Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

3-2-25

Reflection on the Sunday Readings

 

In the gospel this weekend, we encounter the closing of St.  Luke’s account of the Sermon on the Plain.  It began a couple of weeks ago when Jesus came down from the mountain, a place where he had been praying and where he chose his first apostles.  He came down to a place where he could be on level ground with all of those who had been gathered to hear him speak.  A place whereby he could look at them, eye to eye, and speak plainly with them.                                                                                                        His address to the people two weeks ago, initially began with a series of blessings: Blessed are the poor the kingdom of heaven is yours; Blessed are you who are hungry; you will be satisfied…..”(Luke 6:20-21). These blessings were meant to tell the people, many of whom were poor, forgotten, abandoned, and hungry for justice, that they were loved by God and not forgotten or abandoned.  Today we are his disciples sent to follow his example by our caring and intention for the poor, people with disabilities, the sick, the imprisoned.  We are called through baptism to impart the blessings of our Father.         Then following  these “blesseds” two weeks ago were a series of warnings: Woe to you who are rich, you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who laugh now, you will grieve and weep…….” (Luke 6: 24-25  ).  Again, as his disciples, we are called to speak out against injustices, prejudice, and ill treatment of others.                                          And last week, Jesus continues this sermon on the plain by speaking very strongly  about how we, as his followers, should be living our lives as persons who treat all people equally.  He spoke plainly about what our values should be and what our behavior should be in order to image ourselves as “…… children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5: 45).  And so, Jesus told us - “love you enemies, do good  to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you…. Do unto other what you would have them do unto you……. “ (Luke 6:27-32).                                                                              And now this week he concludes his remarks to the people gathered about him with a parable about blind people trying to lead other blind people, or people who judge others harshly without seeing their own sinfulness.  Finally, he tells his audience that they need to learn how to see themselves, correctly, first, before they begin to try to judge others.  There is a lot of focus in his words this week about blindness, not just physical blindness but more importantly spiritual and moral blindness.                                                      “Prior to age of modern mining machinery, mules were once used for underground mining. There was no reason to bring the mules to the surface during daylight, so the mules lived their lives underground. They stayed underground, worked underground, were fed underground, and finally died underground. The handlers of the mules noticed that after an extended time underground, the mules would lose their ability to see. Thus, they had to be guided as to when, and where to move.  These mules that lived in continual darkness and many eventually became blind.”^1.                                                    When we choose to ignore the poor and overburdened, the unwanted, the lonely, the sick, those who are isolated from society through poverty, or a lack of opportunities, then we choose to live in type of spiritual and moral darkness regarding that which is truly around us.  And living in such prolonged darkness, it can lead us into spiritual blindness.  A blindness by which we are unable to see or believe in the light of God’s love. A darkness that leads us into sin.                                                                                                             In a few days, we will begin with Lent.  Lent is a period of penance, fasting, and almsgiving,  through  which we can begin to be healed of our inner darkness, our inner blindnesses.  The blindness of which Jesus speaks in this weekend’s gospel, impairs our ability to see not only how we can help others, but worse, this type of blindness can convince us of our inability to change, of our inability to see the light.  In the prologue of John’s gospel, Jesus warns us: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.   But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” (John 3: 19-21).                                                     Lent is that time for us to sit with God in prayer and silence and to pray for the grace and power to overcome any darkness in us and to begin to come toward the light.   Lent is a time to listen to how we can remove the splinters in our own eyes that impair our spiritual sight from seeing the goodness within ourselves and the goodness within others.   Lent is a time to experience once again that spiritual light that can leads us out of the  darkness within ourselves and into the light of God which is where our true self has always been.  Through the grace of Lent, we can be led to a  place where our “works may be seen as done in God”  and for God.  And so, we pray in the brilliance of that grace:                                                                                                                                  

To God whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine – to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus  through all generations, world without end. Amen (Ephesians 3: 20-21)

1.      Voicings.com.