Breaking the Word

29^th Week in Ord. Time, Monday – 17^th October 2022 — Gospel: Lk 12,13-21

Greed Digs Emptiness

One of Jesus’ listeners requests him to step into a family dispute about an inheritance. Jesus takes the occasion to teach about the danger of focusing on material wealth. He warns them about greed, and he stresses that “life does not consist in the abundance of possessions”. Jesus reinforces his teaching with a parable about possessions. The parable is full of the pronoun “I”, and the man’s wealth is described as “my crops,”, “my barns”, “my grain”, and “my goods”.  There is no evidence that the rich man was dishonest or corrupt. However, his future perspective is self-centred and self-indulgent. With no thought of his responsibilities before God or the needs of others, the rich man’s security is fleeting. His wealth cannot give refuge and his greed leaves him empty when God demands his life. A truly rich life is one oriented towards God and focused on his will.

29^th Ordinary Sunday – 16^th October 2022 — Gospel: Lk 18,1-8

From Steadfastness to Justice

The parable opens with a statement of purpose (18,1) and concludes with the life application to the community (18,6-8). The introduction states that persistent prayer is necessary to maintain a living faith. The story highlights that prayer is not just a matter of right words or proper technique. Rather, it concerns our changed hearts. True prayer consists in maintaining oneself in constant dialogue with the Lord in whichever circumstances one lives. In the conclusion, Jesus shifts the discussion from the faithfulness of God, in which he has utter confidence, to the question of human faithfulness. Disciples must continue to pray with vigilance (Phil 4,6-7) and not lose heart in order to be found faithful when the Lord returns. Calmness and constancy is the right attitude one should have, while we wait for the realization of the fullness of God’s kingdom.

The parable centers on two characters: the widow and the judge. Their conflicting natures are:  vulnerable vs. strong, defenseless vs. authoritative, marginalized vs. significant, genuine vs. unjust, believer vs. godless, demanding vs. hardhearted, dedicated vs. uncommitted, faithful vs. dishonest, harmless vs. malicious, humane vs. unsympathetic. The person at the centre is an unpleasant character, the judge. He demonstrates the corrupt leadership in antiquity, who shows disdain towards things human and divine. He stirs himself on behalf of the widow only when he suspects that her verbal entreaties are about to give way to actual physical violence (18,5). At this juncture, he moves against his own previous inclination because he realizes that a stage has been reached where to take no action may incur serious loss.

The triumphant widow eventually receives justice from the judge, not because she is powerful or because the judge is compassionate, but because she is relentless in her pursuit of justice. She will not take ‘no’ for an answer and she wears him down. Certainly the parable doesn’t suggest that God needs to be worn down like the judge. Basically it commends an attitude: In a world where there is so much injustice and where the poor, like the widow, continue to cry out for justice day and night, the parable offers the hopeful truth that God is a God of justice and our trust in Him should not waver.