Homily
for the 17thSunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Based
on (Gospel), (First Reading) and (Second Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
LORD’SPRAYER
II
“Lord, teach us to pray” (Lk 11:1)
‘
The Gospel reading for this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
(Cycle C) is from Lk 11:1-13.
Verse 1 says: Now once he was in a certain place
praying, and when he had finished one of his disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to
pray, just as John taught his diciples’.
Parallel text is Lk 3:21 that says: Now when all the people had been baptized and while Jesus after his own
baptism was at prayer,j heaven opened. Footnote j says “Jesus
at prayer is a favorite theme of Lk., cf. 5:16; 6:12; 9:18,28-29; 11:1; 22:41.”
Verse 2 says: He said to
them, ‘Say this when you pray:a Father, may your name be held holy,
your kingdom come… Footnote a says “Matthew’s text has seven petitions, Luke’s five. There were therefore
two traditions of the Lord’s Prayer. Mathew’s forms seems the more ancient.”
Parallel text is Mt 6:9-13 that says: So you should pray like this;b ‘Our
Father in heaven, may your name be held holy (v. 9), your kingdom come, your
will be done , on earth as in heaven (v. 10.) Give us today our dailyc
bread (v. 11). And
forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us (v. 12).
And do not put us into the test, but save us from the evil oned (v.
13).
Footnote b says “The
Lord’s Prayer in its Matthean form has 7 petitions. The number is a favorite of
Matthew’s; 2x7 generations in the genealogy (1:17), 7 Beatitudes (5:4+), 7
parables (13:3+), forgiveness not 7 but 77 times (18;22), 7 ‘alas’ for the
Pharisees (23:13+), 7 sections into which the gospel is divided (cf.
Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels)”; Footnote c says “The
Greek word is obscure: this traditional rendering is a probable one. Other
possibilities: ‘necessary for subsistence’ or ‘for tomorrow’. Whatever the
exact translation the sense is that we must ask God for the sustenance we need
in this life but for no more-not for wealth or luxury. The Fathers applied this
text to the bread of the Holy Eucharist”; and Footnote d says “Or
‘from evil’. Add ‘For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen. (a reading introduced into the text through liturgical influence).”
Verses 3 and 4 say: Give us each day our daily bread,b and
forgive us our sins,c For we ourselves forgive each one who is in
debt to us. And do not put us to the test.
Footnote b says “Var. (borrowed, perhaps, from a baptismal
liturgy) ‘may your Holy Spirit come down on us and cleanse us’”; and
Footnote c says “‘Debts’ in
Mt, here correctly interpreted by Lk who, however, does not suppress this
juridical aspect (cf. his following line ‘each one who is in debt to us’).”
Title: The importunate friend.
Parallel text is Lk 18:1-8 that says: The he told them a parable about the need
to pray continually and never lose hearta (v. 1).“There was a judge
in a certain town’ he said‘whohad neither fear of God nor respect forman (v.
2). In thesame town there wasa widow who
kept on coming to him and say, ‘I want justice from youagainst my enemy (v.3)
For a long time he refused, but at last
he said tohimself, Maybe I had neither fear God nor respect for man (v.
4), but since she keeps pestering me I
must give this widowher just rights,
or she will persist in coming and worry me to death(v.5). And the Lord
said, “You notice what the unjust judge has to say (v. 6). Now will not God see
justice done to his chosen who cryto him day and night even when he delays
tohelp them? (v. 7) I promise you, he
will see justice done to them and done
speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find any faith on earth? Footnote a says “Pauline
in though and expression: cf. Rm. 1:10; 12:12; Ep. 6:18; Col. 1:3; 1 Th.
5:17; 2 Th. 1:11, etc. and 2 Co. 4:1,16;
Ga. 6:9; Ep. 3:13; 2 Th. 3:13.”
Verses 5, 6, 7 and 8 say: He also said to them,
‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to
say, ‘My friend, let me three loaves, Because a friend of mine on his travels
has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him’, And the man answers from inside the house,
‘Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I
cannot get up to give it to you’. I tell
you, if the man does not get up and give it to him for friendship’s sake,
persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.
Parallel texts for verse 8 are:
1. Jg
14:17 - She wept on his neckfor seven days their feast lasted. She was so
persistent that on the seventh day, he
told her the answer, and she in turn told her fellow countrymen what the answer
to the riddle was.
2. Mt
15:23 - But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples went and pleaded with him, “Give her what she wants”h,
they said, “because she is shouting after us. Footnote h says “Not
‘send her away’ simply: the Greek verb here means ‘let her go with her request
granted’ as in 18:27; 27:15.”
Title is “Effective Prayer.” Parallel
texts aare:
1. Mt
7:7-11 - Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and
the door will be opened to you(v.7). For theone who asks, always receives; and
the one who searches, always finds; the one who knocks will always have the
door opened to him (v. 8). Is there a
man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread (v9) or
would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?
2. Jn
14:13-14 - Whatever you ask for in my name, I will do, so that the Father may
be glorified in the Son(v.13) If you ask anything in my name, I will do it (v.
14).
