Luke 8: 1-3 ~ Jesus Journeying with the Twelve and a Number of Women

 

I like this picture. Six women follow travel along with Jesus. Their names are written above their heads, but I can't make it out. Doesn't matter. They could be the myrrh-bearers of Easter Morning. They could be the women mentioned in the gospel verses here. Two women in the second group hold crosses, which traditionally signifies they are martyrs. Perhaps they are some of the early women martyrs known as the Virgin Martyrs. Many of their names are mentioned in the First Eucharist Prayer — the young girls who said, "No, I will not call the emperor my God; Christ alone has my loyalty." But I especially like the many hued streaks of horizontal sky. It all suggests movement — a great going forward.  Even the little tree seems to quiver with life and something of a desire to go along with Christ.

1 After this he went journeying from town to town and village to village, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. 2 With him were the Twelve and a number of women who had been set free from evil spirits and infirmities. 3 Mary, known as Mary of Magdala, from whom seven devils had come out, Joanna, the wife of Chuza a steward of Herod's, Susanna, and many others. These women provided for them out of their own resources. Luke 8:1-3

Verse 1: We can speak of enduring a hard time as living from one moment to the next. We can describe a busy day as going from one errand to another. Seniors tell of a week going from one doctor to the next.  Even a scattered or distracted mind goes from this to that. These three verses begin with Jesus journeying from one town to another, one village to another.. I like the use of journeying, which conveys a sense of purpose and even adventure. Jesus wasn't going for a stroll.

Verse 2:  Notice Jesus is not traveling alone but with his twelve apostles. There are also a group of women all of whom have a story. They've got some serious baggage. Don't we all? Luke uses some pretty strong language. He says these women were freed of "evil spirits." He's not saying they were possessed but surely in the grip of some affliction. We might think today of addictions, anxieties, wrong choices, wrong life-turns. depression, cynicism. Whatever the "devils" were, these followers were made infirm (sick) by it. Lots of people have poor, even dangerous, mental health. We aren't' attending to it in our country. We're all vulnerable. There are even places where mentally or emotionally unwell priests and nuns go for help. 

Verse 3: Mary of Magdala was not the gospel woman caught in adultery. The Gospel never says that. Nor does it ever say she was a prostitute. How unfair is that! So, what do we know about Mary of Magdala? Somewhere along the long history-way a number of un-named Gospel women got conflated into one, with the name "Mary Magdalen." This verse (3) tells us she was a disciple who was inwardly freed by her association with Jesus. The verse says Mary of Magdala was freed of seven devils. Seven ! Yikes! Seven is a biblical number which means wholly, completely, a whole lot, totally. We might say, "Poor Mary, she was a mess." But all the more, what a recovery! Later we'll be told she was the first Easter witness. She will be called equal to the apostles. 

And who is this Joanna? It's also said of her she had been healed of infirmities. Could the infirmity or sickness have been physical? Of course, the ancient world knew nothing of biological sickness. We live in the time of covid — still trying to figure out viruses. At any rate, do you have your own inner or outer healing story to tell?

Joanna was apparently a noble woman married to Chuza who was part of Herod's household. Appointed by Rome, Herod Antipas ruled Galilee. Chuza seems to have been significant enough that his name endures. Put simply: Joanna was helpful. She is listed as one of the myrrh-bearing women of Easter morning Luke 24:1-12.  These women didn't expect the Resurrection, rather, they were returning to the tomb at dawn to finish cleaning the body of Jesus' body which had been buried hurriedly on Friday late afternoon. What a remarkable self-gift. Women are the ones who more often than not have to clean up the mess men have made and left behind. Anyway, that's how we come to know her — she was helpful. Here in verse 3 we're told again of the generosity which made it possible for Jesus and his men friends to travel. Get it — she paid for the room and board of the men who are squabbling over "Who's first?"  Funny, but also kind of pathetic. I would have liked to sit with Joanna, listening to her tell of her experiences and insights. 

Notice the sentence tells us there were many others — meaning, many others who were like Joanna. Why do they need to be named? They are US after all, aren't they? And especially the nameless or low-profiled women throughout history to today. The best sermon I ever heard was a Good Friday sermon preached by a woman in a packed church. What fresh and sensitive insights she brought to that day. But soon after, all possibility of hearing from women in a pulpit was forbidden. I can't help but think we are cheating ourselves.

Luke 7:31-35 ~ What the Gospel is for the Ear, the Icon is for the Eye

 

I turn to this icon again and again. It is called the Mandylion, the cloth upon which Jesus imprinted his face when King Abgar requested Jesus to come and heal him. I am drawn to this icon because Jesus looks at us squarely, as if he is looking in-to us. If his eyes are ever so slightly to the side, it's because that's where we try to hide in false persona, excuses or distraction. Did you ever try to hide behind a classmate so the teacher wouldn't call on you?

Jesus said, "What can I say that the men of this generation are like—what sort of men are they? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other, 'We played at weddings for you, but you wouldn't dance, and we played at funerals for you, and you wouldn't cry!' For John the Baptist came in the strictest austerity and you say he is crazy. Then the Son of Man came, enjoying food and drink, and you say, 'Look, a drunkard and a  glutton, a bosom-friend of the tax-collector and the  outsider!' So wisdom is proved right by all her children!" Luke 7: 31-35

Jesus knows how we are — how much time we spend assessing, evaluating and judging other people. We can know nothing of what's going on in someone else's life — their story and the troubles they have, the burdens they carry, the sorrows they bear — and it doesn't stop us from appraising them. Jesus calls out every generation that disregards both John and himself based on outer appearances. He won't have it. The Gospel and the icon say effectively, "As far as God is concerned (wisdom) it's what's inside that matters."  Religion that leaves us on the level of outside appearances and performances has failed.

 

By your Gospel Word and 

before your holy Mandylion icon

by which Abgar was made whole,

it's as if you are looking right through me.

O Christ, my Savior.

Heal me from the inside out.

