Daily Liturgy and Scripture

I wonder if Luke purposely put together the story of the apostles not being able to drive out the demon with the story of their jealousy of someone else doing it? Obviously Jesus didn’t give them exclusive rights to do so, and he acknowledged that there were others outside their circle who were also living Kingdom lives. Hopefully we won’t make the same mistake, and think our tribe is the only group getting things right.

The way Jesus went about building a Kingdom was completely wrong in the world where he lived. Most Kingdoms were advanced by mustering troops and overpowering others. Once again, Jesus turns that paradigm upside down. Not only do his followers not go out with power, they actually go out with nothing. They are in the service of giving away, not taking.

What was it that got Jesus's attention? Ironically, it was not a storm, but the quiet faith of a woman desperately seeking him. He had to be awakened in the boat, but in the midst of a busy crowd, it was a single person, trying her best to be invisible, who instantly gained his notice.

Jesus is giving a glimpse into the abundant life if his Kingdom. Being able to see and hear with our spiritual eyes and ears comes only with the work of the Spirit, and our training among our brothers and sisters. Learning to hear God takes some effort on our part, but God will respond with more than we can imagine.

The woman who enters the Pharisee’s house to honor Jesus really puts herself on the line. To be known as a disreputable woman, to enter the house of a religious leader, and then to touch Jesus: she is clearly far less concerned about what people think than she is of what Jesus can do. That kind of reckless abandon was honored by Jesus, and it seems that he considers her a better disciple than the Pharisee himself.

Jesus came to bring his Kingdom to earth, but he did it through people. John was one of those, and John showed his own humanity when he sent his followers to make sure Jesus was the real deal. How did Jesus prove it? Not by setting fire to bulls as Elijah did, not by parting a sea as Moses did. He proved his identity by pointing to the upside-down Kingdom that he came to bring, of which we are part.

The upside-down Kingdom of Jesus continues to come into view with unexpected people. This time, a centurion. It sounds like he was a good man, respectful of the Jewish religion, but he was still an outsider. He wasn’t a Jew, and his reluctance to have Jesus come to his house is a reflection of the Jewish attitude toward people like him. Yet, Jesus decides to hold him up as an example of faith. So it is with the community that Jesus gave us: don’t think you know who’s in or out, because you might be wrong.

The Kingdom of God is upside down. This list of blessings and woes isn’t absolute (it is doubtful that Jesus would want to literally starve out everyone who had recently had a good meal) but is a prophetic glimpse into what’s possible with this new Kingdom. The poor are rich, nobody is devalued. Enemies are loved, and money doesn’t hold control over us. It’s a wild way to approach the world, and only Jesus could pull that off.

When you are a Pharisee, the Sabbath is all about making sure you don’t break any of the rules for resting on the Sabbath. For Jesus, it was about finding wholeness through rest, and giving it to others. If he was Lord of the Sabbath (and he said he was), then his rule overrides the law. How ironic. The one who came to give life to the law does so by appearing to break it.

The religious leaders really had to work hard at missing what Jesus was doing. He’s healing people, making them walk again, and the Pharisees are spending their time worrying about fasting. Obviously, they had missed the point of the holiness that Jesus carried with him, which was the reason the apostles didn’t need to worry about pursuing holiness, because it had found them.