Verses 9 to 13 say:
‘So I say to you: Ask, and it
will be given you ; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be
opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; te one who searches always
finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father
among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a
snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you,
then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more
will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spiritd to those who ask him!’
Footnote d says “Instead the ‘good things’ of Mt 7:11. The
Holy Spirit is the best of all ‘good things.’”
Parallel text is Jn 14: 13-14 that says: Whatever you ask for in my name, I will do, so
that the Father may be glorified in the Son(v. 13) If you ask anything in my
name, I will do it (v. 14).“If you love me, you will keep my commandmentsh (v. 15). I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocatei to be with you forever. Footnote
h says “Var. ‘keep my commandment’, Jesus, like God himself, asserts his right
to love and obedience”; and Footnote i says “The
Greek word ‘parakletos’ is here translated ‘Advocate’, but it si difficult to
choose between the possible meanings:
‘advocate’, ‘intercessor’, ‘protector’, ‘counselor’, ‘support’. The parallel between the Spirit’s work for
the disciples and Christ’s bring out powerfully the personal character of the
Spirit, cf. 14:26+, 1 Jn 2:1.”
The First Reading is from Gn 18:20-32.
Verse20 says: Then Yahweh said, ‘How great an outcry
there is against Sodom and Gomorrah! How grievous is their sins!
Parallel texts are:
1.
Is 3:9 - Their insolent airs bears witness
against them;they parade their sin like Sodom. To their own undoing, they do
not hide it.They are preparing their own downfall.
2.
Rv 18:5 - Her sins have reached up to the heavens,and
God has her crimes in mind.
Verses 21, 22, 23 nd 24 say: I propose to go down
and see whether or not they have done all that is alleged in the outcry against
them that has come up to me. I am determined to know’. The mend left
there and went to Sodom while Abraham remained standing before Yahweh. Approaching
him he said, ‘Are you really going to destroy the just man with the sinner? Perhaps
there are fifty just men in the town. Will you really overwhelm them, will you
not spare the place for the fifty just men in it?e Footnote d says “i.e.
the ‘two men’, as opposed to Yahweh who stays with Abraham. We shall be told
later, 19:1, that they are angels.”; and Footnote e says “A perennial problem: must the good suffer
along with, and because of, the wicked? The conviction of collective
responsibility was so strong in ancient Israel that the question does not here
arise whether the just may be spared individually. God will, in fact, save Lot
and his family, 19:15-16; Jr 31:29-30; Ezk 14:12f &ch.18,see notes.
Abraham, therefore, supposing that all are to share a common destiny, asks that
a few just men may win pardon for the many wicked. Yahweh’s answers approve the
part the saints have to play in saving the world. But Abraham’s bid for mercy
does not venture below the number ten.
According to Jr 5:1 and Ezk 22:30, God would pardon Jerusalem even if only one
just man could be found there. Finally, in Is 53, it is the suffering of the
one servant that is to save the whole race, but this prophecy was destined to
remain unintelligible until its was fulfilled in Christ.”
Parallel text for verse 21 is Gn 4:10 that says: ‘What have
you done? Yahweh asked, ‘Listen to the sound of your brother’s blood, crying
out to me from the ground!’
Verse 25 says: Do not
think of doing such a thing: to kill the just man with the sinner, treating
just and sinner alike! Do not think of it! Will the judge of the whole earth
not administer justice?f Footnote f says “Cf. Rm 3:6. It would be unjust to condemn
the innocent, however few in comparison with the many sinners.”
Parallel texts are:
2. Ws 12:15 -
But just yourself, you order all things justly;holding it unworthy of your
powerto condemna man who has notdeserved to be punished.
Verses 26 and 27 say: Yahweh replied, ‘If at Sodom
I find fifty just men in the town, I will spare the whole place because of
them’. Abraham replied, ‘I am bold indeed to speak like this to my Lord, I who
am dust and ashes.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Si 10:9 -
What dust and ashes to pride itself on?
Even in life itsguts are repellente. Footnote e says “Following
several quotations. Gk ‘it casts its guts’; Hebr. ‘its guts are full of worms’.”
2.
Si 17:32 - He
surveys the armies of the lofty skyo, while all men are no more than
dust and ashes. Footnote o says “Probably the stars, cf. 16:28; Is. 24:21-23
Verses 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32 says: But perhaps the
fifty men lack five: will you destroy the whole city for five? ‘No’ he replied
‘I will not destroy it if I find forty-five just men there’. Abraham said to
him, ‘Perhaps there are only forty there’. ‘I will not do it’ he replied’ for
the sake of the forty’. Abraham said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry, but
give me leave to speak: perhaps there will only be thirty there’. I will not do
it’ he replied’ if I find thirty there.’ He said, ‘I am bold indeed to speak
like this, but perhaps there will only be twenty there’. ‘I will not destroy
it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the twenty.’ He said, ‘I trust my Lord will not
be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten’. ‘I will not
destroy it’ he replied ‘for the sake of the ten’.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Jr 5:1 - Rove to and fro through the streets of
Jerusalem, look now, and learn, search
her squares if you can find a man, one manwho does right and
seekthetruth, then I will pardon her!