Luke 7:24-30 Among the Most Important Verses in the Gospel

 

24 When these messengers had gone back, Jesus began to talk to the crowd about John. "What did you go out to the desert to look at? Was it a reed waving in the breeze? 25 Well, what was it you went out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? But the men who wear fine clothes live luxuriously in palaces. 26 But what did you really go to see? A prophet? Yes, and I tell you, a prophet and far more than a prophet! 27 This is the man of whom the scripture says, 

27 'Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.'

28 Believe me, no one greater than John has ever been born, and yet a humble member of the kingdom of God is greater than he." 29 All the people, yes, even the tax-collectors, when they heard John, acknowledged God and were baptized by his baptism. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the Law frustrated God's purpose for themselves, for they refused John's baptism.

I would suggest that Christianity today has no idea how important and pertinent these verses are. We've (the churches) have lost the Christ-center and don't even know it. Because we're filing religious lawsuits in court, or wave "Jesus Saves" banners at a riot, or defend ancient liturgical rites, doesn't mean we've got a Christ-center.

Scene setter: In the previous gospel sections, Jesus' disciples have told John they have seen Jesus heal the Centurian's slave healed and the Widow's son raised to life at Nain.  They then went back to Jesus to make ask Jesus the questions posed by John, "Are you the one?" Jesus told them to go back yet again to  tell John what he (Jesus) is doing and announcing. It sounds a little silly perhaps, all the back and forth, but okay. Jesus now addresses the remaining crowd. He begins by asking them three questions about going out into the desert. 24-25 "Did you go to see the reeds in the wind?" The desert is a harsh place where right minded person would never go to watch the wind. Jesus answers his own second question — rich people, all dressed up, don't live in deserts, but high end palaces. 25 Jesus must have in mind that among this crowd there were folks who had gone into the desert where we are told in another Gospel place, John was living. But John wore rags and ate bugs. Nothing soft or lavish about that.

Nor was John wasn't a weak-bending reed. Jesus knows they were looking for a prophet (one who reveals the mind of God) but they found John who (Jesus says) is greater than a prophet because he's the messenger, the advance man, we say — forerunner of Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah (the great king who is even greater than Kings David and Solomon.) In verse 28 — Jesus lifts John up high. But John is only the messenger of the one who greater still, and that's Jesus. So John, while lifted up to a high place, is also among the littlest, who still needs the truly great one — Jesus. 

What does it mean for us? We live in times of unimaginable cultural popularity. We're constantly invited to join the cult. Cult thinking is irrational thinking. Sometimes the idea of popularity cult mixes in to religion, "I'm a JP II priest," "I'm a Benedict priest" we might hear among the younger clergy.  One man on a TV spot says, "Every citizen should have a gun?" What?! That's cult thinking. Should we give guns now as Baptism day gifts, birthday gifts, graduation from elementary and high school gifts? So that by age 22 every citizen might have his/her own arsenal? Now, seemingly everything on social media is sold by sex. Turns out a strong man soaking in a floating bathtub is really an advertisement for cream cheese. The celebrity red carpet nights often cause me to think, "Why did you bother putting on clothes at all?" 

But perhaps the worst of it is the political/religious cults. We fall into cults because we're looking for something. The "I'm a JPII or Benedict priest" is looking for what he thinks is the authentic religious/spiritual way. When Francis was elected Pope, one priest told his Sunday crowd, "We'll get through this together." That says a lot. And it's sad. Out of our vacuums we turn to figures who have wealth, who are  high profile, who surround themselves with the indicators of success and power, who claim to know the truth. Mr, Trump announced his candidacy by descending from above riding a golden escalator. Like a Monty Python bible spoof. Jesus asks every generation, "What are you looking for? What are you going out to see?" We become cartoon Christians when we fail to see his gospel questions are for us.

Anti-mask, anti-climate crisis, anti-vaccine, anti-voting whatever, anti-science, anti-theory, anti-history. We clearly listen to lots of people who we believe have the answers to fill our vacuum. It's going bad. It's become violent, furiously angry, bitterly divisive, threatening, menacing, shockingly bad example for children. But it's always been this way (made worse by the speed of social media) — some get it — some don't. But Jesus celebrates that even the despised tax-collectors were hearing John's message to turn to heed the claims God makes on  our thinking and doing. It is called God's justice. Some people are terrified of what God's justice and God's purposes would exact from them. Charity? Sure. God's justice (read the angry prophets) — no. Old Testament sexual morality? Yes (at least the bits that make sense to them). God's justice? No. It may mean we have to give up some privilege, power, influence, prestige, wealth.

Every Christian needs to do a personal self-check or questioning now and again to see if we haven't drifted into irrational thinking (or someone else's irrationality). Maybe the irrational one we listen to is a talking TV head or the podcast voice. Some have been corrupted by money. We can fool or trick ourselves, thinking we're living in the Lord's kingdom when really we're just bumping around following some personality or movement be it political, religious, media, sports, entertainment or favored channel. We find God-substitutes all the time and can even become rabid in defense of our drift. There are people who live outside God's kingdom. And not infrequently (like the tax-collectors) it's the littlest and most insignificant people who are more submitted to God's rule than those who wield the greatest appeal, influence, voting power and sway over people's minds and hearts. But self-knowledge and genuine docility (teachable-ness) are in short supply these days. 

Our outside-the-Kingdom-cult-irrationality invades everywhere. I once favorably said the word Mexican in a sermon and a man walked out. Never mind they are the people to whom the Guadalupe revealed herself and left her image. I invited the Salvadoran parish lawn men to a Guadalupe Feast Day party and got insulting hate mail. I had a fellow block me in the church aisle once to tell me, 'I'm so sick and tired of hearing about the poor." But I'd venture as a white man of American abundance he had no clue what "the poor" even means. He'd already formed his truth that they are all lazy scammers. What made it all the more bizarre was that I'd said nothing about the poor in the homily. I invited him to investigate the text I used (still on the pulpit), but he declined and disappeared with his scary energy.

As great as John the Baptist is — Jesus and his new God-mind is greater. The people of least importance or belonging may well "get it" ahead of the rest. That's what these verses are about. It isn't easy if we're really hearing. 

Luke 7:18-23 and Gerard Manley Hopkins and Vincent Van Gogh ~ Let us be encouraged!

