Wisdom 3: 1-9 + Psalm23 + Romans 5 5-11 + John 6: 37-40

November 2, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Something in us often longs for the past whenever times get tough. You know how that goes, you have said it and you have heard it: “Back in the day….” Or, we hear people say, “In the good old days…” as though these are not good days. We often fool ourselves into thinking that back in the day things were more stable and secure. We were often entertained by “Father Knows Best,” “Leave it Beaver,” and “Ozzie and Harriet.” But my family was nothing like that, leaving me wonder what was wrong with us. My Dad never wore a tie to the table, and my mother only wore pearls about four times a year.  Those were the days when appliances lasted a life-time. Right?

With that in mind, it’s no big surprise that the crowds come to Jesus thinking that the past was really good talking about their ancestors and how good they had it in that desert with that manna. They didn’t even have to work for it. Those people coming to Jesus remind him of that past believing that if it was so then it ought to be the same now. Give us, they demand.

In understanding this conversation, it might help to know that just a few verses earlier, Jesus has fed a large crowd on two fish and some bread. They want more, and they want it always. They have begun to confuse Jesus with Moses, and that will not work as Jesus points out. It was not Moses but God who was the source of that manna. By pointing that out, Jesus suggest that the comparison should not be between Moses and Jesus, but between Jesus and manna. Now, he is the one provided by God.

There is an interesting detail in these verses that unlocks a very important and comforting message as a people remembering our loved ones who have gone before us. The detail is the verb tenses. The statements of the people are all essentially in the past tense. For the entire second half of this passage, Jesus speaks about the future. “Whoever comes will… Whoever believes will… Then, in the present tense Jesus says the crowd, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

We are sometimes a lot like these people. We always want more, and too often we want signs when the truth is, we already have the best and final sign, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That resurrection happened because he did the Father’s will. It is a sign to us that we who do the Will of God shall be raised up as well, and that is our hope today.

Too often this day has taken on the trappings of gloom and grief, and too often we live in the past as though there is no future. Jesus draws and leads us into the future. Those we remember today are still full of life – the fulness of life, where no harm can touch them. This day is a day of hope, anticipation, and joy. Sadness on this day ought to come from the fact that we are not yet there rather than the fact that we are not still together on this earth with those who have gone before us. Some years ago, the Church threw off those dreary, morose black vestments that once marked this as a day of mourning and sadness as though we had no hope and all was lost. Now, we put on the white of Easter to proclaim our hope that rests on the Resurrection of one who fulfilled the Will of God.

We rejoice today with grateful hearts that we have received the promise of life as we feast on the Body and Blood of the one who has come to give us life that lasts forever.  For we believe that one day whatever death has broken will be restored, as those with whom we have shared this life wait for us in glory.

October 26, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle Parish in Naples, FL

Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18 + Psalm 34 + 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18 + Luke 18: 9-14

A young monk that I know once said that Jesus spoke in parables to keep us wondering, and this parable leaves us plenty to wonder about being cautious in any judgement about the two men, and about what Luke is telling us. There is something to wonder about when it comes to prayer, but this is not Luke’s instruction on prayer even if it does follow a parable about a woman who would not stop her plea for justice before a judge. There is something here to notice about justification, but that comes at the end.

Neither man is condemned in this parable. The Pharisee does good things. He fasts, he tithes, he prays. The other man is not condemned either in spite of the fact that he has been part of an unjust system that oppresses the poor. So, this parable is not told or repeated to judge a Pharisee or a Tax Collector. This is something to notice about their prayer that is a bit more important. There is a stark difference between the two men that has nothing to do with where they are in the Temple or the words. What is important is what is revealed about what was in their hearts and their attitudes toward God and other people.

We should notice how many times the Pharisee uses the word “I”. His prayer had nothing to do with gratitude to God. He wanted God to know how good he was. It would seem that his life is devoid of relationships. Love of God and Love of Neighbor is the bedrock of what Jesus taught. You wonder how he can love God when he is so full of himself, and how can he love his neighbor when he sees only their sins and faults? For all of his obedience to the rules, he has missed what matters most. There is a quick test to see where you stand between these two examples. Count how many times you use the word “I” in your prayer.

The other man’s focus is God and God’s mercy. He knows what he needs and who can provide it. There is about his posture and his words an authentic humility. He needed God. A wonderful example of great prayer is the Gloria with which we begin our liturgy every weekend. “We” replaces I because we live in relationships, and “You” is repeated over and over again.

