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REVIEW OF OUR LAST LESSON:
“Walking with the Word” is the name of our scripture program. We are studying the “Gospel of Luke”.
In our previous session, Luke chapters 7 and 8, we learned that: The celebration of the Most Holy Eucharist is ALWAYS for the direct HEALING of the soul. And, AS GOD WILLS, the Mass MAY BE the instrument for the direct healing of the human body.
In any event, when we receive the BODY, BLOOD, SOUL and DIVINITY of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is always to the good of our eternal souls and our mortal bodies. The Blessed Sacrament and the Precious Blood work for the longevity of our human lives here on earth.
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THEME FOR TODAY’S LESSON:
Let’s begin today’s “Walking with the Word” Bible study with Luke Chapters 9 and 10. Our theme for today is: MERCY (Lk Ch. 9:23) :
And he said to all, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’
Roman crucifixion in the 1st century was an effective but grotesque form of torture and punishment of convicted criminals. This reality presents us with a question. If Roman crucifixion was brutal and common, how in the world can the cross be a sign of mercy?
The cross is a sign of mercy because Jesus the great high priest chose it as his very own altar. On this altar of his own choosing, the high priest Jesus, himself, was the sacrifice, the “spotless lamb” spoken of in Sacred Scripture. No wonder the Luke’s gospel says, “And all were astonished at the majesty of God”! [Lk 9:43] We’ll return to Luke’s theme of mercy throughout today’s lesson. Our Divine Lesson today may change your life.
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PART 1 OF TODAY’S LESSON (Lk Ch. 9):
For a good look at Jesus’ ministry of MERCY open your Bible to the Gospel of Luke chapter 9, starting with verse 01 . I trust that at this very moment, you have taken up your cross of Divine Mercy, and that you’re willing to surrender yourself to the truth of God’s Word:
Luke 9:1. And (Jesus) called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases,
2. and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal.
In verses 3 – 6, Jesus tells the Twelve to magnify the Gospel and their healing powers by the leaven of personal poverty, as yeast makes the dough of the bread to rise.
In verses 10 – 11, the apostles return from their apostolic mission wearied but jubilant. They tell Jesus about how they healed all those in need. But they don’t want to deal with the crowd that has followed them and Jesus to a deserted place. Jesus, however, does not miss the opportunity to minister to his hungry people.
Lk Ch 9:16. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
17. And all ate and were satisfied. And they took up what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces.
As we discovered in our previous lesson, the biblical number “twelve” has an important spiritual meaning. Almost always, “twelve” refers to things or persons in the sense of completeness, totality, and entirety.
The fact that twelve baskets of bread are left over is a miracle of Divine Mercy. These twelve baskets are a picture that speaks louder than a thousand words. What Jesus is saying is this: I fed this crowd of 5,000 men, but I have enough bread left over to feed every person in the entire world throughout all of human history, until I return again in glory.
Divine Mercy humbles himself by making himself edible. We eat the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, in other words, the true presence of Divine Mercy. By consuming the flesh and blood of Divine Mercy, you are made merciful. You become the chalice of Divine Mercy, the paten (plate) of Divine Mercy by which the sacrifice of Christ the High Priest and Spotless Lamb is offered to the hungry world.
Ch 9:18. Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?" (Peter answers by saying) “The Christ of God”. [Lk 9:20]
From what we have learned, and without exaggeration, we may answer as well, “You are the Divine Mercy of God.”
Luke Ch 9:23. And he said to all, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.
The Bible teaches us about the “cross of Christ”. Is there such a thing as a “cross of this world”? Yes, there is such a thing as the “cross of this world”. But the “cross of this world” is not the same thing as the “cross of Christ”.
Like the cross of Christ, the cross of this world is certainly a cross of suffering. But here’s the difference. While the cross of Christ is redemptive and therefore life-giving, the cross of this world is the ultimate experience of dread, futility and death.
Notice that when Jesus says, Take up your cross and follow me, he is not saying, Take up my cross. Jesus says, Take up your cross. Jesus Christ—the merciful priest and merciful sacrifice—chose the merciful altar of his cross to reconcile man to God and to throw open the doors of heaven. He doesn’t want you to carry his cross. He wants you to carry your cross. And your cross is not the “cross of the world” (disease, heartbreak, joblessness, bad luck, death, rejection, disappointment and the like). The Christian cross that you pick up each day is Divine Mercy and only Divine Mercy.
