Memorial of Saint Great the Great, pope and doctor of the Church
(Colossians
1:15-20; Luke 5:33-39)
The
evangelist Luke has the greatest appreciation of Judaism among the four. He sees Christianity as its natural outgrowth
– a robust new branch growing from an old trunk. In today’s gospel Luke gives Jesus’ defense
of Christians practicing their religion differently. They are new people – Greeks for the most
part. Trying to absorb them into Jewish
ways would be like fitting the newest software on a clunker computer. Using an image of his day, Jesus says it is
like putting new wine in old wineskins.
Again,
however, Luke finds real value in Judaism.
When Jesus dies on the cross in Luke, no Temple veil is torn. In today’s gospel, Jesus salutes Judaism by
comparing it to old wine -- vintage brew that many cherish.
Today’s
saint also had an appreciation for the new and the old. St. Gregory the Great was pope at the end of
the sixth century. His innovative
instructions on missions facilitated the conversion of foreign lands. He also held to the tradition of the primacy
of the Bishop of Rome. He denounced
John, the Patriarch of Constantinople, for calling himself the “Ecumenical
Patriarch.” But Gregory evidently did
not consider the papacy as a platform of preeminence. His preferred title for the pope was “servant
of the servants of God.”