Pope Francis has written, "Contemplation is an opening of the heart and life to the force that truly transforms the world, that is, God's love." I'm afraid we are missing this in the Church these days — caught up as we are in the political fracturing that has seized us. Jesus announces to John (and us) this world-transforming love

18 John's disciples reported all these happenings to him. 19 Then he summoned two of them and sent them to the Lord with this message, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to look for someone else?" 20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you with this message, 'Are you the one who is to come, or are we to look for someone else?'" 21 At that very time Jesus was healing many people of their diseases and ailments and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. 22 Then he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind are recovering their sight, cripples are walking again, lepers being healed, the deaf hearing, dead men are being brought to life again, and the good news is being given to those in need. 23 And happy is the person who never loses faith in me."

It's as if Jesus is saying, "The fullness of God's transformative, healing, restoring love have been let loose upon the world in my person. Believe it!"

The Irish Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote a poem (perhaps you read it in school) titled, God's Grandeur. The poet writes about this wild, divine love, and that despite our spoiling neglect, it comes back again and again. 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

  It will flame out like shining from shook foil; 

  It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

  Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

  And all is seared with trade; bleared, 

  smeared with toil;

  And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;

  There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

  And though the last lights off the black West went

  Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

  World broods with warm breast and with

  ah! bright wings.

And then there is Vincent Van Gogh's Country Road in Provence by Night. How majestic. Van Gogh painted it in May of 1890, just three months or so before his tragic death in July. Artists love to paint roads — a path through the woods, a road along a river or through a city, through the mountains or fields and here, a country road in the south of France. 

Van Gogh loves to include cypress trees in his landscapes. This tree often grows in cemeteries. Did Vincent have his own approaching death in mind. It is generally believed he died by suicide. But notice this — the top of the tree pierces the upper margin. Was it poor planning or did he intend that the tree symbolically reveal that there are not two distinct and opposed worlds of earth and heaven. Does the cypress stitch together earth and heaven?

On the left of the centrally placed tree there are the planets (named after ancient gods) Venus and Mercury converging. Although they are very far apart from each other in space, every once in a while they seems to lay over each other in their orbits. They were converging when Van Gogh painted the picture. We'll have to wait until 2033 to see that orbital space layering again. On the right is a crescent moon — the new moon in its very earliest phase. It is an image of optimism and new beginnings.

There are two walking travelers in the bottom right of the painting and behind them there are some folks in a carriage. Vincent Van Gogh understood loneliness and longed for real companionship. But the best of it is the paint strokes themselves. Look carefully: the night sky spins — the clouds, the planets and moon, the ground we walk on, the grasses and trees are shot through with divine energies.

Perhaps the words of Jesus, the Hopkins poem and Van Gogh painting are telling us that we are all traveling in a world that, while sorely troubled, is still filled with infinity and eternity — a universe that seems to know it is filled with transformative love.

Catherine Randall has authored a book of Hopkins letters and poems titled, "A Heart Lost in Wonder." Don't you want that kind of heart for yourself? I do. Jesus knew. The young sickly poet-priest knew. The lonely and troubled artist knew. I don't want to miss any of it. 

I expect when Jesus said, "Judge not," he meant it.

 

"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."  Luke 6:37-38

 

This icon is titled: Christ, Ruler of All. Jesus blesses us with his right hand while holding the open Gospel book in his left. The message is simple, "Come to me all you who labor." Matthew 11:28. We might think of "labor" as the tedious work, maybe the thankless, underpaid work, we all have to do everyday. The job I go to. But I would suggest, perhaps the real "labor" is the spiritual labor of forgiving other people and in the gospel verse above, the gospel labor of not judging people. It is very hard, isn't it? But there it is. We might begin by first acknowledging (if we're honest) just how much negative judging, evaluating and assessing we do. 

We're in this very difficult time — the long, ugly and now post election season, and the terrible division we find ourselves in, coronavirus crisis increase, everything seemingly in a shambles, the holidays (and life!) on hold. And in the midst of all of that, Jesus comes along with this instruction and expectation, "Stop judging."  I imagine Jesus wants us to live in the awareness that judging is God's business. Judging and condemning crack open the door to violence. Condemning means essentially, "We can do very well without you." If I feel the need to judge anything, I might turn that spotlight on myself. 

Imagining this: Pray for Donald Trump. Pray for Joe Biden. Pray for Theodore McCarrick. Pray for the millions of people who didn't vote my way. Pray for the enormous number of people who simply refuse to wear a mask—while the virus spreads like wildfire. Pray for the troublemakers. Pray for anyone who I consider to be a royal pain in the neck or worse. We get the picture. "Jesus, give them all they need for their salvation." Very difficult—perhaps so much so, I don't want to hear what Jesus has to say. "Just this once, Jesus. Allow me this exception, Jesus."

I imagine when Jesus gave this direction, he meant it — as much as he meant it when he said over the bread and the wine, "This is my body; this is my blood." 

But notice this—in the icon, the light from Jesus' face (the nimbus/halo) has broken through the interior frame. Could this symbolize the promise that accompanies Jesus' "no judging; no condemning" bit: "good measure, overflowing will pour into your lap." Maybe that's the guarantee of divine assistance we're going to need, if we're to live successfully this requirement placed upon the disciple.

"And he lifted up his eyes..."

20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. 24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets." Luke 6: 20-26.

Here is Hungarian Aurel Naray's (1883-1948) painting of The Sermon on the Mount. It is a cloudy day. Clouds in the bible always signify God's presence. Jesus is delivering a divine teaching. The little crowd appears to be listening carefully. We seem to be standing on the edge of the group, in the foreground, looking upwards. Ah, that placement suggests I have a choice—I can join the group of learners, ascending spiritually to Jesus' instruction, or not.

Notice there is a little child with his/her back to us. Maybe the little one is me/you. We are all beginners. No matter how long ago we were baptized, we're all little wannabes. I suggested this years ago in a Sunday sermon at the end of Lent, when the catechumens are preparing for baptism. I said, "We are all catechumens." A woman got me at the door, disagreeably indigent at the suggestion.. And I thought, "What a boring Christianity she must live, trying to maintain her high spiritual plateau—her business as usual Christianity. 