That Pharisee stands as a challenge in our culture where admission of human weakness and failure is almost taboo. It is not cool to admit your mistakes or that you need help. This failure of honesty and humility runs from the highest office today to the playgrounds of our schools. With a carful look at both of these men we might see ourselves not as one or the other, but because there something of both of them is within us.

Privileged as we are, we need to come to terms with how look at others, and sometimes with how proud we are with what we have forgetting where it all came from to begin with. On the other hand, when we honestly face our failures and our sins, we need to come to terms with our infinite worth in God’s eyes. We are not hopeless sinners. Salvation is really about the transformation from a nonperson toward real personhood, from worthlessness to dignity, and that is what happens at the end of this story. A sinner is justified not by his prayer, but by grace from a merciful God. Jesus provides us this parable because he understands that his message was to humble those who exalt themselves and exalt those who humble themselves.

When Luke repeats this parable, it is not so much about prayer, Pharisees or Tax Collectors. It is one more reminder of the great reversal Luke repeats again and again in different ways. Some people who seem least likely to find a place in the Kingdom of God will be there before the pious and those who seem to be so good and successful. Once again, Jesus keeps us wondering.

October 19, 2025

Exodus 17: 8-13 + Psalm 121 + 2 Timothy 3: 14-4: 2 + Luke 18: 1-8

When compared to others who were employed like my father, we lived simply. He was frugal, and even though we had the first television on our block, color television was about to begin before it was replaced. We traveled some, but a downtown hotel with room service was out of the question. We stayed in motels where the highway noise kept us awake most of the night. When he died suddenly I was shocked to see what he left behind and how he carefully he had planned for mother to continue living comfortably and safely.

Just before the verses of this Gospel we proclaim today, Jesus has informed his disciples that he is going away. Yet, he wants to provide for them.  Like my family without our father, those disciples will have to negotiate life without his physical presence, being faithful to all they have been taught. How they will survive and remain faithful without him is the big question answered in today’s Gospel. They will pray. With that, Jesus gives us an example of how we are to negotiate life without his immediate physical presence.

It is easy to be distracted by this Judge, but he is not focus. He is not there to tell us something about God. If anything, he is there to tell us about the world in which we live, a world not much changed since the first telling of this story. There are still Judges who care nothing about God or what others will say. There are still women and countless others who cannot find justice, who are abused and trafficked. They cry out and nothing changes, at least not very quickly. What are we to do while we wait for God to act, knowing full well that God acts on God’s time.

Even though, in this story, the woman gets her justice, multitudes today are still going to their graves being denied the satisfaction of seeing their adversaries dealt with. I believe that the answer to this dilemma is not found in what we expect from God but, rather, in how we struggle like this woman for justice in the hopelessness of seeing justice denied in our lifetime. We have to decide if we are going to just wait for God to act and meet our needs or if we might be called to do justice for those crying out among us. Rather than wait for a miracle from God, it might well be that we are called to be the miracle for which others pray.

My friends, we are called to seek justice, not because it is easy or because in the end we will win. We are called regardless of the consequences for the sake of justice. We don’t fight for justice like this widow because we know we are going to win. We fight and work for justice for the sake of justice alone even if we do not see it in our lifetime.

I love this story, unique to Luke’s Gospel so populated with women and widows of all sorts. It would seem that in Luke’s estimation, the church and this world can never have enough of women like her. Every woman in this church, in this city, country, and world should learn from her not just a lesson on prayer, but on perseverance in the face of injustice.

October 12, 2025

This homily will not be delivered. I am in Oklahoma for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Missionaries Monks from France

2 Kings 5: 14-17 + Psalm 98 + 2 Timothy 2: 8-13 + Luke 17: 11-19

A familiar yet complicated story is proclaimed today. It is one that all of us know very well, and we have all heard countless sermons about gratitude springing from it. For me, that is all well and good, but there is so much more to this story yet to be discovered if we sit with it, and carefully look at the action and the language.

One of the details that has often struck me as is the fact that this whole scene comes as an interruption. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and suddenly he has to stop. It reminds me that sometimes, it is the interruptions that matter and provide us with a chance to do something that may be more important than whatever it is we are up to.

