THE WEEK OF TRINITY XIV - SUNDAY

LESSON: LUKE 17:11‒19

“The Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

One point of difference between St. Luke and the other evangelists is that Luke did not concentrate only on the work and doctrine of Christ, like the others; he also described the order of His journeys and the routes by which He traveled. Up to chapter thirteen, Luke’s Gospel points out how Jesus began to preach and to do signs in Capernaum, to which He went from Nazareth and where He lived.

From the end of chapter nine till the end of his Gospel, Luke tells us how He preached and performed miracles on His journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem. This was the last journey during His life here on earth and took place during the last year of that life. This is also what Luke is referring to here when he says that “on the way to Jerusalem He was passing along between Samaria and Galilee.” 

This was not the usual route from Capernaum to Jerusalem. He passed along “between Samaria and Galilee” lengthening His journey. The nearest route lay along the borders of these territories. The evangelist is at some pains to remind us here that Jesus did not travel by the usual route to Jerusalem but that He took a time-consuming, more distant and circuitous route on this journey to Jerusalem. 

He did not do this for any personal reasons, but to seize extra opportunities to proclaim the Gospel and to extend His help to people who needed it. He makes His way through the midst of this territory so that His progress might be quite public, and that He might be at everyone’s service. In this way, the people could approach Him from all sides and receive His help. He was sent to make Himself available to all, so that everyone might freely enjoy His goodness and grace. 

 

SL.XI.1572,1‒2
AE 79:68-97

 

PRAYER: Thanks and praise be Yours, heavenly Father, for sending us Your Son to be such a ready and willing helper. May this fact draw us ever closer to Him in all our needs, in the full assurance of His most tender grace and looking to Him for full salvation. In His name we ask it. Amen.