GOSPEL READING
THE GOSPEL OF LUKE
Making his way to Jerusalem: Lk 13,22-35
The Narrow Door: 13,22-30
Luke brings together in these verses traditions which are dispersed in Matthew.
Consider how these verses develop from the parables of the kingdom in the preceeding verses.
For verse 25, look at Apoc 3,20. Is there a clue there as to how the early Church would have heard these verses?
For the banquet at the end of time, see Isaiah 25,6-8
Verse 29 echoes Psalm 107,2-3
Look now at my response.
Herod: 13,31-33
These verses are unique to Luke and may have the only positive reference to Pharisees in this Gospel.
Herod is the architypical bad guy of this Gospel. We have met him before, notably 9,7-9, and we will meet him again during Jesus'passion: 23,6-12. If Herod is a fox, where are the chickens?
Yet the main purpose of these verses is what Jesus has to say about himself. Try to state verses 32 and 33 in your own words - remembering the context of verse 22.
This then leads into a lament over Jerusalem in the last two verses of the chapter. This continues the theme of rejection, see for example the problems of Jeremiah (Jer 26).
The Old Testament prefers an eagle to a hen (Dt 32,11-12), see also Ps 91,4.
For verse 35, see Psalm 118,26 and also Lk 19,38.
Look now at my response.
The Sunday Gospels
13,22-30 is the only passage from this chapter which appears in the Sunday cycle, on the 21st of Ordinary Time. The reading as it is proclaimed focuses on just one point, which may be why it was not extended to the end of the chapter.
This one point is highlighted by the choice of a reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 66. We had a reading from this chapter of Isaiah only a few Sundays ago, on the 14th Sunday. So it is good to begin where that reading began, verse 10, and then continue on to the end of the chapter. Our reading, from verse 18, includes all but the last three verses of the chapter, which is a pity. However odd the final verse of Isaiah may be, verse 22 contains something which is important for Christian tradition.
After considering all that, have a look at my response.
We can now carry on with our overview of chapter 14.