Another detail easy to miss is that this is not really a healing story. Instead of healing these ten who come asking for mercy, which may have been a plea for alms, Jesus sends them to the priests. The actual healing take place as they travel away from Jesus, which is the center of the story. As a matter of fact, the one who returns had no reason to go to the priests because he was a Samaritan. He was a double outcast. Bad enough that he was a leper. He was also a despised Samaritan. We should notice that even this one is healed. They were all faithful enough to do what Jesus asked even before there was a healing. We ought to connect this obedience to the healing.

The Samaritan’s status as an outsider allowed him to see his healing differently from the other nine, and this leads us deeper into the story. The healing is not the focus here. All ten had the faith to do what Jesus asked and start off on their way to the priests. Yet, only one had the faith to return, and what he did and said brings a whole different dimension to this story and leads us to why Saint Luke tells it when the other Gospel writers do not.

If there is fault with the other obedient nine it is not that they fail to see God at work in their healing. It is that they fail to see God at work in Jesus Christ. The Samaritan does, and what he does about it is important. Luke not only reveals Jesus as mediator and healer, but he teaches us how to respond to the work of Jesus Christ with praise and thanksgiving. Luke tells us that the Samaritan came back with gratitude and praise. This is an attitude of worship. These are the practices that mark our worship, and Luke is connecting these with the restoration of health.

This Church and our actions here are transformative. They are healing. This is the place where we can cry out for mercy. In fact, we just did so a few minutes ago. This is the place where we gather to offer thanksgiving and praise. In Luke’s original Greek, he says that the Samaritan came to offer “doxa” which is praise or glory, and eucharisto which means thanksgiving and is a unmistakable reference to worship. Martin Luther is said to have defined worship as “the tenth leper turning back.” Ultimately, this story invites us to follow the healed leper into a life of thanksgiving and worship.

Finally, the last movement and command in this story, “Get up and Go” is exactly the way this Mass and every Mass concludes with a commission to get up and go out with the joy and hope that forgiveness and healing brings to people who will obey and follow the commands of Jesus Christ.

October 5, 2025

Habakkuk 1: 2-3, 2: 2-4 + Psalm 95 + 2 Timothy 1: 6-8, 13-14 + Luke 17: 5-10

I wonder as I stand here how many of you might remember something those of us who were born into the Catholic Church learned back in the day. First, we learned the Ten Commandments. There will not be test this morning, but I wonder how many could really pass that test. We could probably get them all, but maybe not in the order in which we first learned them. Then, I’m not certain about you, but right after we learned the Ten Commandments, we learned the Six Commandments of the Church, at least I did. Sometimes, so as not to compete with the Ten, they were called “Precepts.” There were six minimum obligations for Catholics to live according to Church laws.

These included (1) attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, (2) Confessing sins at least once a year, (3) Receiving the Holy Eucharist during the Easter Time, (4) Observing days of fasting and abstinence, (5) Contributing to the support of the Church, (6) and not celebrating marriage during Lent or with close relatives. Now, don’t be impressed. I had to look them up to get it right.

All of that stuff comes from a focus on an institution, and changes in time and practices have influenced how we interpret all of this. For instance, when strict fasting before Communion was expected, many people simply avoided Holy Communion and were therefore encouraged to receive Holy Communion at least once a year. If there was no priest nearby, at least once every year the faithful were encouraged to seek one for Confession and Communion. All well and good and an interesting piece of history.

This all came to mind weeks ago as I was thinking and praying my way into this Sunday’s Gospel. What we have here is the last two parts of a four-part instruction to the disciples. Jesus has interrupted a conversation with the Pharisees to offer instructions on faithful discipleship to his closest followers. That’s us.

The first two of four parts are not included in today’s proclamation, but you might go home and take a look at the first five verses we did not hear today. It seems that Luke has pulled four bits of tradition together to stop a perception that being a follower of Jesus Christ is to enjoy special privileges and status. You get that point in the last of these examples about the relationship between the servant and the master. We don’t get any privilege.

With the cry of the disciples, “Increase our faith” Jesus assures any struggling believer that faith is not a quantitative commodity. It is a matter of sincere trust in the promises of God. It is never about how much. It is simply about remembering who God is and what God has promised. It’s not about what we do. It is about what God does.

What we get here today is what discipleship requires, sort of like the Six precepts that tell what being a Catholic requires, and what we get here comes first. In every community there are expectations and obligation just as in any household or social system. What we can draw from the beginning of Chapter 17 is that disciples must live exemplary lives – in other words, give good example. They must offer unlimited forgiveness to those who repent, and constantly grow deeper in faith more and more trusting in God’s promises. All of this is a tall order for frail, imperfect human beings like us, but God in Christ has shown us what it means to do as God commands. Here, it is not ten or six, only of four: (1) live responsibly, (2) forgive generously, (3) believe trustingly, (4) and follow obediently. When we do so, we shall find the best blessings of this life with God for ourselves and for the community of God’s people.

