Lk 14:1,7-14 (1-14)

 

Being oneself and being different. The path of closeness

 

The end of a sacred order: crammed together - or free

(Lk 14:1-6)

 

The Bible often presents salvation as a banquet in which God himself participates alongside man.

Here, specific reference is made to the assembly of those called to break bread ("to eat bread": v. 1 Greek text) - a scene still dominated by traditionalists (Judaizers).

On the surface, everything appears calm. All the more reason for the Lord (who is very mischievous) to throw a stone and shake things up.

Where He makes His presence felt - even in places dedicated to the peaceful celebration of the Sacraments - nothing remains as it was before.

His frankness is still astonishing and unsettles all quietism.

It is strange that a man with dropsy should have entered the house of a Pharisee, but it is significant in the sense of the Gospel message.

In the home of the old-fashioned leader, the human guests are stuffed with vague spiritual platitudes, not with a bright and living faith.

It is difficult to move there.

In the assembly (coincidentally), someone cannot stand up; he is full of things that must be eliminated as soon as possible - or he will not make it.

But it is only Jesus' question that immediately cleanses the useless excesses inoculated drop by drop by false guides into the unfortunate.

Inside the well in verse 5, it is as if not a donkey or an ox has fallen, but a brother or a son. In short: the excuses of ancient religious legalism do not even touch the Father.

The leaders present do not know what to say: in reality, they have nothing to say (to anyone).

They do not even vaguely conceive of God's Will as Love that intervenes promptly, that involves itself in our vulnerabilities.

Pope Francis would say of them in his third encyclical: 'accustomed to turning their gaze away, passing by, ignoring situations' (Fratelli Tutti, n.64).

Instead, the Son - and anyone who makes him Present - takes humanity by the hand and heals its limitations.

But he does not do this to stick to it (as the leaders of the time would have done), but to make it lighter, able to breathe and not just compress itself: liberated, finally autonomous - capable of tracing a path on its own two feet (even if it turns out to be distant).

This is a ruthless brushstroke by Luke, which highlights the difference between empty 'teaching' - albeit in religious form - and the action of Faith (linked to concrete life: v. 3).

In choosing between the real good of the person and the reputation of the group (the ruling clique), Jesus has no doubt.

On the other hand, for the great devotees and leaders, giving credence, the prestige of the institution, the custom of doctrine, the great sophisticated ideas... are their whole life.

The Master still does not remain silent today, and ridicules the personal inconsistency of some teachers of theology... who, while maintaining appearances, feel exempt from everything in their private lives.

In fact, it is precisely the 'experts' who sometimes lack 'the taste for recognising the other [...] for being themselves and for being different' (FT, 217-218).

Theology of the Incarnation. The salt of life is not permanence: it is better to eliminate unnecessary burdens.

 

In our assemblies there are naive and practising believers, but they are not very aware, rather unprepared and misguided.

We could say: faithful considered as glasses to be filled, devotees destined to say yes sir and not express themselves: evaluated without any spiritual personality of note...

They are not welcomed as a gift, but rather neglected, cloaked in the thoughts, practices and goals of others. For some community leaders, they are just numbers.

Let us try to paraphrase John Paul II (Dives in Misericordia nos. 12-13) but with reference to the figure of the hydropic man.

There are souls - of every Christian denomination - who fear becoming victims of oppression and hide themselves.

They lack inner freedom, the possibility of expressing their vocational character, of expressing what they believe in.

They do not feel able to be guided by the voice of conscience, which intimately indicates the right path to follow.

For fear of retaliation or ridicule, or because of a lack of awareness, they prefer a peaceful existence in all areas of life.

Expressing themselves in a spontaneous, natural and healthy way could be uncomfortable - not in tune with the local programme of domestication.

Thus, while the manipulators tend to use them without scruples, the simple continue to place themselves in a subordinate position.

They do not even remotely imagine or are educated to consider themselves custodians of a precious and unique Pearl for the work of Salvation.

They undergo a daily torture that fills them with external ideas and observances that do not correspond to their soul and their right to truth and freedom.

In short, as the Gospel passage illustrates, the Church takes the educational risk and allows the meaning of Christ in action to shine through only when it brings unstable people closer to the sources of conscience and personal 'flesh'.

The transition from religious sense to a life of Faith brings with it the Easter leap of freedom.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

 

How would you describe your transition from religiosity to faith?

Have you purified yourself of the inculcated trappings that weighed down your essential personality?

Have you freed yourself from the sophisticated thoughts that gloss over the 'flesh'?

Have you made the Paschal leap of freedom?

 

 

 

Head at the Eucharistic Table

 

End of strategic positions

 

The Bible often presents Salvation as a banquet in which God himself participates alongside man.

At the table of a 'righteous' person, one did not sit down immediately upon arrival: one had to adhere to a strict etiquette, due to class hierarchies that had to be respected.

