Displaying items by tag: Celebrating At Home

Over the next three Sundays we will listen to almost the whole of Luke’s Sermon on the Plain.
Luke has used Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount but changed and shortened it significantly. It is important to realise that both Sermons are more than only the Beatitudes which begin them.
In Luke, Jesus’ words are addressed to the disciples, not to the gathered crowd, so we might think of the sermon as a teaching about discipleship.
The whole of the Sermon is quite confronting and challenging, especially those verses which form today’s Gospel reading. The Sermon begins with four blessings and four woes.
At first glance it is very odd to call people who are poor, hungry, weeping and hated blessed, fortunate or happy. But we have to hear the words of Jesus in the context of the religious teaching and general thinking which belonged to his time. Then, it was generally thought that those who suffered these things were experiencing the effects of either their own personal sinfulness or that of an ancestor. Similarly, those with wealth, plenty of food and high status were considered blessed and rewarded by God.
In the beatitudes Jesus reverses this way of thinking and effectively says that the opposite is true: God is, in fact, on the side of the poor and suffering. They experience suffering through no fault of their own (e.g., sin), it is simply the situation in which they find themselves. As the woes (‘Alas for you…’) make clear, the rich have a great deal to lose. The poor and suffering are fortunate in Jesus’ view because they have a need which the overflowing generosity of God can fill.
They are in situations which attract God’s impulse to save. The Kingdom of God is already among them.
All things being equal, being wealthy, well-fed, happy and enjoying a good reputation are perfectly desirable. But in Jesus’ view all things are not equal. Often the poor are poor precisely because the rich are rich. The powerless suffer at the hands of those who have power and influence. ‘The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer’ is a saying that endures even to this day.
Throughout his Gospel, Luke has Jesus insist repeatedly on the need for his followers to embrace poverty and to be under no illusions about the danger of wealth. Those who remain possessed by their possessions and the privileges they bring are unable to receive the gift of salvation, but even they can join the blessed through their care of the poor.

As if to balance the rejection Jesus experienced in last week’s Gospel, this week’s episode tells two stories of people who welcome his message.
Firstly, an enthusiastic crowd has gathered on the shore of the lake, eagerly pressing forward to hear Jesus’ teaching. Jesus seems to be in danger of being crushed or at least being pushed into the sea! He takes the unusual step of teaching from Simon’s boat.
Secondly, Luke tells us that Simon and his companions are washing their nets on the shore as Jesus teaches, no doubt listening to what he has to say at the same time.
When Jesus finishes his teaching he asks Simon to put out into deep water and prepare for a catch. Simon protests: if they caught nothing all night, the best time for fishing, what hope was there of a good catch during the day? Anyway, what would a craftsman like Jesus know about the art of commercial fishing?
Nevertheless, Simon does as Jesus asks and an extraordinary abundance of fish is caught - enough to almost sink two boats.
Overwhelmed by the huge catch, Simon sense both the presence of the Divine and his own unworthiness and begs Jesus to leave him.
Jesus’ words to him are both a call and a commission.
From now on it will not be fish destined to be killed, but living people that Simon and his companions will catch and draw into the community of disciples.
Amazingly, Simon Peter, James and John abandon their thriving business, leaving everything behind, nets, boats and employees, and follow Jesus.
These new disciples of Jesus will use the Word of God to lure men and women to bring about their transformation to new life in Christ. The miraculous catch of such a huge number of fish seems to indicate that a vast number of people will find the way of Life in the preaching of the apostles.
Our call as disciples is not only to personal holiness but also to partnership with Christ in transforming the world and its peoples with words and actions of justice, peace, integrity, forgiveness, mercy, tolerance, hope and love.
First we must allow ourselves to be caught and taught by Jesus. The response that is asked for, it seems, is to be prepared to give up everything in our quest to know Jesus. In spite of our sinfulness, sense of unworthiness and lack of faith in ourselves, it is a call to trust in God’s choice of us and in God’s faith in us.