind of exchange that occurs in His way of thinking, and at all times this exchange is at work, so that we who keep in mind this Kingdom of heaven, are always at work somehow within it and within its sphere and influence.  In this kind of exchange, the things we do for others -- particularly for those who are left outside, who cannot do for themselves -- are loved by God.

 Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  My study bible tells us, "This is an inspirational, although little-known, beatitude.  The purpose of life is to join in the sharing of bread in the kingdom of God, a partaking of the eternal love of God."  The theme continues of the power and the immediacy of this kingdom, the promise of the eternal life that intersects worldly lives through faith.

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'  But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought  a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'"  My study bible says of this parable that it "exemplifies God's Kingdom, imaged in the ministry of Christ and later in the Church. The Kingdom is filled with outcasts and Gentiles, while the unresponsive privileged guests shut themselves out with their excuses."  In this first example, we note the busyness of the world, the things with which we are occupied, what we put first.  If it "blots out" the urgencies of the kingdom, the things which we are to keep in mind through all things in our lives, then we err in our own judgments and priorities.

"And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you to have me excused.'"  Again, it is business that takes priority over what we put first, here.  It reminds us of Jesus' comparison regarding healing on the Sabbath, and the value put on the farm animals over human beings, in yesterday's reading, and also the reading from Tuesday.  We consider our values, what we place value on, and how we prioritize.

"Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'"  This example is also about worldly affairs, but those of the social sphere, worldly relations and institutions -- even that of family does not come first.  It doesn't mean that we don't do all these things, that we aren't concerned with them:  but it means that the priority of the Kingdom in fact gives us a higher consideration, one that places all else in relationship to it.

"So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.'"   Here, as my study bible put it, is the denouement of this parable:  "The Kingdom is filled with outcasts and Gentiles, while the unresponsive privileged guests shut themselves out with their excuses."  The message is very clear:  what we think we have, what worldly position would tell us, is in fact something that can get in the way of our ultimate good, a true understanding of life in all its facets -- including its most important ones.  The "poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind" are those who haven't put all the worldly things first, who haven't got the concerns and obligations of those with more possessions and worldly affairs; they are all those who are in some way "without" in a worldly sense.

Again, we see the "exchange" of the Kingdom.  Those who haven't got worldly affairs and obligations that get in the way of the things of God are rewarded in a much greater way through this exchange.  But I feel that we cannot take these passages out of context; we must view them in the context of the Gospel, and especially that which comes before it.  So let us take a look at Jesus' continual pleas in this Gospel:  repeatedly we have heard Him ask what is lawful on the Sabbath:  "To do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  He compares the value put on farm animals, those things which generate wealth, to the apparent lack of value, in practice, put on the healing (and unbinding) of human beings.  So we have to take these parables into the context of the Lord's doing, the things of God:  and healing takes on more cosmic proportions.  We heal ourselves, and our society, through putting this Kingdom first.  The worth God sees in the poor and the maimed, the lame and the blind -- those who in His immediate time and place of the Incarnation, and also in most of the world today, cannot generate wealth and worldly possessions on an equal basis to those who are not in some way doing without -- is repeatedly emphasized by Jesus.  This is God's vision.  It's not about what we have, it's not about what the world prioritizes, but to see with God's sight is to put a proper value on all things and on our fellow human beings, and what this community should be in God's sight.  The message is that if we have our priorities straight, we will come to view life in a light that teaches us different things than a worldly outlook would dictate; the bottom line is what we value and the skewed priorities that a material outlook create.  Who has what, and what calamities or misfortune may befall others, are all misleading ways to see and to judge in a total sense.  The healing comes from our priorities in God's Kingdom, what comes first.  It's a plea for the true value of human beings, and the capabilities inherent in faith, that would teach us right-relatedness in all things. 

When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just

 Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just." 

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'   But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'  So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' "

- Luke 14:12-24

On Saturday, we read that Jesus had been invited to dine on the Sabbath in the house of a ruler of the Pharisees.   All there watched Him very closely.  There was a certain man before Him who had dropsy.  And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"  But they kept silent.  And He took him and healed him, and let him go.  Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?"  And they could not answer Him regarding these things.  o He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.  But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.'  Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you.  For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

  Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.  And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just."  My study bible says, "This story of God's compassion toward the poor appears only in Luke.  To share hospitality with the needy is to imitate God's love which welcomes the lowly into the banquet of His Kingdom."  I find often that Jesus presents this kind of equation to us, that what we are willing to forgo in daily or worldly life in service to Him, the Father who sees in secret will repay us.  Here, we are speaking of the justice in including those who cannot repay us in life at our table, our feast, and of course this can be a metaphor for so many things.

Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!"  My study bible says, "This is an inspirational, although little-known, beatitude.  The purpose of life is to join in the sharing of bread in the kingdom of God, a partaking of the eternal love of God."  And we note here that we are in the territory of blessings, of beatitudes:  Jesus' first statement is that those who invite the outsiders to the banquet, those who cannot repay, are blessed for doing so.  Here, the blessing is to eat bread in the kingdom!  Of course, the resurrection of the just in the earlier verse alludes to the same blessing.

Then He said to him, "A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, 'Come, for all things are now ready.'   But they all with one accord began to make excuses.  The first said to him, 'I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it.  I ask you to have me excused.'  And another said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them.  I ask you have me excused.'  Still another said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.' "  We see illustrated here the business of the world, all the affairs with which we are constantly busy in living our lives, building up what we value, and need, and what we think is necessary.  But Jesus calls us into that question of just exactly what is truly necessary.  There are all kinds of reasons to be excused; excuses for which to put off this work of the banquet.

So that servant came and reported these things to his master.  Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.'  And the servant said, 'Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.'  Then the master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.  For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.' "  My study bible notes, "This parable exemplifies God's Kingdom, imaged in the ministry of Christ and later in the Church.  The Kingdom is filled with outcasts and Gentiles, while the unresponsive privileged guests shut themselves out with their excuses."  As we note, there is a kind of exchange here; not only are those who make time and effort for those who cannot repay blessed by God in the Kingdom, but those invited to this banquet who fail to make time for the Kingdom in order to pursue blessings in another way will not be blessed in that Kingdom.

We deal with equations often in the Gospels, the kinds of equations Jesus uses.  Often they have to do with a sort of exchange, like, for instance, the exchange of forgiveness -- we give up the "debts" of others to God, so that our justice and reward is in the hands of God.  So, here, Jesus illustrates through parables another kind of exchange or equation of something worldly for something eternal and heavenly.  Perhaps there is none (in terms of equations or exchanges) so vividly and specifically illustrated as the parables in which Jesus focuses on a kind of justice that acknowledges more than meets the eye, that intangible and unseen thing we sacrifice in order to be blessed by God:  forgoing payback by someone who can reward us in this life, the social status we might have attained, the profit we hoped to gain.  Jesus offers us in exchange the Kingdom, a working out of God's law in our lives.  It's similar to the parables He's told about those who give a mere cup of water to one of His children, and it's the same effect as giving one to Him.  In this cosmic/worldly exchange system we acknowledge one thing very powerfully, and that is God's economy.  It's the one where the exchange is something more than currency on worldly terms; it's a currency that crosses boundaries and dimensions, classes, social circles, and even the laws of physics.  It's the currency of the Kingdom that is distributed through the Holy Spirit, through Christ and the Father, and in ways we can't know or determine but we are quite tangibly promised!  So how do you go about making this exchange in your life?  Do you recognize its currency?