 

But then there is Judas to the right of the foreground. Poor fellow, he is staring down at the ground, perhaps in shame or contemplating the complicated connections he has to make in the future. St. Philip Neri prayed each morning, "Be careful of me today, Lord Jesus, I may betray you." Honest saint. 

Under the painting we see St. Luke's version of the Sermon on the Mount. It's very different from St. Matthew's version. Matthew leaves us a back door, a way out. "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Those two words, "in spirit" leaves things amorphous. Remember Tina Turner's 1971, Rollin on the River? (Proud Mary). She begins, "Let's take it from the beginning, nice and easy." Americans love easy—the easy listening radio channel, recipes that are easy, gadgets and chemicals that make housework easy, fabrics that are easy-care. Well, there's nothing easy about the teaching of St. Luke's Jesus: "Blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep...and woe to you who are rich, who are full now, who laugh now, who are well-respected."

Jesus has a different world view—God's worldview. It is an inversion of the greedy, planet ravishing culture we live in—the culture, the nation that can't stop professing its greatness. I opened up a dumpster the other day to get rid of a bag of kitchen garbage and found on top of the trash-mountain two antique brass fireplace andirons and a half dozen brand new kitchen rugs. Only in a country of super abundance ("You who are rich) do people throw away things like this.

Reading St. Luke's version of the Beatitudes—we could say, "Oh yes, God DOES have favorites. God favors the poor, the hungry, the ones who weep—trapped in crushing poverty." Some people have no idea (and don't want to know) of the world's deepest poverty—some of which is in our own nation. We just keep consuming and polluting. Coming back up the center church aisle, after saying good-bye to the folks at the door, a man (who had been waiting for me) stepped out into the aisle, blocking my way. He said, "I am so tired of hearing about them." "Who's them?" I asked. "The poor," he said. "But I didn't even mention the poor in the homily today. My text is on the pulpit; let's go look and you can show me precisely what's bothered you." Talk about an angry and raw place. Why aren't we familiar with Luke's version of the Beatitudes? 

I'd suggest that as important as charity is—that we have some special cause(s) to which we send money—St. Luke's Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount require the privileged Christian disciple to have a complete change of mind. "But we have the mind of Christ," St. Paul says, 1 Corinthians 2:16. It is change-of-mind-religion that leaves people uncomfortable. 

"Woe" is a very serious and strong word and Jesus knows what he's saying. To be perfectly honest, there have been times when I have been tempted to despair of Christianity: I don't often meet Christ-followers, Christ-professors, who allow Jesus to change their minds. Or, I am stupefied that their mind-changing is in a confounding, even horrifying direction. They allow themselves to be "fed" by persons other than Christ. They don't see themselves or hear themselves.

I can only imagine what Pope Francis experiences—whose enemies are more likely to be found within the Church than outside. And among them, sometimes there are priests.

"He came down with them..."

Here is contemporary artist Rick Ahlvers' Rembrandt-inspired painting of Christ Preaching. Both he and Rembrandt may have had Luke 6:17-19 in mind when setting out ~

17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Luke 6:17-19

Verse 17: Maybe  you'll remember the previous scene where Jesus is up on the mountain and from there he chooses his twelve apostles. Now, he has come down from there to a level place. He "levels the playing field" we might say. Everyone is on the same level. There is no above and below. No dais. No podium or pulpit. No one-step-above anyone else. This is ultimately a heart place, isn't it? There's a lot of looking down in our world, and our country is not free of this flaw.

Furthermore,  we're told that a large crowd of disciples was there. We usually think disciple means follower. But that's too passive. A disciple is one who wants to learn. And this learning isn't a mind-affair, as if I have more teaching to stuff into my mind or another must-read book to get through. "You need to read this book; it'll set you straight." But rather, what does my heart need to learn from Christ? That's the question a disciple-wannabe asks.

Then Luke tells us where these folks are from: "all over Judea, from Jerusalem and the coast of Tyre and Sidon." In other words, there were all kinds of people from seemingly everywhere. Not just Jews. The gospel writer, Luke, isn't a AAA member or an ancient GPS — Jesus welcomes people from every inner geography.  

Verse 18: All that's needed is the desire to hear and to be healed. Jesus doesn't ask qualifying questions, but he knows human hearts where they are weak, or broken. "I'm heart sick," a grieved person might say. Not a few people (especially young ones) have given up  even stepping inside a Christian church because they dread being assessed, mentally hassled or queried. There is an epidemic of loneliness in our country — people feeling rejected, dismissed and judged. Maybe we should expand the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick to explicitly include the heart-sick.

Verse 18 by extension: "Those troubled by evil spirits were cured." Why do we jump  to the words evil spirits? And how limited our understanding of evil spirits is.  How about putting the emphasis on the word troubled. "Those who were troubled were cured." Isn't that all of us? What troubled times we're living in — all the death, violence, anger, hate, exhaustive stress, addiction and compulsion? This is humankind in its deepest need of a cure.

Verse 19: The word "all" appears twice in this verse alone. Add "all over" from verse 17 and that makes three times. ALL. I saw a lawn sign the other day that read: "Wherever you are from, we want you to feel at home in this neighborhood."  There's a Mass hymn titled "All Are Welcome." Are they? Really? Do we have to agree about everything before we realize this ALL? God has a human heart, voice, face and touch in Jesus Christ. How is it that we have come to such a shrinking of this Christ — making his spiritual way into a battlefield of sniffing out sin and heresy? These three verses should shock us.

Oh Jesus, 

step down 

 into the level place of my heart-mind

 that you shock me

 into some new awareness,

 some change that alters me —

grows me up utterly.

This sounds like a dare, Jesus,

but I need to ask it of you,

if I am to be counted

 among the ones who call themselves

disciple.

Duccio's Meeting the Risen Jesus on the Road to Emmaus

Duccio's Maesta Altarpiece contains nine images related to Christ's Resurrection and the subsequent appearances of the Risen Jesus. Here is his depiction of the Gospel Account of the Apostles Meeting the Risen Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. 

