Bible Study Notes: St Luke's Gospel
Session 28 Chapter 12:1-34
1-3 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each
other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern
was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so
you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You
can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed.
You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask
will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing
in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those
whispers will be repeated all over town.
4-5 "I'm speaking to you as dear friends. Don't be bluffed into silence
or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill
you, but then what can they do? There's nothing they can do to your soul,
your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life-body
and soul-in his hands.
6-7 "What's the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change,
right? But God never overlooks a single one. And he pays even greater
attention to you, down to the last detail-even numbering the hairs on
your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth
more than a million canaries.
8-9 "Stand up for me among the people you meet and the Son of Man
will stand up for you before all God's angels. But if you pretend you
don't know me, do you think I'll defend you before God's angels?
10 "If you bad-mouth the Son of Man out of misunderstanding or ignorance,
that can be overlooked. But if you're knowingly attacking God himself,
taking aim at the Holy Spirit, that won't be overlooked.
11-12 "When they drag you into their meeting places, or into police
courts and before judges, don't worry about defending yourselves-what
you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there. The Holy
Spirit will give you the right words when the time comes."
13 Someone out of the crowd said, "Teacher, order my brother to give
me a fair share of the family inheritance."
14 He replied, "Mister, what makes you think it's any of my business
to be a judge or mediator for you?"
15 Speaking to the people, he went on, "Take care! Protect yourself
against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you have,
even when you have a lot."
16-19 Then he told them this story: "The farm of a certain rich man
produced a terrific crop. He talked to himself: 'What can I do? My barn
isn't big enough for this harvest.' Then he said, 'Here's what I'll do:
I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I'll gather in all
my grain and goods, and I'll say to myself, Self, you've done well! You've
got it made and can now retire. Take it easy and have the time of your
life!'
20 "Just then God showed up and said, 'Fool! Tonight you die. And
your barnful of goods-who gets it?'
21 "That's what happens when you fill your barn with Self and not
with God."
22-24 He continued this subject with his disciples. "Don't fuss about
what's on the table at mealtimes or if the clothes in your closet are
in fashion. There is far more to your inner life than the food you put
in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang
on your body. Look at the ravens, free and unfettered, not tied down to
a job description, carefree in the care of God. And you count far more.
25-28 "Has anyone by fussing before the mirror ever gotten taller
by so much as an inch? If fussing can't even do that, why fuss at all?
Walk into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They don't fuss with
their appearance-but have you ever seen color and design quite like it?
The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside
them. If God gives such attention to the wildflowers, most of them never
even seen, don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do
his best for you?
29-32 "What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax, not be so
preoccupied with getting so you can respond to God's giving. People who
don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know
both God and how he works. Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative,
God-provisions. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
Don't be afraid of missing out. You're my dearest friends! The Father
wants to give you the very kingdom itself.
33-34 "Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that
can't go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers,
a bank you can bank on. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure
is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."
The Hebrew covenant contains two kinds of preaching: prophetic utterance and wisdom speaking. Prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah preached fiery sermons about the sins of injustice and infidelity to the covenant. They urged their listeners to undergo moral and spiritual conversion. The prophets gave emotional talks filled with vivid images and urgent passion.
Wisdom speakers such as Sirach and Solomon preached quite differently. Generally, they did not address the burning social issues of their times. While the books of the prophets have the tart flavor of headline news, the wisdom books sound calmer, less topical, more like homespun philosophy.
The wisdom sayers love to compose memorable proverbs, axioms, and helpful hints for daily life. If the prophets communicate a fiery sense of immediacy, the wise ones impart the long range view of life. Theirs is the world of universal truths, common sense advice, and conclusions arising from hard won human experience. They are the kind of people who would say: "Good judgment is the product of experience. But experience is the product of bad judgments."
They say little about the affairs of state, but a good deal about the affairs of the heart. We have seen and will see that Jesus was quite capable of preaching prophetically. At times he also acted the prophet, especially in his cleansing of the temple. However, a significant portion of his preaching sounded more like the wise one talking in the tradition of the wisdom speakers.
Such is the case of Christ's preaching recorded in the twelfth chapter of Luke, which is presently before us. Luke has collected these sayings from various sources. The material, which at first seems so diverse and disconnected can be sorted out into three topics: Stop worrying. Prepare for death. Buck the trend!
Jesus begins his wisdom talk by persuading us to stop worrying and start living a life of faith. The security of faith should replace the insecurity of worry based on material concerns. He takes another jab at the hypocrisy of the Pharisees so that he can ask us, by contrast, to live open, real, and sincere lives. That should be our goal. The demon of fear can cause an obsession with material needs to the neglect of spiritual ones.
Naturally, we fear a mugger or a murderer who can physically harm us. We should also fear those who can crush our consciences and deaden our souls. Prisoners of war and death camp survivors tell many stories about how they preserved their souls and personal integrity despite beatings, starvation, and psychological harassment. Their testimony proves the truth of Christ's axiom about the soul's resilience. We need not let anyone kill our spirits.
God is very interested in our souls, which far exceed the value of a sparrow that nonetheless also engages God's attention. Worry restricts our world-view. The worrier lives in too small a world, one that excludes spiritual values. Yet, everyone in life comes one day to a moment of truth. No one is spared that moment when the challenge to act according to conscience is exacted. Worriers generally do not advert to this because their focus is on more superficial matters.
Still, what about guilt ridden and scrupulous people? Do they not worry about spiritual matters? Technically they do, but they are suffering from a greater or lesser degree of emotional upset. The object of their fear happens to be a spiritual one, but not for purposes of spiritual growth, more for liberation from emotional torment. They may need therapy more than a wisdom sermon.
The everyday worriers refuse to release themselves to work on values of character and courage. They are too timid to be brave, too delicate to be daring, too fragile to be fearless. They will not possess the spiritual resources needed to stand up for their beliefs, nor prove to be people of conscience when challenged to profess their love for Christ.
At this point Jesus introduced an observation about blasphemy of the Spirit as the unforgivable sin. This is another way of saying that the greatest sin is the conscious refusal to have faith in God. This would be based on the belief that God has nothing to do with us or for us.
Morally, this is evident in the lives of malicious, cruel, and heartless people. A-morally, this applies to those who formally repudiate all ethical and spiritual values. These are functional forms of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that flow from a deliberate hardening of the human conscience. We cannot here examine all the circumstances that make such behaviour possible, nor analyze the complex and concrete conditions that bring people to such blasphemy.
© Fr Michael Fuller: June 2010