Jesus deals with those he speaks with in various ways. When Jesus is with the disciples, his teaching is demanding and often blunt. When he is with the crowd, strangers and foreigners, Jesus proclaims the Good News of God’s unconditional acceptance and universal compassion. When he is with the religious leaders of the time, Jesus turns their criticism back on themselves.
August 3 – Luke 12:13-21
From the crowd, a man called out to Jesus asking for help in a family matter. The man wanted his share of the family inheritance from his brother. Jesus first made it clear that he was not the man’s arbitrator and refused to enter the quarrel. But Jesus did use the opportunity to teach the crowd that placing too much emphasis on the acquisition of material wealth would lead to greed and greed would lead to conflicts in families. Jesus continued by making the point that true security did not exist in a surplus of goods when he relayed a parable about a man who had a bumper crop. So huge was the harvest’s yield that the man decided to tear down his storage buildings and build new ones to hold all his grain. Once everything was stored, the man would have no worries and could spend his life without care. But God demanded the man’s life that night. Reminder—being rich in God is the goal for this life, rather than putting a priority on possessions.
August 10- Luke 12:32-40
Jesus told the disciples not to be afraid, but rather to get sturdy purses to hold all they will receive from God. If they served God, their reward would be great—but it would not be the reward of worldly wealth. In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus preached the message of watchfulness and being ready for his return. In a servant explanation of his point, Jesus told them that God would be so happy to see them at the banquet that God would put on an apron and cook a meal for them, just as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples at the Last Supper, according to John’s gospel.
August 17 – Luke 12:49-56
As Jesus announced his mission, he made it clear that there would be no compromising. Called to repentance and challenged to be ready, the disciples would most likely divide households and communities. Jesus knew already that there were divisions among the Jewish leaders. Jesus warned his followers that they, too, might face divisions among their own families. The coming of God’s kingdom on earth is not without conflict with the forces already in place.August 24 – Luke 13:10-17
Jesus enters a synagogue and heals a woman who has been suffering for 18 years. Jesus heals the woman in sacred space (a synagogue, mentioned twice) and within sacred time, namely on a Sabbath (noted no fewer than five times), and he is criticized for this breach of the law. Jesus insists that the synagogue and the Sabbath are not the only things that are holy — so is this woman’s life. He is also guilty, in the eyes of the synagogue leaders, of touching a ritually unclean woman. Jesus isn’t abolishing the Law of Moses but helping the people in the synagogue have a more compassionate and broader understanding of how to apply the law.Jesus points out that while untying an ox or a donkey on the sabbath was forbidden in one part of the Mishnah (a Jewish book of laws), it was permitted in another. His point is that the woman is far more important than animals, yet animals are allowed more freedom on the sabbath than is the woman. This woman is a “daughter of Abraham,” heir to the same promise as Abraham.
August 31 Luke 14:1, 7-14
The fourth Sunday lectionary reading is set at a dinner with religious leaders on the Sabbath. “There is no doubt that Jesus is a disturbing, even rude, guest at this dinner party, upsetting standard protocol, but his presence and his words open the way for the transformed structures of the kingdom of God.”