TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR

MONDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 7: 1-10) Let God be God. That is the simple lesson for today. Everyone else demanded His physical presence, they were putting God into human structures. Only this “pagan” realized that you cannot capture God. We want so much to be in control, even to the extent of telling God how to do His job. Worse, telling Him what He can and cannot do. Look at the way we pray. So often they are controlling, or trying to control. As the soldier instinctively knew, things work out so much better when we let God be God.

TUESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 7:11-17) Compassion is the one virtue that we are called upon to imitate. To suffer with, to endure with, all with the implication of being united. The Lord in his human nature is united to us, He was united to the widow. His compassion flowed from a sense of solidarity with her. Compassion is not only for the “tough times” it is the presence of God in our lives. Compassion implies this walking together. It is not something that is turned on and off, but is always present. The message of the Kingdom, is that God through the Lord is walking with His people.

WEDNESDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 7: 31-35) Children can be stubborn. It is their way or no way. Stubbornness by its nature is the inability to see other possibilities. More basic it is not being able to give something up, usually an idea or an attitude. Stubbornness is also a way of protecting our self image. To change would be a sign of weakness, we would admit that we were wrong or that there was a better idea. We can be stubborn with God. The difficulty with this is that His stubbornness far exceeds anything we can imagine. The reason being is that His love is so perfect so full that it already is complete.

THURSDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 7:36-50) Generosity to the Lord is something we really do not think of that often. The woman in today’s Gospel displayed a great generosity. All her actions were focused in on the Lord. She was so focused that she did not even ask to have her sins forgiven. One aspect of generosity is use of time. Do I give the Lord a good chunk of my time? It is so easy to forget Him. Our lives do get cluttered. The prayers we had promised to say, those good deeds we wanted so much to do, are remembered late at night when we are tired. To be generous is to have the courage to do the inconvenient, the non-practical. If it is always convenient it is not generous.

FRIDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 8:1-3) The fact that women accompanied Jesus on His preaching journey must have caused people to wonder. It was not strange that women would gather around a rabbi but to travel with him was unheard of. Jesus was not afraid to do the right thing. Women as much as men had a right to share in His ministry. It was by doing things such as this that the Lord raised women to a new level. In showing the respect that was their due, He broke down the barriers of prejudice and the walls of marginalization. The family of God which He was going to bring into existence would not stand for inequality.

SATURDAY OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH WEEK OF THE YEAR (Luke 8:4-15) Two things come out of this passage. The one is the absolute generosity of God. He does not say: this is the good soil. He just merrily keeps throwing the seeds up in the air and letting them fall where they may. He is not afraid of rejection. This is the meaning of love. The other is the power of the seed. We look at our hearts and put them into the various categories. However, it must be remembered that the Word has a power to make the hard soft, to make roses out of the thorns. The Word touches and transforms. The Word will make its own.