Jesus tells a heartbreaking parable this Sunday. In part, it is about a wretchedly poor man. His misery is painstaking, “Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.” More heartbreaking is the part about a wretchedly rich man. His misery is so painstaking he is unaware that “lying at his door was a poor man…covered with sores.” Jesus’ teaching in the parable is an invitation to treat people, all people as a blessing, a gift. We can reach out to others as the embodiment of Divinity in this world. We can do so compassionately, to heal the wounds of our brothers and sisters.
Receiving people as a gift is a simple living witness able to be followed by a child. It is certainly lived by children and by each of us who live from the heart. We instinctively reach out, compassionately so, to heal wounds. If we do not feel that instinct, we may have lost touch with our heart and gotten stuck in our head. If we have to think about reaching out to someone who is, like the man in the parable, wretchedly poor, then we run the risk of being someone who, like his wretchedly rich counterpart in the parable, is out of touch. Unfortunately and perhaps without intending it, Paul, the author of this Sunday’s second reading to Timothy, moves us out of our hearts and into our heads. In the reading he is less prone to having us act from the heart and more prone to having us think about his doctrines. Paul not only teaches one of his heady doctrines but it diminishes Jesus’ heartfelt witness. Paul teaches a second coming, an “appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ” who will save the chosen ones. To be waiting for a Jesus who is yet to come so as to achieve personal salvation, is to be unaware, like the wretchedly rich man in the parable, of the wretchedly poor Christ’s who live among us now. Our brothers and sisters are in need of our heartfelt action. They do not need Paul’s invented doctrine of a second coming signifying personal salvation. Paul’s doctrines often get more attention from self-titled Christians than Jesus’ Real Presence in our brothers and sisters.
“Sometimes when I’m alone I cry because I’m on my own The tears I cry are R bitter and warm They flow with life but take no form I cry because my heart is torn and I find it difficult 2 carry on If I had an ear to confide in I would cry among my treasured friends But who do u know that stops long To help another carry on The world moves fast and it would rather pass u by than 2 stop and c what makes u cry and no one cares about why” (Sometimes I Cry – Tupac Shakur)
Prayer: Spirit of Compassion, may we hear the cry of Christs among us.
Question: How might I be concerned about right doctrine rather than loving action?
September 25, 2016 Gospel Luke 16:19-31 Twenty Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time