INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 25th Thursday in
Ordinary Time is a question, “How Do I
See Jesus?"
Today’s gospel ends with this sentence, “And he kept trying
to see him - namely, “Jesus.” [Cf. Luke 9:9]
The “he” is Herod.
Herod keeps wanting to see Jesus.
THE YEAR 85
One of the ways of reading the Gospel of Luke or any
Gospel or any text is to imagine the
author - for example Luke - aiming his
messages at the people of his time - in the 70’s or 80’s - not the time he is
writing about - which is Jesus’ time - in the 30’s.
Get that distinction? He’s looking back from the 80’s as he is writing
about the 30’s,
I saw that date for when Luke wrote this text in Ray Brown’s commentary on Luke - as well as 3
other reference books on Luke. It’s around 85 A.D. - give or take 10 years - as
the commentaries put it.
NEXT STEP
Having read and heard today’s gospel about Herod wanting to see Jesus - - I
imagined Luke wanting the people he was writing for - to think about whether
they wanted to see Jesus - and then how they saw Jesus.
So a question: How do I see Jesus - here in 2019
?
If I were an artist, how would I paint or sculpt him. What
does his face look like.
What is my favorite Gospel text - that sums up Jesus for me?
For example, “Come to me you who are heavily burdened and I will refresh you.”
Or “I believe. Help my unbelief?” Or “Take and eat this is my body…. This is my
blood.”
Or there are 4 gospels, which one is my favorite? And what does that say about me?
If someone looked around my room or my prayer book, what
images of Christ would they spot?
HEROD FINALLY GOT HIS WISH
In Luke 22: 8, Herod gets his wish. Luke writes, “Herod was
delighted to see Jesus. He had heard about him and had been wanting for a long
time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle
worked by him.”
Jesus remained silent - not answering Herod’s questions - so
Herod ends up being like the guards - who had Jesus in custody - laughing and
making fun of Jesus.
That tells us that something.
Did Luke notice Christians in his local communities having a
very superficial take on Jesus?
Thursday of last week, September 19th, was the
feast of San Genaro - St. Januarius. I’m
sure the cathedral in Naples was filled with folks wanting to see his blood
bubble that day? The sensational always
has a grab. Who was in church the next day?
CONCLUSION
So this homily was just some thoughts and questions to get
us looking at our relationship with Jesus-
looking back when we were young - and now when we are older - at Mass -
when receiving Christ in communion - seeing Christ in each other - as well as
the poor, the old, the week, and the bullied….