The story is recounted in Luke 24:13-35. Could I suggest getting your bible out and having another look at the story. Someone might think, "Oh I already know that story." Read it again anyway, but pray this prayer first:

Risen Jesus,

I have broken open my gospel book,

like the breaking open of good bread,

because your nourishing word is there for me.

Wake me up, Jesus, to some word, some phrase, 

that's waiting to jump out and seize me

in some fresh way.

I want my heart to burn

 like the apostles burned with love for you,

 along my own Emmaus way.

That this story takes place along a road signals it is a story about transitioning—moving from here to there. But the movement is interior and spiritual. When I grasp this idea, then I have moved form being an admirer to being a disciple. A disciple is one who sets out to learn.

Duccio emphasizes this transition idea by having two kinds of pavement. The first, where the apostles meet Jesus, is a rough cobblestone road. Then, the road leading into the house, where they will go to stay with Jesus, is a smooth, herringbone patterned, paved road. 

The city of Emmaus is styled after any important Medieval city Duccio would have known. He has also depicted Jesus in the outfit of a typical pilgrim of his own day: staff, wide-brimmed hat, pouch and rough clothing. This is one of a number of times when the Risen Jesus is not recognized—remember Magdalene thinking Jesus was the gardener on Easter morning (John 20:1-18). Jesus isn't a resuscitated corpse; there is something new about him.

Ostensibly, the journey is to Emmaus, but what is it really? It is the journey of the soul coming to discover the Risen Christ. And this discovery happens gradually. This conversation of the apostles with Jesus happens over some time, doesn't it? Coming to know Christ is a gradual movement from spiritual infancy to a mature faith. Mature faith isn't the same as knowing a catechism inside-out or having the answer to every question.  That's not the same as knowing the Risen One.

Notice that the journey starts in a very human place. That's where life in Christ begins, in the human place. After all, God has gone to a great deal of trouble to come to be with us in the human place. This is the Incarnation.

These two apostles model for us how to come to Christ. Listen to them. They go on at length, sharing their disappointment. Maybe they were full of regrets for having missed so much of what Jesus had taught. But Jesus listens patiently and then puts his finger on it, telling them they are "foolish and sluggish of heart."

Then, (a good bible translation will tell us), Jesus opened  up the scriptures. Just as Jesus wants an opening up for you and for me too. Can you name a time in your life when you felt Christ really opened you up to something importantly new? Something so new you weren't your old self anymore. Something akin to the apostles, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke on the way...?"

Then the apostles make the right request, "Stay with us." And Jesus responds. His answer is the broken bread—the Eucharistic Way. But the Eucharist isn't my personal "trip" with Jesus—it is for our transformation. When the bread is broken, they recognize Jesus and get up. It is as if they are experiencing their own resurrection. The text says, "Rising up the same hour they went back to Jerusalem and found the eleven." Wow!  They are new people. They are encouraged, with enlightened minds and enkindled hearts. They're energized and become sharers. 

Pope Benedict has said, "A Christian is a heart that sees and is moved." A Christian is a heart—a heart that sees? That sees Christ. That sees God's presence in my life story. That sees the wonders that are all around me. That sees the sufferers near and far (I am dismayed by Christians who don't know what's happening in the world). A heart that sees and is moved. Moved to what or where? Moved to compassion, openness, creativity, that moves out of the consumerist bubble-world we're encouraged to live in, to encounter. 

Jesus' All-Night-Vigil and Choosing Apostles

12 Now it happened in those days that he went onto the mountain to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them 'apostles': 14 Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon  called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor. Luke 6:12-16

Here's the Gospel text that inspired Domenico Ghirlandaio's painting, The Summoning of the Twelve Apostles. The fresco, painted in 1481-82, is found in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican. Jesus stands at the head of the winding Sea of Galilee. And while large  crowds to left and right have followed Jesus, Peter (in yellow) and Andrew (in green) kneel before him to accept his commission and receive his blessing.  

Behind Jesus, seen along the shore, are two sub-scene reminders of Jesus calling these fishermen to discipleship. A disciple is one who presents himself (herself) to learn. An apostle is one who is sent out.

In less than a minute of viewing the painting, I asked, "But where are the women?" Jesus had women disciples. I found them way over on the left side where a man in blue is talking with them. I wonder if these are the women who will persevere in love after Jesus is buried hurriedly, who will return to the tomb on Easter morning and then act as apostles to the apostles, telling the men of Jesus' rising?

Ghirlandaio's reputation as a landscape artist is on full display here. He shows all of creation witnessing the calling of the Twelve—the morning sky is alive with light and dark, the birds zoom in, the trees are lush, the hills and mountains shape the river. The Gospel verses are short, only five, but there's a great deal to learn.

Verse 12: Jesus has moved away from the towns and villages of the previous accounts, now to the mountain, where he goes to pray through the night. Notice we're told "the" mountain, so Luke must have had a particular one in mind. Was it Mount Horeb? Mount Tabor? 

Whenever Jesus has an important decision to make, we're told he first goes off to be alone in solitary prayer. There are lots of people who approach their big decisions this way, if not going off to a mountain, at least setting aside some time and place that honors their interior life.

Verse 13: Jesus has prayed through the night, and now it is morning. A new day! Something is changing. During that long night, did Jesus envision you, me, as persons who would one day profess an apostolic faith—a faith that doesn't stay closed up in a building, but which goes out to others.

Verses 14-16: Luke's list of names doesn't coincide with the names recorded in Matthew and Mark, or even the second list he offers in the Acts of the Apostles. We needn't spend time distracting ourselves, worrying and debating this. Let others do that. Maybe different, early Christian communities had different representatives. But it is interesting that the name of the betrayer, Judas Iscariot, is included in each list: "Oh Jesus, suffer me not to be separated from thee, from the malignant enemy defend me..."

But It's Not Really About The Withered Hand

6 Now on another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach, and a man was present, and his right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him to see if he would cure somebody on the Sabbath, hoping to find something to charge him with. 8 But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man with the withered hand, 'Get  up and stand out in the middle!' And he came forward and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, 'I put it to you; is it permitted on the Sabbath to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to destroy it?' 10 Then he looked around at them all and said to the man, 'Staretch out your hand,' He did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. Luke 6:6-11

Verse 6: This is the second trouble-on-the-Sabbath story. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, which is the local Jewish gathering house for prayer, instruction and study. Was the man with the useless hand in attendance because he knew Jesus was in there and would be helpful? Or is he in the synagogue because he's a regular worshipper? We don't know.  Notice the gospel tells us it's the man's right hand that's withered. That means he can't work.

