Reflection on the Gospel-2232nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C, 10 November 2013
Sister Veronica Lawson rsm

(Luke 20:27-38)

Is there life after death? If so, what does that mean? Will we be united in death with those whom we have loved in this life? Do the bonds of love experienced in this life continue beyond the grave? Are our loved ones far from us in death? How do they live on, if indeed they do? These are questions that have preoccupied human beings for millennia. Our Christian faith tradition, grounded in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, offers no clear answer to any of these questions. It simply offers a call to faith in life after death and in God as ‘not of the dead, but of the living.’

As the liturgical year draws to a close, the readings invite us to ponder this mystery of the bonds of love that persist, in unimagined and unimaginable ways, even after death. Some Sadducees ‘who say there is no resurrection’ put a loaded question or case study to Jesus in an attempt to expose as nonsensical the Pharisaic belief in resurrection. In the process, they try to discredit Jesus as a teacher of the Law.

As usual, Jesus refuses to be entrapped. The diversity of Jewish opinion and belief implied in this passage may come as a surprise to those who think of Judaism at the time of Jesus as a religion with a unified theological system. There was certainly agreement among the parties or sects on four key aspects of their faith, namely, monotheism (one God); election (Israel as God’s chosen people); the call to be faithful to the covenant; and the Jerusalem Temple as the meeting place between God and God’s people. At the same time, there was room for considerable diversity. Life after death and the resurrection of the dead were among the many contested beliefs.

As I sit with a 93 year-old Mercy elder who still has a twinkle in her eye despite her failing health, I ponder the mysteries of life and death. I know in my heart that the life she has generated and the love she has known and brought to others over the best part of a century will somehow continue through the grace of the God of the living. For the moment, that is sufficient response to the reading for this Sunday. Jesus of Nazareth refuses entrapment and invites belief in a God for whom all the dead are alive. We live by faith in that God, and in hope of the resurrection.

 

The Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and other Non-Government Organisations is due to report this coming week,
11 – 15 November.
For access to the report, the responses by the Church, recent updates, or to sign up for email alerts, visit the Church’s website: www.facingthetruth.org.au

Reflection on the Gospel-Ordinary Time 31C, 3 November 2013
Sister Veronica Lawson rsm

(Luke 19:1-10)

Last week the gospel passage featured an unnamed toll collector, someone who struggled to make a living, found devious ways to do so, yet faced his shortcomings. This week’s gospel features Zaccheus, who also knows himself and is not afraid to demonstrate his faith in a very public way. He is a chief tax collector, possibly responsible for overseeing the activities of other tax collectors. Whether or not this is the case, he is a wealthy man. Zaccheus is short of stature, but fairly enterprising in facing the dilemma that this poses. His stature is not an impediment to tree-climbing in a good cause: he wants to see what Jesus is like and he lets nothing get in the way. He runs ahead and climbs the tree. Jesus looks up and tells him to come down quickly, ‘for I must stay at your house today.’ There are echoes here of Mary’s haste to visit her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. Jesus invites himself, and Zaccheus offers hospitality ‘joyfully’. Hospitality, joy, haste to respond to divine visitation: these are constant themes in Luke.

In any human group there are the critics. This time everyone who sees what is happening has something to say. They complain that Jesus chooses to stay with a sinner. They no doubt consider themselves more worthy hosts for God’s prophet. They have little love in their hearts. Their criticism of Zaccheus echoes that of Simon the Pharisee when Jesus allows himself to be touched by a ‘sinner’ woman (Luke 7:36). Like Zaccheus, the woman’s sins have been forgiven. That’s why she knows how to love. There are clues in the narrative that Zaccheus, though labelled as a sinner, has changed his ways. The future tense of our translation (‘I will pay’) obscures this important element in the story. He gives half his property to the destitute and if he has cheated anyone, he pays them back four times the amount. In other words, he goes way beyond what is required. Jesus looks at Zaccheus and assures him that salvation has come to his house. He then turns to the crowd and acts to restore honour to Zaccheus in the eyes of those who hold him and his kind in contempt. Like the bent-over woman and Lazarus the beggar at the rich man’s gate, Zaccheus is a true descendant of Abraham, his ancestor in faith.

 

Monday 11 November, the Sunbury Sub-branch RSL will be conducting a short service commencing at 10.45am at the Memorial in front of Memorial Hall, Barkley St Sunbury. Part of the ceremony will be dedicated to laying of Wreaths on the memorial.

The Order of Malta invite you to Lourdes Day Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Saturday 7 December at 10.30am. Additional information is on the flyer at the Welcome Desk in St Anne’s church.