September 28, 2025 As I am away for some vacation, this homily will not be delivered.

Amos 6: 1, 4-7 + Psalm 146 + 1 Timothy 6: 11-16 + Luke 16: 19-31

We hear a powerful and what should be a deeply troubling Parable/story this weekend. In Luke’s Gospel, repentance and amendment of life among the rich occur only rarely, but they can happen. There are several people of means who do become disciples. Yet, this parable, spoken to us today, is a great challenge for us about how we use our resources. To make sure that we do not think this Gospel story is about someone else, that rich man has no name. This is a common way for Gospel writers to make sure we cannot and do not shift the message toward others. While the rich man has no name, the poor man does, and it helps our reflection to know that his name is a form of Elazar, meaning “God has helped.” It is, in a way, a prophesy that is fulfilled when he dies and is taken by angels to a place of honor.

The “Good News” of this Gospel is only for the poor and suffering, as it illustrates what Pope Leo has recently spoken of, the vast gap between the rich and the poor. There is no way to overlook the clear call for justice and compassion by claiming that this is just an imagined exaggeration. It is real. It does not reflect something from the past. It describes life in this world today as executives and CEOs reap huge profits from the people who are denied the right to organize and share in the profits gained from their labor.

There is something about knowledge that can change the actions of those who control the world’s wealth and power. It can compel people to action, and all of us know that from our own experience. Yet, there is always the danger of rationalization for not acting or helping. Often the excuse is ignorance when in fact, deliberate denial or blame is often the case. We cannot pretend that ignorance, denial, or resistance to the truth of injustice is anything but immoral. We cannot say that we didn’t know the truth.

What that rich man fails to admit is that he is partly to blame for the suffering of Lazarus. Not once does it dawn on him to speak to Lazarus directly as a human being. It does not happen when they are alive, and it does not happen when they are in another world. He will not speak to Lazarus! He operates on the assumption that Lazarus is beneath him, a mooch sprawled on his doorstep covered in sores. Even when he sees Lazarus now in the comfort of Abraham he still does not understand. There is no way he could have come and gone from his comfortable home without stepping over Lazarus. He knew Lazarus was there.

There is great temptation these days from the preachers of the “Prosperity Gospel” that promises material wealth for those who have the right beliefs or obey certain rules of living. That rich man’s house is a gated community where outside there are growing numbers of the homeless and hungry who too often end up looting and stealing to stay alive. We have Moses and the Prophets. We even have Jesus Christ, someone risen from the dead. We have this Gospel to remind us all about our responsibility toward them, and they are waiting.

September 21, 2025 at Saint Agnes, Saint William, & Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Amos 8: 4-7 + Psalm 113 + Timothy 2 1-8 + Luke 16: 1-13

Jesus was a master at undermining systems. He saw people who benefited from a system that rewarded some at the expense of others. He saw that people in debt were caught in a vicious circle of increasing interest. He saw widows losing a chance to survive with dignity, the blind and lame being blamed for disabilities over which they had no control. It grieved him and his Father.  Today’s episode digs in as a response to what he saw. This parable is one of the most complex and sometimes troubling of all the parables in the Gospels. Saint Augustine is said to have remarked: “I can’t believe this story came from the lips of our Lord.” This parable is only found in Luke, and some scholars believe that even Luke had trouble with it because of those final verses added at the end. Luke’s Gospel, more than the others speaks about money and the trouble it causes. It is Luke who quotes Jesus saying that we cannot love both God and money. I was in a discussion group years ago with a group of Protestant Pastors, and this text came up in our study together. One of the older men said: “When this text comes up, peach about something else or you may end up getting fired.” I’m not worried about that very much.

What Luke describes here is the saturation of a rich man whose life-style is made possible by the income from his estate run by tenant farmers. They have to buy what they need from the company store with whatever is left over after they pay exorbitant rent to that rich man. The harvest is never enough to pay the rent and buy what they need. So, they just get deeper and deeper in debt. That steward knows just to enough realize that something is wrong, and it gets him in trouble. What he does about it is wrong, and so we have characters here. Both of them do wrong leaving us to wonder what it is we might get from this parable.

