Daily Gospel Reflection – Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Bishop Robert Barron
October 3, 2023
Tuesday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Lk 9:51-56
When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they journeyed to another village.
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus rebukes James and John for their desire for vengeance. We are walking with Jesus and his disciples as they make their way to Jerusalem. As they pass through Samaria, they are refused hospitality, for their destination is Jerusalem and this annoys the Samaritans. Bothersome? Stupid? Racist? Sure, all of those things. As a result, James and John (the sons of thunder) cry out: “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”
Can you hear echoes of this cry up and down the ages? Whenever people have been unjustly treated, excluded, or looked down upon, they experience, naturally enough, feelings of hatred and a desire to get even. Correctly enough, they will say that their family or their race or their country was offended, and so they, with justification, react.
But Jesus turns only to rebuke them. Why? Because following him and his way of nonviolence is more important than race or country or ethnic group. Our feelings for him have to go beyond even our justified feelings for these good things.
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