Luke 6:1-11: Debates
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Today’s reading may be familiar to us – the announcement that the Bridegroom is among us. We hear this and yet so many of us forget or deny that he is here because the work to witness, watch and wait is difficult. The witnessing takes its toll, the watching drains us, the wait seems interminable. And so we retreat to take refuge in the Lord.
Throughout the Gospel stories Jesus is questioned, and often with the aim of entrapping him in an inaccurate statement. We learn much from the consistent way Jesus responds: he 1) asks questions, and he 2) refers to Scripture – and his questioners are all familiar with Scripture. Jesus is engaged in a constant vaivén (Spanish for a “coming and going”) as he wades into conflict and then retreats to recoup and to return to his source – the Father. Jesus is also aware of the fact that many of his questioners are not interested in redemption; but want to persecute and eliminate him. How did he maintain his equanimity? By a constant cycle of witnessing and retreating.
When questioned about why his followers pick grain on the holy resting day, Jesus responds by healing a man with a withered hand. When the Pharisees focus on a narrow point of the Law, Jesus offers a wider, more merciful and loving horizon. When Jesus heals and restores, his enemies become enraged and plot Jesus’ end. And what is Jesus’ response? Does he retaliate with greater might? Does he use harsh words? Does he lecture? No, he heals, he asks questions, he retreats to pray and restore.
Dearest God, remind us every day that you have sent us someone who will show us how to heal, to question, to retreat back to you for restoration. You know our depths. You know our faults. You know our gifts. Remind us that we are yours, that you love us, that you hold us without letting go. Remind us that the constant irritants that prick our eyes and sting our ears are nothing. Remind us that at any moment, in any space, we may withdraw and depart to the mountain to pray and to even spend the night in prayer with you as Jesus did. And, dearest God, thank you . . . Amen.
Adapted from a reflection written on October 15, 2007.
The Noontimes 