Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time I
October 21, 2023
Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Saturday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time.
Our reading today is taken from the gospel according to Luke.
Jesus said to his disciples: "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.
"Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say."
The gospel of the Lord.
Homily
In the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples and us: “everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.” When Luke wrote his gospel, there was real danger in being a Christian. They were being hauled before magistrates and judges and told to renounce their faith in Jesus. Many did renounce their faith to preserve their lives and families, but many others were faithful to the end and gave up their lives and possessions in witness to Jesus. These we call the martyrs.
Today it seems like few of us will be called to be martyrs; however, how are we supposed to acknowledge Jesus in a world torn by division, rivalry and hatred? Just saying that one believes in Jesus Christ is not enough, because even those who profess Jesus’ name are divided into warring camps. And Jesus would certainly not agree with those using his name for political or material benefit.
Jesus refused to be drawn into the political posturing of his own day. He would sit down at table with his friends; he accepted invitations from tax collectors and sinners, and even from pharisees, who were his greatest opponents. He challenged all of them to open their minds and their hearts to the mercy and love of God. To the despised and the outcast, he was a friend who showed them their worth. For the simple and oppressed, he favored loosening the rules to make their life easier. And to the self-righteous, he held up a mirror to their hypocrisy. Still, he did not stridently favor one side or condemn the other. He used funny little stories, we call parables, to get people to think beyond their own horizons.
Of course, that did not save Jesus from the cross. And I wonder: knowing today how we stick to our tribes of like thinking people and condemn or even demonize anyone who is different, if Jesus returned to earth in human form, would we welcome him, or would we probably just nail him back up on the cross. That thought should make us pause.
Church people are moaning over the fact that so many people, especially the young, are abandoning the Church. They talk about the sexual and financial scandals, which certainly contribute, but I think that the problem lies much deeper. Too many people are using Jesus’ name, but too few are living as Jesus lived.
The remedy lies with each one of us. I don’t think I would bring these questions up at the dinner table. I am not good at making up funny little stories, so I would probably just get booted out of the house. However, we all need to break out of the confining boxes of our own certainties and try to put on Jesus’ way of welcoming the outcast, lightening the load of the oppressed and questioning our own self-righteousness. That way we will acknowledge Jesus as Son of Man and Son of God before the men and women of this age.
May God bless you.
Fr. Karl E. Esker C.Ss.R.
Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help
Brooklyn, NY