Verse 7: The religious officials were watching Jesus. They are suspicious and on the look out to see how Jesus will offend the Sabbath laws. Observing the Sabbath - filled with suspicions!

Verse 8: "But he knew their thoughts."  Jesus isn't a mind reader, more likely he knew they were up to no good because they followed him around and regularly spoke to him in testy ways. But this doesn't stop Jesus; he isn't afraid of them. The rest of the verse might suggest he even baits them, inviting the hand-crippled man to "stand up here in the middle."

Verse 9: Now it's plain to see, Jesus is setting them up. He asks them the essential question. Are we allowed to do good on the Sabbath...save life?   Notice that the leaders don't answer. Jesus often teaches people by asking probing questions. 

Verse 10: Jesus looked all around the circle. We can imagine he made eye-contact. We're told he looked around at them all. His message is for everyone. We've missed the mark if we think the teaching of Jesus is for someone else—Them. We witness the invitation of Jesus: "Stretch out your hand," and healing follows at once. But notice: as when Jesus heals the lepers, he's restoring people who had previously been marginalized. Now he restores a man who can't work - who's unemployable.  

When you've got work, you've got your dignity. A lot of people are denied their dignity in our world today. The Christians - the ones who know this story - ought to be the experts in helping people to realize their dignity. But instead, we're often the excluders, who don't want to see or know them, let along invite them in. It's the major complaint many people make when leaving the Church.

Verse 11: But they were furious.  Not a very holy Sabbath. Anger, even fury, can be a real Sabbath spoiler. Maybe folks furious about the homily they heard that morning. My goodness: I remember as a boy the pastor standing at the pulpit one Sunday and addressing a congregation of hundreds after the local police reported to him that many of the parishioners cursed at them for not getting the cars out of the parking lot fast enough. The Holy Host barely swallowed!

And these scribes and Pharisees put their furious heads together to talk about what to do with Jesus - which means how they could get rid of him. He was rocking the boat.  I was at a priest meeting and the bishop said that Tuesday was the heaviest mail day - piles of angry letters written and posted on Sunday and delivered to the chancery by Tuesday. Or the angry men who walk out of homilies. I've never seen a woman walk out of a homily. What's that about?

I'm smiling now, but when I was newly ordained, the pastor called me into his office and read a letter of complaint he'd received about me. For forty years I've ended homilies with the little Franciscan phrase, "And in all of these things the Holy Spirit enlighten our hearts and our minds. Amen."  This angry complainer made his case to the pastor against me and finished off saying, "May the Holy Spirit enlighten your heart and your mind as to what to do with this young man."

But for all of my ignorance and inexperience as a new priest, I knew my task in the pulpit wasn't to make us comfortable. Jesus may have comforted the handicapped man, but the miracle wasn't about him really, was it?  We might say Jesus is something of a provocateur. Will I allow it?

Jesus in the Cornfield

1 One Sabbath day, as Jesus happened to be passing through the cornfields, his disciples began picking the ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. 2 Some of the Pharisees remarked, "Why are you doing what the Law forbids men to do on the Sabbath day?" 3 Jesus answered them and said, "Have you never read what David and his men did when they were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God, took the presentation loaves, ate some bread himself and gave some to those with him, even though the Law does not permit anyone except the priests to eat it." 5 Then he added, "The Son of Man is master even of the Sabbath. Luke 6:1-5

Verse 1: Here we go again, "One Sabbath day..." Those words alert us: there's trouble up ahead. We know Jesus is going to do something that's going to irk someone with regard to Sabbath law. Here they are, Jesus and his friends, minding their own business, having a nice Sabbath walk, and they're hungry. They pick some corn along the roadside (interesting no one will charge them with stealing), which they rub between their hands to loosen up the kernels, which they then pop into their mouths.

Now we might stop for a moment and get hold of ourselves. Not a few Catholics, including priests, like to poke fun of the Jews for having so many rules (613) governing just about every aspect of religious living. But let's be honest: the Catholic Code of Canon Law has 1,752 laws! The 1917 Code of Canon Law contained 2,414 laws! So let's stop making fun of the Jews - we've got them beat by miles.

Verse 2:  Here, the self-appointed or sent-from-Jerusalem religion-police appear. We can imagine them watching Jesus from a distance along the walk or hiding in the cornfield observing. Suddenly they spring out and accuse Jesus with, get ready, harvesting, which is a Sabbath-forbidden work. All religions can be reduced to extroverted observances. It takes real self-awareness to detect how we may have drifted off into that spiritually empty place.

Verses 3,4: But Jesus is brilliant. He knows their game and answers their question with a question. That's a tool any good teacher uses to bring students to deeper insight. He's talking to serious religious observers, so of course they're going to know the David story. In the Book of Exodus, God laid out in fine detail how all the furniture, vestments, curtains and coverings for the Jerusalem temple were to be made. We might think God had more important things to do, but there it is. And in the most holy, interior place of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, where only the priests were allowed to enter, there was a golden table where loaves of bread were left as an offering to God. I expect the bread was kept fresh and changed everyday. David and his friends were apparently hungry one day and ate that God-bread.

Verse 5: Jesus wraps up the short conversation with this mysterious saying, referring to himself as Son of Man. This isn't a claim of divinity, but sounds more like a claim to being one with humanity. Either way, Jesus does claim to be master over the Sabbath. Some translations say, LORD, of the Sabbath. Lord is an Easter title for Jesus. We might then understand this verse to mean something like, "I am over the Sabbath." And if Jesus is over the Sabbath, then he's the one who can determine what matters most about the Sabbath. And that can easily be overlooked. The rule was "broken" because people were hungry. Some people don't make the connection. But doesn't Jesus establish feeding the hungry as an essential and even pre-eminent act of religion? Matthew 25.

Jesus Calls Levi To Discipleship

The Apostle Matthew ~ El Greco ~ 1610-1614

27 Later on, Jesus went out and looked straight at a tax-collector called Levi, as he sat in his office. "Follow me," he said to him. 28 And he got to his feet, left everything behind and followed him. 29 Then Levi gave a big reception for Jesus in his own house, and  there was a great crowd of tax-collectors and others at table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their companions the scribes kept grumbling about him to Jesus' disciples, saying, "Why do you have your meals with tax-collectors and sinners?" 31 Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come with an invitation for the 'just' but for the 'sinners'- to repentance. Luke 5:27-32

The next one called by Jesus to discipleship is Levi. In any gospel list naming the apostles, there is no mention of a Levi. Scholars debate if this is Matthew. We let them argue it out.

Verse 27: Notice that Jesus went out and looked straight at the tax-collector. It sounds as if Jesus has honed in on Levi. But Levi carries a lot of baggage - he's a Jew who collects taxes from his fellow Jews for the occupying Roman Empire or for Herod, who was a phony Jew - Caesar's puppet. Jesus kind of barges in on this corrupted guy and speaks only two words - "Follow me."

Verse 28: In response to Jesus, Levi doesn't question, doesn't argue, doesn't call the police to get rid of the intruder. Instead, he's on his feet and leaves everything behind to follow Jesus. But what does everything mean? I'd suggest it's easier to leave material things behind than some inner treasured agenda. Maybe Christ is hoping for me to leave behind some ideology that doesn't expand me to serve God's purposes of informed justice or compassion. Over four decades I've met more than a few Christians who I sense would find it easier to leave behind bank books than their precious ideological loyalties. 

Verse 29,30: This dinner party is a recipe for disaster as the guest list is made up of religiously unsavory types and the morality police. These guys, who sniff out what's un-approved, talk negatively about Jesus to his disciples. They must have known the criticisms would get back to him. Troublemakers.

Verse 31: But Jesus answers for himself. He doesn't respond to the critical questions by sending the disciples back to the objectors. "It's not the healthy who need the doctor." Was Jesus speaking tongue in cheek? They think they alone are spiritually healthy. I'm thinking of Pope Francis likening the Church to a field hospital. A field hospital is found amidst the disaster, the damage and the ruins.

Verse 32: Jesus gives us his idea of religion's purpose - to call persons to repentance. But repentance doesn't mean beating myself up over past mistakes, rather, turning inwardly, to face a new direction. Repentance is on-going, not once and for all. "Today, I will light a candle in the darkness." "Today, I will find my way to some new awareness and heart response." "Today, I will give up some old objection or self-protecting agenda." 

Jesus Heals the Paralyzed Man Inside and Out

17 One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in the Law were sitting near him. They had come out of every village in Galilee and Judaea as well as from Jerusalem. 18 The Lord's power to heal people was with him. Soon some men arrived carrying a paralytic on a small bed and they kept trying to carry him in to put him down in front of Jesus. 19 When they failed to find a way of getting him in because of the dense crowed, they went up on to the top of the house and let him down, bed and all, through the tiles, into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, "My friend, your sins are forgiven."

21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to argue about this, saying, "Who is his man who talks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins? Only God can do that." 22 Jesus realized what was going on in their minds and spoke straight to them. "Why must you argue like this in your minds? 23 Which do you suppose is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven' or  to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But to make you realize that the Son of Man has full authority on earth to forgive sins - I tell you," he said to the man who was paralyzed, "Get up, pick up your bed and go home!"

25 Instantly the man sprang to his feet before their eyes, picked up the bedding on which he used to lie, and went off home, praising God. 26 Sheer amazement gripped every man present, and they praised God and said in awed voices, "We have seen incredible things today." (Luke 5:17-26)

This sensitive painting was created by the young American artist, J. Kirk Richards. We might imagine we are sitting in the circular room, or looking in through a large window similar to the one on the opposite side. That's precisely what classic Christian meditation does - I enter and take up my place in the Gospel scene. 

Verse 17: These religious "experts" have been sent from headquarters. They do not love Jesus; they do not want his friendship. They are suspicious men, looking to catch Jesus either breaking a law or teaching unapproved theologies.

Verse 18: "The Lord's power to heal people was with him (Jesus). Maybe the first ones who need to be healed are these religious guys. We can lose sight of this, thinking that it's always the "others" who need the healing. 

And what wonderful friends this paralyzed man had. They are un-named; we don't know who they were. They understand an essential thing: we live to help and comfort others.

Verse 19: What determination - ripping open the tile roof through which they lowered their friend down before Jesus. A missionary priest was driving his jeep up into the mountains of Central America to celebrate the First Communion Day Mass for a group of seven year olds in a far flung community. But the river was so swollen and fast moving, the priest was unable to drive across where he was to meet the children and their families. So the dads made a human chain across the furious river and passed the little ones up in the air, one dad to the other, until everyone was safely delivered to the other side, where the priest offered the First Communion Mass. What determination - to get children to the Mass for this encounter with Christ. 

Verse 20: This is interesting: Jesus gave the paralyzed man the gift of forgiveness based on the faith of the friends who carried him. That's not what he wanted, but Jesus knew better.  The man's real need or problem was an interior one. But he was unable to walk! What kind of sins could he have possibly committed? We don't know. All we can do is come to know ourselves better.

Verse 21: The  Pharisees and "experts" get sniffy that Jesus has forgiven sins. Unattractive, isn't it?

Verse 22:  I love this line: "Jesus knew what was going on in their minds." The Pharisees are not not happy. Pity the person who doesn't find joy in his or her religion. Jesus doesn't give them a pass, but calls them out on it - so much fussing about things that are not essential.

Verses 23, 24: Jesus performs the outer wonder to draw attention to the real and deeper wonder, which is interior. Wonder! Have we lost it: wonder before God, about the gift of life, about beauty, about the treasure which is the planet-gift we've been given?

Verses 25,26: The paralyzed man has received a double gift: forgiveness and new legs. Healed inside-out, he goes off free, as if dancing. The crowd echoes the joy - everyone is filled with awe and gratitude. This is the spiritual life: wide-awake awe, wonder, praises, thanks - at least an interior dance before the incredible delights and gifts of God.  