The Second Reading is from Col 2:12-14:
Verse 12 says: You have
been buried with him, when you were baptized: and by baptism, too, you have
been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him
from the dead.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Rm 1:4 - It is about Jesus Christ our Lord who
is the order of the spirit, the spirit of holiness that is in him, was
proclaimedc Son of God in all his power through his resurrection
from the dead.d Footnote c says “Vulg.
‘predestined’.”; and Footnote d
says “For Paul Christ rose only
because God raised him, 1 Th. 1:10; 1 Co. 6:14; 15:15; 2 Co. 4:14; Ga. 1:1; Rm.
4:24; 10:9; Ac. 2:24+; cf. 1 P. 1:21, thus displaying his ‘power’, 2 Cor. 13:4;
Rm. 6:4; Ph. 3:10; Col. 2:12; Ep. 1:19f; Heb. 7:16; and because God raised him to life through
the Holy Spirit, Rm. 8:11. Christ is established in glory as Kyrios, Ph
2:9-11+; Ac 2:36; Rm 14:9, deserving anew, this time in virtue of his messianic
work, the name he had from eternity, ‘son of God’, Ac 13:33, Heb 1:5; %:5. Cf.
Rm 8:11+; 9:5+.”
2.
Rm 8:11 - And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus
from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit
living in youg. Footnote g
says “The
resurrection of the Christian is intimately dependent on that of Christ, 1 Th
4:14; 1 Co 6:14; 15:20f; 2 Co 4:14; 13:4; Rm 6:5; Ep 2:6; Col 1:18; 2:12f; 2 Tm
2:11. It is by the same power and the same gift if the Spirit, cf. Rm 1:4+,
that the Father will raise them to life their turn. This operation is already being prepared: a
new life is making the Christians into sons (v.14) in the likeness of the Son
himself, 8:29+, and they are being incorporated into the risen Christ by faith,
1:16+, and baptism, 6:4+.”
3.
Ep 1:19 - and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us
believers. This you can tell from the
strength of his power …
4.
Ep 2:6 - And
raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.e
Footnote e says “Here as in Col. 2:12, 3:1-4, the use of the
past tense shows that the resurrection and triumph of Christians in heaven is
considered as actually existing whereas the future tense in Rom. 6:3-11,
8:11,17f treats it as something that has still to take place. Treating the
eschatological reality as already existing is a characteristic of Paul’s
letters written from prison.”
Verse 13 says: You were dead
because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: hei has
brought youj to life with him, he has forgiven usk all
our sins. Footnote i says “God
the Father”; Footnote j says “‘you’;
var. ‘us’; and Footnote k says “‘us’;
var. ‘you’.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Col 1:22 - …but now he has reconciled you, by
his death and in that mortal body.k
Now you are able to appear before him holy, pure and blameless- Footnote k says “‘he’, i.e. the Father. The human, natural
body is that of his Son (lit. ‘flesh body’); this provides the locus where the
reconciliation takes place. Into the body the entire human race is effectively
gathered, cf. Ep 2:14-16, because Christ has assumed its sin, 2 Co 5:21. The
‘flesh’ body is the body as affected by sin, 2 Co 5:21; cf. Rm 8:3; 7:5+; Heb
4:15.
2.
Ep 2:1,5 - And you were dead through the crimes
and the sins (v. 1). even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ(by grace you have
been saved) (v. 5)
Verse 14 says: He has overridden
the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done
away with it by nailing it to the cross…l Footnote l
says “The Law was able to do nothing
about a sinner except condemn him to death, Rm 7:7+; this death sentence is
what God carried out on his own Son in order to suppress it for the rest of the
world, and it was for this reason that God’s Son was ‘made sin’, 2 Co 5:21,
‘subject to the Law’, Ga. 4:4, and ‘cursed’ by the Law, Ga 3:13. In the person
of the Son, whom he allowed to be executed, God nailed up and destroyed our
death warrant, as well as the charges it made against us.”
Parallel text is Ep 2:15-16 that says: Caused by the
rules and decrees of the Law. m This was to create one single New
Man n in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace (v.
15) through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body o and
reconciled them with God. In his own person he killed the hostility (v. 16).
Footnote m
says “The Mosaic Law gave the Jews a privileged
status and separated them from pagans. Jesus abolished this Law by fulfilling
it once for all on the cross, Col. 2:14+”; Footnote n
says “ This new man is the prototype of
the new humanity that God recreated (2Co. 5:17+) in the person of Christ, the
second Adam (1 Co. 15:45) after killing the sinfully corrupt race of the first
Adam in the crucifixion (Rm. 5:12f, 8:3, 1 Co. 15:21). This New Adam has been
created in the goodness and holiness of the truth, 4:24, and he is unique
because in him the boundaries between any one group and the rest of the human
race all disappear, Col. 3:10f, Ga. 3:27f).; and Footnote o says “This
‘single Body’ is both the physical body of Jesus that was executed by
crucifixion, Col 1:22+, and the Church or ‘mystical’ body of Christ in which,
once they were reconciled, all the parts function in their own place, 1 Co
12:12+.
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