Remembering Luke’s overall critique of the wealthy who are only interested in their own welfare, we might begin to see that this saying is about more than money even though wealth is clearly at issue. Jesus is speaking to us about our values and ultimate loyalties. This parable is primarily about one’s approach to wealth and about how one uses it and to what end.

The steward or “manager” enjoys special praise not exactly for what he does, but for why he does it. This steward is praised because rather than accumulating wealth for himself, he invests in good and lasting relationships. He sees that ultimately wealth and security are not really provided by money, but rather by friendships and relationships.  In the end, when the two men are compared, we might just want to see which one did the most good for others. The Gospel seems to suggest that real prudence values relationships more than anything else.

September 14, 2025 at Saint Agnes, Saint William & Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Numbers 21 4-9 + Psalm 78 + Philippians 2: 6-11+ John 3: 13-17

As we celebrate today this sign of our hope and salvation, we drawn into the entire plan of God to discover the very nature of God and see what happens when there is obedience to God’s will. There is no way to celebrate the Holy Cross without once again celebrating the Incarnation. The Son of God first poured out and surrendered his glory and his place at the right hand of the Father by taking on human flesh loving what God loves, all creation. Born of a woman, he had to grow, learn, fall and get back up. He used human eyes to see God’s creation, human ears to hear people’s cries, and a human heart to know and share God’s love. He used human touch to heal and his own will to fulfill the Father’s will that we may all flourish and fulfill our vocation to give glory and praise to God in all things.

Saint Paul calls him a slave, someone dedicated completely to the service of another. But this slave was not sold or bought. He chose to be a slave for the sole purpose of doing the will of God. He chose to empty himself in order to make room for God’s mysterious love and power. Doing so demanded hope beyond measure that can only be called: “self-emptying.”

Having emptied himself, he is filled with divine life. This man who had known heaven, chose to reveal heaven to earth. As John tells it today, he compared himself to that serpent on the staff of Moses so that he could be lifted up saving humanity from fear and the death that the serpent had caused. Without that fear of death, we are saved for love, for life, and for glory.

The death of Christ Jesus symbolized by this cross we hold high announces that evil is now as dead as its works. The death of Christ is the beginning of life, a new life lived with the assurance that evil and death will not ever have the last word for God’s love is everlasting and therefor what God loves is everlasting.

When we choose to believe this and raise high the cross, we are choosing to live by faith in the God of life and the God of love. It means that the image of God from the past, a God of anger, vengeance, and terrible punishment is no more. Because that was never the God who loved this creation into existence, and Jesus comes to restore that one true God of mercy and compassion who is revealed in the flesh and blood of his only Son. Believing this means that we bet our lives on God’s undying love. It means that like Jesus Christ, even though we may experience unspeakable pain or sorrow, we have nothing to fear because ultimately evil is nothing more than “chaff driven by the wind.”

Today we rejoice in the wonder of salvation renewed and encouraged to live with and under the sign of the cross by which we have been claimed for Christ our Savior. 

September 7, 2025 at Saint Peter and Saint William Catholic Churches in Naples, FL

Wisdom 9: 13-18 + Psalm 90 + Philemon 9-10, 12-17 + Luke 14: 25-33

Hyperbole was, and in some rabbinical schools still is, a way of teaching and making a point. It is a bold exaggeration used for dramatic effect and shock value to jump start some thinking. We can’t just ignore what Jesus says today thinking: “Oh, he didn’t really mean that” and just turn the page. We have to ask the crucial question, “What does he mean?” And, “How should my life be changed by this teaching?” The point is not how we relate to members of our families, but how we respond to the call of God. Think of it this way. In the face of merciless behavior by someone in our family what are we to do, shrug it off and say to the victim, “What can I do? After all, blood is thicker than water.” This is what challenges that attitude, “My country right or wrong.” The issue is loyalty, and that is where Jesus is going with this. Loyalty to God comes first. When my country or my employer, or my family does or says something contrary to what God expects, we do not shrug it off. We stand up and we speak up. It might be costly.

Jesus is not trying to scare people away from following him. But, he is afraid that we may spend our lives avoiding challenges, looking for easy ways and easy answers, playing around in the shallows of life while the real adventure is in the deep end.

