Friday of the
Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 15:14-21; Luke
16:1-8)
Some line up at the
box office the night before tickets go on sale to see a baseball game. Others fly to faraway places to attend a
Taylor Swift concert. In today’s gospel
parable Jesus recommends that we serve the poor to attain a place in heaven.
People have difficulty
with this parable. They hear Jesus
suggesting that the seeker of eternal life do something crooked. This is not the case. It is true that Jesus commends
the steward who squanders his master’s property. However, he does so not because of the steward’s
injustice, but because he acted to secure his future. Jesus wants his disciples to act so that they
may have eternal life. The action that
he urges throughout the Luke’s Gospel is to give relief to the needy.
Also, the question of
our doing anything to merit salvation begs clarification. Strictly speaking, nothing we do on our own can
bring about eternal life. However, under
the Spirit’s influence, which is necessary if we are to even acknowledge the
possibility of heaven, our acts are meritorious. Indeed, Jesus tells us quite directly in the
Gospel of St. Matthew (25:31-46) that only by assisting the needy can we be
accepted into the eternal Kingdom of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment