The Sunday’s gospel of the ‘Prodigal Son’ is a very rich parable and only appears in the gospel of Luke. For a reflection on this gospel one has multiple points of entry or windows to apprehend all that Jesus is trying to communicate. Parenthetically this tells us the profoundness of the parable as a form of literary genre where multiple meanings are contained in one story and those meanings are ever new and fresh, like a poem is for the reader.
There are two pericopes in today’s gospel. The second is a parable and could be seen as a symbolic commentary on the first pericope. Jesus taught most often in parables. A parable contains metaphors, which communicate a deeper spiritual message. The metaphors Jesus often used to bring forth his teaching were images of farming and growth.
All three synoptic gospels have accounts of the temptations and of Jesus’ transfiguration. What is important to note about todays’ gospel is that all three evangelists precede the account of the Transfiguration with Jesus saying ‘if any want to be a follower of mine they must deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow me’ (Lk 9:23).
Next Sunday is Lent. This Sunday’s gospel could well be a good teaching to usher us into Lent. It reveals Jesus’ remarkable understanding of the human heart and soul. The gospel contains three periscopes and opens with: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit’ (Lk 6:39). We may ponder Jesus’ question with: Who, then, is one who sees? More specifically, who is one who truly sees his or her neighbor? And Jesus gives us this reply using a metaphor: ‘Why do you notice the splinter in your brother or sister’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?’ (Lk 6:41). How do we come to truly see another person? The key in the parable says that we must first look inwardly at our own heart, at all those quick partial judgments that so quickly rule how we see and how we engage another person.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mountain, with His famous Blessings, is usually associated with the Evangelist Matthew, who gives the most elaborated version. But also Luke has his version. According to Luke, Jesus is rather descending into a valley – or at least towards ‘a stretch of level ground’. Though being closer to the earth, it is especially Luke who stresses the hereafter. Jesus speaks his consolation words to all those who appear to be unfortunate in this life: the poor, the hungry, the mourning and the suppressed.
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