Wonder, thanks and praise: It is nearly 7:00 P.M. in the middle of August. The sun is lowering just a bit. I can see the harbor through the trees, which are moving after the big rain. The water is reflecting light, like diamonds. 

The Allure of Jesus' Teaching

One day the people were crowding closely around Jesus to hear God's message, as he stood on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Jesus noticed two boats drawn up on the beach, for the fishermen had left them there while they were cleaning their nets. He went aboard one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to push out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and continued his teaching of the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out now into deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon replied, "Master! We've worked all night and never caught a thing, but if you say so, I'll let the nets down." 

And when they had done this, they caught an enormous shoal of fish - so big that the nets began to tear. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both the boats to sinking point. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Keep  away from me, Lord, for I'm only a sinful man!" For he and his companions (including Zebedee's sons, James and John, Simon's partners) were staggered at the haul of fish they had made.

Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid, Simon. From now on your catch will be men." So they brought the boats ashore and left everything and followed him. Luke 5:1-11

This painting by the 14th century Sienese artist, Duccio di Bouninsegna, is a detail of a much larger image of Jesus teaching. It is lovely, isn't it? The gentle, direct gaze of Jesus, his animated hands, the golden sparks of divine light radiating through his clothes!  And the gospel...

Verses 1,2: The crowd has gathered at the sea to hear the word of God which Jesus offers. It's a poetic image: the people want to be caught up in the "fisherman's net" of Christ's teaching. 

Verse 3: Notice that Jesus gets into Peter's boat without even introducing himself or asking permission. He's in charge. He lets Peter hear what he has to say. Jesus trusts the allure of God's word will win Simon Peter's heart. Introductions will come later. Notice too that Jesus sits in the boat. It is the ancient posture of teaching with authority. The little boat becomes Jesus' pulpit. The water will carry his voice in a practical way, but more than that, it is an image of a voice that is clear and authoritative. 

Many people think that preaching is a priest or deacon's prerogative, or that pulpits are for church buildings. I don't think Jesus would agree - the witness of a life lived in God's justice, compassion and love is the best sermon. We could do with more of that today in a world of too much talking.

Verse 4: Here Jesus speaks to Peter directly and alone (singularly) to move the boat out into deep water. But "lower your nets" is plural. Maybe the plural directive is aimed at us who live more than two thousand years later. Put out into the deep: Beyond the safe margins of my own little life. I like this prayer to the Mother of God which seems to ask for that freedom to move beyond my own shallow thinking.

"O Lady, grant me compunction and contrition of heart, humility in my thoughts and a release from the slavery of my own reasonings."

Verses 5-8: These men have been fishing all night, in the dark of unknowing. They have nothing to show for their efforts. But Jesus takes them into the light of his word, the daylight, his new illuminating teaching. And with that, Peter realizes his littleness (not a list of sins) but his vulnerability, his un-evolvement, his shapeless life, his emptiness that only Jesus will fill.

Notice that Peter had originally called Jesus Master but now he calls him Lord. This is an Easter title. A disciple is one who allows himself/herself to be taught. The Christian disciple is eager to be taught by Jesus who is sparked with divinity. 

Verses 9-10:  I think it was the kindness of Jesus that Peter found so attractive. Jesus said, "Don't be afraid." How kind was that in a world of empire: Occupying Roman soldiers all heavily armored, policing everyone. There's an awful lot of un-kindness on this planet: blaming, ridicule, name-calling, labeling, the resource grab, climbing over people, big talk, threats, power display. We can experience this at home, at work, in the Church, in government and among the nations. It isn't Christ's way.

Verse 11: They left everything. Another translation says, They left all. It could be that they left their families, or the boats and equipment. But the Gospel is a spiritual way, inviting us, the world's biggest consumers, using most of the world's resources, to live more simply. Pope Francis models and invites us to this Christ-mind. But to leave all? Maybe to leave all the resentments behind? Leave all the ignorance behind? Leave political ideology behind. Many people have their politics as their real religion. Their real gospel page is their party platform affiliation. Pope Pius XII (Pope 1939-1958)) said: "Never make a man choose between his Church and his country. He will almost always choose his country." 

Pius said this fully aware of the stupid men of his day and their adoring disciples - the power figures, mugging and posturing for camera and crowd. 

On Each One Of Them Separately

Then, as the sun was setting, all those who had friends suffering from every kind of disease brought them to Jesus and he laid his hands on each one of them separately and healed them. Evil spirits came out of many of these people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he spoke sharply to them and would not allow them to say any more, for they knew perfectly well that he was Christ.  Luke 4:40,41

Verse 40: This ends the "Day in the Life of Jesus at Capernaum."  It has been a Sabbath day, and so all of this healing will not go down well with those who see it as forbidden work.

Notice the first words of the gospel verse: "As the sun was setting." Much of what we do that matters (even matters a lot) has to take place within a certain time frame: a marriage license is good for so many days, the New York Stock Exchange takes place between opening and closing bells, prescriptions are good for so many refills and the meds taken at certain times. But God's action isn't bound or regulated by any earthly understanding of time. Just when everything is supposed to stop and be wrapped up for the day, as the sun is setting, Jesus is surrounded by crowds who go away healed and whole.

Notice this too: "He laid his hands on each of them separately." In Christ there is God's interface with each human person. No big waving of his arm over the masses, but God responding to each individual. Someone asked Mother Teresa of Calcutta about her method. "One, one, one," she said. I expect she'd say Jesus taught her that.

Verse 41: The malign spirits know that Jesus is divine. Here again,  they declare it. They know who he is, even if we often don't, or are afraid to say it because it's gone out of fashion. One senior priest told me that in his religious order there were priests who didn't say the name of Jesus because it isn't considered manly. Wow! Imagine telling an evangelical preacher-man not to use the name of Jesus because it made him look delicate!

Finally, Jesus tells the expunged evil spirits not to speak further. But why? They're not in charge; Jesus is. There are lots of folks, even self-roclaimed religious devotees, who aren't quite sure.

Jesus, take charge of my life, especially the thoughts of my heart.