I watched a mother not long ago at our community pool teaching her son how to swim. With his arms and legs in motion, she stood in front him. He was really doing quite well until he began to near that rope with markers floating. Every time he got near that marker, his eyes got wide, his face got red, and you see the panic as his head came up braking the smooth motions of arms and legs. She kept backing up though and I heard her say: “Don’t be afraid. I’m still here. Swimming in the deep water is just the same. Trust me.” All Jesus asks of us is trust because he will not abandon us. With him, we can quit playing the shallows and risk the deep and the unknown.

We all know what it’s like and what it takes to go deeper. I left the seminary without a clue about what was next. Most of you said, “Yes” to someone who offered you a ring and the promise to stay with you. With no clue about what it would take, how long, and what it might cost, you did it anyway. For many of us, it has not been easy either. There were bad times, disappointment, hurts, and even sometimes broken promises and betrayals. Loyalty or commitment means sacrifice, change, and sometimes loss. Everything we believe in fully or long for comes with a cost. Think about how your lives changed when you became parents and what it cost you. Even for someone you love, there is sacrifice, and sometimes it does not turn out well. If you knew ahead of time the challenge that children can be without the great joy they can bring this world would be childless.

Probably if we knew the whole story about anything ahead of time we might hesitate before we jump into things, and this is what Jesus is talking about today. This is a message of reassurance to anyone who will set out into the deep, take risks in faith, and remain loyal to God and the mission of his son entrusted to us. No matter how tough it gets, he is still with us calling us to trust and have no fear in the face of violence and injustice or anything else that keeps anyone from their place in the Kingdom of God.

August 31, 2025 at Saint Peter and Saint William Catholic Churches in Naples, FL

Sirach 3: 17-18, 20, 28-9 + Psalm 68 + Hebrews 12: 18-19,22-24 + Luke 14: 1, 7-14

I don’t know if any of you have ever had to sit at a “Head Table” at some big important dinner, but I have found it very unpleasant. At most of those occasions, everyone else is seated at round tables, but the
“Head Table” is usually a long one with certain people sitting on one side facing out into the room. If you have to sit at the head table, there is no one to talk to except the two people on either side of you. If you have nothing in common to talk about, you’re stuck, and it makes for a long evening of boring chatter. Having learned from experience, I was back home several months ago, invited to a big event that I had been part of. As soon as I arrived, ahead of most everyone else, I saw that dreaded “Head Table.”  I ran up and took my name card and swapped it with someone else at one of the round tables. That caused a bit of confusion that got even more so when it was time for me to make some remarks. I began my remarks quoting this parable.

The whole scene in this parable takes me back to Junior High School when everyone was jockeying for a seat at the “cool table.” I don’t care how old you may be, I am sure most of you remember that. You were either in or you were out. Those of us in the out group usually remember it well. One of the things about privilege is that it is usually invisible to those who have it, and with privilege usually comes a sense of “entitlement” that usually leaves one thinking that they are protected from criticism or challenge. And so it goes with this parable, because when it comes to these things in life, not much has changed since Jesus watched human behavior at that dinner to which he was invited.

He observed two things, one with regard to the guests and the other regard to the host. What he addresses to all of us and to the guests that evening is far more than behavior at that banquet. He is addressing something that is tears at the very fabric of social and communal life, “competition.” You know, competition is a zero-sum game. It undermines cooperation and solidarity. It marginalizes and excludes the vulnerable. It makes losers when there none in God’s sight. Competition has captured our way of life, and there is no place better to see what it does than the after-school and weekend events that control family life. Parents are running all over the place the moment school is out taking one child to this practice or game, and God forbid there are two children in two different leagues. The consequence is that too many children hardly know how to have fun. They are constantly comparing themselves to someone else. It there are winners, there will then be losers. We are trapped in this competitive system that is about far more than games. It affects our economy and our relationships with the whole world. It breeds resentment, and it’s dangerous.

The second observation that Jesus makes is spoken to the host as much as it is to us. It concerns the ethic of reciprocity. It was the basis of the Greek/Roman patronage system. We would like to think that it was over with the fall of that empire, but the first time we catch ourselves wondering or even daring to say out loud: “What am I going to get out it?” We know this attitude is still alive and well.

What Jesus advocates is a pattern of relationships where respect springs out of the knowledge and recognition that everyone is a child of God, looking at each other with the eyes of a loving parent who has no favorites. At the same time, Jesus puts an end to reciprocity because what we all get is another chance to give. If Jesus was correct in announcing that the Kingdom of God is at hand, then we are already living in that Kingdom where God’s gracious hospitality has made a place for us not because we deserve it or earned it, but because we have come to realize how far we still are from that banquet in heaven.