| Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Times | First Sunday in Lent | Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Times Gospel Reflections C Jesus came down with the twelve and stood on a stretch of level ground with a great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. - Luke tells us that Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon as well as Jews from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to hear Jesus and experience his miraculous powers.
- What comes before this passage in Luke is the relating that Jesus spent the night on the mountain side in prayer and followed this by naming the twelve apostles. Thus he came down with the twelve.
- What we have is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew’s Gospel.
- Luke’s version is shorter because, though he is dependent on Matthew for one of his sources, his audience is different from Matthew. Matthew is predominately speaking to Jewish converts; Luke to Gentile converts.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. - Luke addresses the economically and socially poor and calls them blessed. Matthew focuses on the religious and spiritual poor who depend on the Lord for all.
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. - Again the same distinction is made by Luke and Matthew: Luke is concerned about the people in his community who are without proper amount of food and calls them blessed. While they may suffer now, they will be blessed. Matthew looks at those who are hungry and thirsty for justice and righteousness.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. - Luke is addressing the physically sad; Matthew blesses those who mourn because of sin.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way - Do we experience some of this in our life because we try to follow Jesus? If so, we should be happy to know that we will be blessed, not now but in heaven.
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. - Luke provides four “beatitudes”; Matthew gives eight.
- Luke balances the picture by adding some negative contrasts: four woes. These are absent from Matthew.
- Luke addresses those who are financially rich but who do not share their blessings with those who are poor.
Woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. - In contrast to those above who are hungry now and who will be satisfied later, Luke tells those who are physically filled now that they will be hungry because they did not share with others.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. - Luke reminds those who enjoy their lives without concern for others or at the expense of others that the day will come when their situation will become reversed.
- Recall the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man. (Lk 16:19-31)
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.” - Notice all four woes are in contrast to the four blessings. Luke seeks to warn those in his community what true discipleship is all about.
- What application can you make in your own life from this passage?
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| First Sunday in Lent Year C<br /><br />Reading 1: Deut 26:4-10<br />Moses spoke to the people, saying: “The priest shall receive the basket from you and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God. <br />• Moses is giving instructions to the people before they entered the land promised by God for their heritance how should they recognize God as their deliverer and provider.<br />• Each person is to bring before the Lord the first fruits of his crops as a tithe of thanksgiving.<br />Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien. <br />• He was first of all to acknowledge before the Lord his ancestral origin. Abraham, the first patriarch of the Israelites came from Aram Naharaim. <br />• He was to recall that Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt because God was providing grain for them in a time of famine in Palestine.<br />But there he became a nation great, strong, and numerous. <br />• This was one of the promises God made to Abraham: to give him descendants as numerous as the stars in the heavens. <br />When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. <br />• He was to remember that his ancestors were slaves in Egypt. After 400 years God delivered them from this bondage.<br />He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country, he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. <br />• He was to acknowledge the power of God on their behalf, not because they were a great nation but because God had chosen them and made a covenant with them.<br />Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And having set them before the Lord, your God, you shall bow down in his presence.”<br />• This offering was to express his gratitude and dependency upon the Lord God who has fulfilled the promises made to Abraham.<br />• Do our offerings to God reflect our gratitude and our sense of dependency upon God for what he has and is doing in our life?<br />• When we celebrate Mass each weekend, how conscious are we of God’s many blessings both past and present?<br /><br /><br />Gospel: Lk 4:1-13<br /><br />Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil. <br />• This scene follows the event of Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan and the manifestation of the Father’s affirmation and the outpouring of the Spirit upon Jesus in a fresh new way.<br />• Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit at the time of his conception and birth; now he experiences a fuller release of the power of the Spirit in his humanity for the purpose of his new mission: to proclaim the Good News of salvation. <br />• In his humanity, he is led by the Holy Spirit.<br />• The forty days are in reference to the forty years of the Israelites in the desert.<br />• Why does Luke talk about the temptation of Jesus at the beginning of him public ministry? One of the things Jesus has come to do is to confront and overcome the power of the Devil, his strongholds. He begins by allowing himself to be tempted. Why? As fully human he experiences what we experience. In the power of the Spirit he shows us how to deal with temptation.<br />He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, One does not live on bread alone.” <br />• The Devil picks up on the affirmation that Jesus received from the Father after his baptism. He speaks the truth but then shifts the focus from the Father to Jesus himself. Don’t depend on the Father; take care of your own needs through some sign.<br />• Jesus’ response is to quote the scriptures, indicating his commitment to trust in the Father, even though he had the power to do what the Devil suggested. <br />• What does this say to us concerning how we are to respond during the time of temptations? Isn’t self the focus of these temptations: satisfy yourself, take care of your needs?<br />Then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant. The devil said to him, “I shall give to you all this power and glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I may give it to whomever I wish. All this will be yours, if you worship me.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It is written: You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.” <br />• The devil has no power of himself, except pseudo power. <br />• Jesus’ response is direct and accurate: you are not God. Again, he quotes from the scriptures.<br />Then he led him to Jerusalem, made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you, and With their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus said to him in reply, “It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.” <br />• In the final temptation of the three, the devil quotes the scriptures. Basically, it is attempt to have Jesus show he has to make God prove that what he says he would do. Jesus sees through this attempt and states his absolute reliance on the Father, his total obedience. <br />When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.<br />• Reminds us that though the devil departed, he would not give up trying to find a way to separate Jesus from the Father and the will of the Father for him, namely, the call to be the Savior and Messiah of all.<br />• The devil’s next direct confrontation with Jesus will be during his passion, beginning with the trials in the garden before his arrest.<br />• What do we take from this passage and apply to our lives?<br />• Do we keep our eyes on the Father during our temptations? Do we listen to the lead of the Holy Spirit or of the evil spirit?<br /> |
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