If the cross is a sign of mercy, then does our understanding of mercy need to change? You need to take to heart Jesus words in Matthew’s gospel:
For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [Mt 6:14-15]
Notice how the matter of reconciliation is a kind of covenant between persons. One person is you. The other person is God. If you do “thus and so”, God will do “thus and so”. In other words, what God does is dependent on what you do.
“If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you”. [Mt 6 :14]
But if you break your part of the “covenant of mercy”, God is released from his part. And the word “release” isn’t the half of it. God is not only released from forgiving you if you don’t forgive others, GOD ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT FORGIVE YOU IF YOU WILL NOT FORGIVE OTHERS.
Do you doubt what I am saying? Then go the epistle of St. James in the New Testament, chapter 2 verse 13: “For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.” So what needs to change in your understanding of what mercy means? You need to throw out your assumptions that God is bound to show you mercy:
-no matter how you offend him or others.
-even if you refuse to show others mercy.
-even if you forgive some persons but not others.
Lk Ch 9:28. Now...he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.
29. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.... 35. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"
If you humble yourself by admitting that your sin has made you spiritually sick, then take the medicine Jesus Christ the Divine Physician prescribes for you:
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. [Lk 9:23]
Take up your cross of Divine Mercy and always and everywhere forgive those who sin against you. Take up your cross and follow the Divine Physician who took his own medicine. He carried the cross that has redeemed the world!.
In Lk 9:38-42, Jesus laments the lack of faith in his generation, even the lack of faith of his apostles: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you?” [v. 41] Indeed, his apostles argue with each other about which of them is greatest. [Lk 9:46-48]:
Lk 9:47. But when Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side, 48. and said to them, "Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who is great."
Chapter 9, verses 57-62 of Luke’s gospel concludes with a lamentation of Christ who mourns the inconstancy of the human heart and the almost impossible burdens of his ministry.
You can hear the anguish in his voice as he acknowledges that, in many ways, he remains a stranger to Israel and to those he is trying to help:
And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. [Lk 9:58]
The day was fast approaching when the Roman soldiers would grant Our Lord his wish. They would give him a cross on which to lay his head.
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PART 2 OF TODAY’S LESSON (Lk Ch. 10):
Let’s begin Chapter 10. In verses 1 – 20, Luke continues to emphasize his theme of MERCY. Our Lord chooses 70 disciples to further his mission of reconciliation and healing.
Lk 10:2. And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Our Lord Jesus Christ needs faithful men and women to labor for the sake of Divine Mercy. The great harvest of souls is waiting. If, as St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans Chapter 5 verse 20—where sin increases, grace abounds all the more (para.)—there exists a multitude of people whose sins need to be forgiven.
Our Lord Jesus needs an army of priests and men and women in religious life to carry out his work of divine mercy. Divine Mercy is so intimate, so personal, so close to the tender expressions of the human heart, that it requires men and women to carry it like fire into the darkened world. Divine Mercy is shared by word of mouth, by loving hearts, by active, confident and skilled hands, by evangelists and missionaries who know how to take up their crosses each day and follow Christ.
In verses 3 – 9, Our Lord tells the seventy others he appoints to ministry what he told the twelve apostles. He tells them to magnify the power of the Gospel and the Spirit’s healing work by the leaven of their personal poverty.
In verses 10 -20, Jesus expresses in different ways the hard truth of his gospel, saying:
He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. [Lk 10:16]
(Recall in Lk 9:51-56, how the Samaritan village rejected Jesus because his face was set toward Jerusalem. [Lk 9:53] The Lord refused to allow his apostles to entertain thoughts of revenge.)
Whatever the gospel may bring, whether prosperity or poverty, acceptance or rejection, safety or martyrdom, rejoice that your names are written in heaven. [Lk 10:20]
In Luke chapter 10, verses 29-37, we encounter the well-known parable of the good Samaritan, second only in popularity to the story of the Prodigal Son. Chapter 10 ends with Martha’s plea to Jesus to make her sister Mary help her with the work of hospitality. Both these stories reveal expressions of suffering. The story of the Good Samaritan is the story of cruel, undeserved suffering. The story of Martha reveals suffering that arises from sacrifice and service.
The parable of the Good Samaritan begins with a question put to Jesus by a man educated in the Law of Moses: And who is my neighbor? [Lk 10:29] The story of Martha and Mary begins with Martha’s complaint to Jesus: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?" [Lk 10:40]
Notice how the conclusion of each of these two stories reveals a moment of mercy. The neighbor to the man who was attacked on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was the Samaritan:
The one who showed mercy... [Lk 10:37]
Lk 10:33. (The good Samaritan) had compassion,
34. and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.'
