The bull of St Luke

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

Greed: Lk 12,13-34

The Fool: 12,13-21

Verse 13 sees an intervention from the crowd: What is the man's request? See Deuteronomy 21,15-17 for the background.

Why does Jesus reply as he does in verse 14? The background here is Moses: Exodus 2,14 and Acts 7,27.35

We considered who meant by "them" in verse 15 in the overview. See also 1st Timothy 6,6-19.

Read the story, 12,16-21: what is the man's attitude? What pronouns dominate verses 17 to 19?

God calls the man a fool in verse 20. For this, see Proverbs 1,7.

What has verse 21 in common with 12,34?

Now go to my response.

Teaching: Lk 12,22-34

In verse 22, the disciples are directly addressed but there is no change of topic. What word makes the link?

Look for the three "do nots" which bind this passage.

Verse 22 then, states the first theme.
Verses 23 to 28 then give a variety of examples from nature. For ravens, see Leviticus 11,15. For Solomon see 1 Kings 10,4-7. "Little faith" see Mt 6,30. What is the overall message of these verses?

Verse 29 gives the second theme: what must be our priority?

Finally, there is a third theme in verse 32. See how different Luke is to Matthew (Mt 6,19) for this verse. See Ezekiel 34,11-24 for this unique expression. What are the practical conclusions in verses 33 and 34? See 22,29-30 and Apoc 1,6.

Now go to my response.

Sunday Gospel

The first verses of this unit, 12,13-21, are read on the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time.

As usual, comment on the appropriateness of the Old Testament reading. This is the one and only time that the book of Ecclesiastes appears in the Sunday lectionary. (The book is also known as Qoheleth or the Preacher). To get the flavour of the book and to see this Sunday's reading in context, read Ecc 1,1-11 and 2,12-26. The Hebrew word translated "vanity" means unsubstantial; that is, as applied to life, futile or vain.

Look too at this Sunday's reading from the letter to the Colossians; it is as well to read the whole of chapter 3 to see the reading in its full setting. Look for the word link between this reading and the Gospel (though the Jerusalem Bible uses two words with the same meaning).

Now go to my response.

The saying in verse 34 can be seen as pointing us towards another stage of Jesus' address to his disciples, 12,35-48.