At the centre were the people of importance, then the owner; then everyone else, but in order: according to social position, religious function, wealth possessed.

The Lord judges awkwardness and complacency. These are smoke and mirrors, particularly in the case of the Eucharistic Banquet [v.1: 'eating bread'; v.8: 'wedding feast'].

And the way Jesus speaks at the table is surprising: he imposes himself, rebukes, suggests.

Finally, he begins to take it out on the one who 'invited' him [vv. 12-14: 'this is not how you should choose your guests...']. The effect is scathing.

Yet his is not a lesson in etiquette, nor an exhortation to common sense, much less to opportunism.

During the breaking of the bread, Christ is not a casual guest, but the host, the master of the house [here already concerned about the possible failure of his proposal].

The banquet in Luke 14 is precisely the setting for the sacred banquet in which all are simply summoned - by vocation (not by merit). In fact, the recurring term is what the Italian text translates poorly as 'invited', while the Greek kalèo means 'I call': the 'called'.

 

Here, the notables and bystanders who willingly participate to show off must immediately repent.

Not only must they refrain from grabbing food, but also from pathetically crowding around to occupy strategic positions.

 

With the image of the Eucharistic Banquet, Luke presents the world of relationships as God imagined it - where the Creator has 'called' all his children.

The 'norm' among family members is not appropriation, nor is it some kind of catwalk that inflates (only some) with self-love.

The broken bread regulates behaviour in the sense of gratuitousness.

It is food for life that is not degrading but humanising: mutual recognition, dialogue, love, shared knowledge...

Food for a life that is not beastly - despite the fact that the criteria of the ancient world still tend to infiltrate.

Hoarding and the desire to be noticed lead away from the logic of unconditional invitation.

The arrogant behaviour of the leading actors who sit on thrones to tower over and show off - to be served first, better and more abundantly than others - will soon be unmasked and overturned (vv. 9-11).

 

With the writing of Luke's Gospel (mid-80s), we are already in a time when disagreements over questions of precedence are exploding!

This problem remains unchanged, and in fact is not resolved by moving back two or three places (vv. 8-9) but by overturning the hierarchy (vv. 10-11).

Love is in fact 'a never-ending adventure that brings all the peripheries together towards a full sense of belonging to one another'.

"Jesus told us: You are all brothers (Mt 23:8)" [Fratelli Tutti, n.95].

 

In short, the assembly of children helps everyone to converge; it cannot be complicit with those who transform the world into outward appearances, positions and business.

 

 

 

Eucharist, gratuitousness and strangers

(Lk 14:12-14)

 

Inviting the excluded, without self-interest: the Christian community is open to all, especially those who have nothing to offer in return.

It cannot be complicit with those who transform the world into a business.

And today we are finally learning to invite freely, not in a self-interested and mercantile way.

We are well aware that the web of calculation behind our actions is astonishing, almost as complex as the complicated circuits of an electronic computer.

Some even seek to sacralise it:

Before exposing ourselves in a work, we weigh up with incredible speed all the possible repercussions, the reactions that may be useful or harmful to our interests.

Even during the course of our social actions, we recalibrate every change that could produce the desired effect, and at the same time the hoped-for reward.

If this does not happen, we immediately imagine that there must have been a (mechanical) failure somewhere.

 

If we are not careful, much of our existence is transformed into a cybernetics of interest.

This also happens with God.

Instead, it is Love that conquers the world. It is the unconditional gift that shakes, moves and conquers; it preludes and reflects the Mystery.

In the transformation of one's possessions into Encounter, Relationship, Intimate Life and the lives of others, the source of Joy springs forth.

The joy of the completeness of being, the very Life of the Trinity: a different kind of happiness, without due or expected returns; a foretaste of Resurrection.

A divine existence, not behind the clouds or at the end of history, but right now.

No exchange is truly worth such boundless and real vertigo.

 

Thus, the type of participants in the breaking of bread in churches - today of increasingly diverse mentalities - describes the essence of God.

The polyhedron becomes an icon and attribute of the tolerant mercy of the Eternal One.

But this is not an external or paternalistic patch; nor is it a rescue of the situation [or remorse of conscience].

The condition of sin does not nullify the plan of salvation. Rather, it accentuates the personal exodus and the passion of things.

Different faces and circumstances become sacraments of Grace, Love so open that no human pettiness can close it.

A multifaceted personal formation is also well reflected in the thousand unusual presences [as an intimate and concrete appeal]. And today it is finally considered an added value, rather than a carnal expression or impurity.

In short, our attitude as sisters and brothers imitates divine magnanimity: we welcome those who are different freely, not because we are or they are good, but so that we may all become good.

 

And by being close, together, in an unexpected, superabundant way.

 

 

To internalise and live the message:

What does not elevate your relationships? And your complete sense of self?