The sister who chose the better portion was not Martha, but Mary. Mary chose to love and learn at the feet of Divine Mercy, the better portion. The Lord, himself, acknowledged Mary’s unique call to discipleship when he said to Martha,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” [Lk 10:41-42]
By all means, unite your sufferings—whatever they might be—to the glory of the cross: the eternal altar of the high priest who is the spotless lamb. But God doesn’t want you to take up the “cross of this world”.
God doesn’t want you to carry the world’s cross of disease or joblessness or futility or fear or dread or death or any other hardship for which Satan alone is responsible. As I have said, whatever your sufferings might be, unite them to the cross of Christ. If you have committed them to the redemptive power of the eternal cross of Christ, then for heaven’s sake, you don’t need to carry them as your own cross.
No, your own cross is not given to you by the world. Your cross is given to you by Christ and Christ alone. Therefore your cross is the cross of Divine Mercy. So whether you suffer or you don’t suffer, your cross is always Divine Mercy. You are to do, in your own small world, with you own small cross, what Christ did for the great big world with his great big cross. Divine Mercy (and here we speak of Jesus Christ who said I AM) acted to bring redemption to the world buy throwing open the doors of heaven which were formerly shut to one and all.
Jesus says, “Go, and do likewise.” [Lk 11:37] By carrying your own little cross of Divine Mercy, you always and everywhere forgive others by throwing open the doors to your heart:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock (says the Lord); if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. [Rev 3:20]
What is Jesus talking about, but your heart and his Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. When you eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood, you are feasting on Divine Mercy. [Jn 6]
(THEREFORE) if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. [Mt 5:23-24]
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RECAP:
What has God hidden from the powerful and arrogant? By his gracious will, what has he revealed to mere children? [cf. Lk 10: 21-24] What God has revealed to his spiritual children is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What he has hidden from the powerful and arrogant (the self-righteous) is Divine Mercy.
Consider Jesus’ words recorded in John’s gospel, Chapter 10:18. He talks about the sacrifice of his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity on the cross: “No one takes it from me, (here, Jesus is talking about himself as the true lamb of sacrifice) but I lay it down of my own accord. (Laying it down refers to the altar of the cross.) I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father." (Power refers to Jesus’ high priesthood which he received from his heavenly Father.)
A sacrifice to God is always and forever needed because God is God. A sacrifice is a valuable gift worth giving to God as a sign of praise. A worthy sacrifice gives glory to God. A worthy sacrifice expresses gratitude for all the graces and blessings we have received. The greatest grace and blessing that any person will ever receive is to: 1.) be rescued from the power of sin and death, 2.) be reconciled to the Father of Jesus Christ, and 3.) to be given an eternal place of honor in the Father’s own house, in the Father’s own heavenly kingdom.
Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel:
“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” [Mt 9:13]
Jesus died for sinners. That means you and me. He died that you and I could be forgiven of sins and freed from the power of sin. Jesus Christ the high priest offered his own body and blood in sacrifice on the altar of the cross as the only way by which mankind could throw off the power of hatred and death.
When Jesus says, I desire mercy, he means, I desire the total conversion and free-will gift of your heart. When Jesus says, I do not desire sacrifice (para.), he means, I am your sacrifice. It’s my Body and Blood that YOU need. I do not need your body and blood. But Our Lord does will to want and need the sacrifice of our willing hearts.
The Lord Jesus Christ is himself Divine Mercy. Jesus who is Divine Mercy acts through, with and in Divine Mercy for us. [cf. SACRAMENTARY ] So, who is our high priest? Divine Mercy! Who is the spotless lamb of sacrifice? Divine Mercy! Where has Divine Mercy the high priest and the spotless made his home? On the cross of Divine Mercy!
So Christ who is Divine Mercy commands us to, Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy”. You have learned what I desire mercy means when you understand how Jesus has been merciful to you. You have learned what I desire mercy means when you totally surrender your humanity to Christ. You have learned what I desire mercy means when you take up your cross of Divine Mercy and forgive others as God the Father has forgiven you. You have learned what I desire mercy means when you share the gift and knowledge of Divine Mercy with others by the pure gift of yourself: your holy thoughts, words, and deeds.
Now do you understand what Jesus meant when he said: "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see”? [Lk 10:23-24]
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© Rev. Richard E. Barker 2006
