Turning the World Upside Down
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator
We have reached the point in our annual traversal of the Lectionary for Mass when we take up the last of the synoptic Gospels. St. Luke's Gospel will, as it always does, finish out the liturgical year for us.
One of the predominant themes of St. Luke's Gospel is the reversal theme; namely, the first will be last and the last will be first. As we listen to Jesus quote the prophet Isaiah in today's Gospel passage, it becomes evident that, although he was a Gentile, St. Luke found this theme already present in the Hebrew Scriptures. Serendipitously, this theme works well with the words of the 1st Letter to the Corinthians with which it is paired in this particular cycle. St. Paul has been making the point that God acts through those whom the world considers weak and lowly. St. Luke maintains it is precisely these people, the outsiders of the world, who God raises up and exalts.
At the same time, St. Luke demonstrates just how inimical to the world's way of thinking this notion is. It has often been said that "history is written by the victor." Being one of the lowly ones is not a position that any human being naturally craves. Yet, it is precisely this Gospel message which explains how Jesus' death on a cross can be considered the turning point in human history. By making himself one of the despised of the world, Jesus provides us with an example, an expostulation of just what God intends to do through His Son and through those who believe in him. In this case, history was written by the vanquished.
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