The Moral of the Story

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

The Gospel passage for today's liturgy for today offers us "the moral of the story." Yesterday, we read the parable of the dishonest steward. The sayings that are attached to the story, which Scripture scholars call redactions, reveal how the early Christian Church interpreted the story. They give us a word picture of how the Church reflected on the Gospel and came to understand Jesus' preaching. It is important to remember when we get to these kinds of redactions that the Gospels were written many years after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

Immediately after the redactions, we also read of the reaction to the story from the Pharisees. In a way, this gives us both sides of the same coin. The various sayings or proverbs that follow the parable tell us how the disciples of Jesus heard the story while the commentary on the Pharisees reveals the reaction of his enemies. The very last verse also illustrates a point that I have made several times in this blog; namely, Jesus was born into and lived in a culture which was driven by the twin concepts of shame and honor. The men of this time and place were obsessed with preserving their sense of human honor and avoiding a sense of shame in the eyes of the public. Jesus challenges that attitude time and time again in the Gospel. God is the only source of true honor. Human esteem is worthless when compared to God's esteem.

Sometimes the Gospel will record the reaction of the crowd when Jesus reveals such truths about the Pharisees. Those who were looked down upon by the Pharisees delighted in the fact that Jesus seemed to take their part over that of the rich and powerful people of the time. Time and again, the Pharisees would point out that Jesus associated with the "wrong kind" of people, thus bringing shame upon himself. Jesus counters their arguments by reminding them that all were God's children and that the reign of God was set aside for the poor, for those who were dependent upon God rather than upon human resources.

Sometimes society shuns people simply because they are ill or disabled. This is especially true in our own day for people who suffer from mental illness. Jesus' words to the Pharisees remind us that we need not concern ourselves with the reaction of other people as long as we stand in good graces with God.