Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.
A reflection on the daily readings, for Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time, by Father Perry.
By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor
+ Paul wanted so much for his fellow Jews to accept Jesus as the Christ, the messiah.
Alas, many did not.
Paul speaks as if in anguish over this, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people.”
It is a cry like that of a father or mother watching their child dying before their very eyes and saying to God, “God, take me!”
It is no wonder that Paul became very comfortable reaching out to Gentiles and sharing faith in the Christ.
But, surely to his dying day, he lamented that so many Jews did not discover a faith in Jesus as Christ.
+ And in this passage from Luke, we see the same reality taking place.
On a sabbath, at a meal in the home of one of the leading Pharisees, Jesus encountered a man suffering from dropsy.
Notice! — There were people there observing Jesus‘ every word and every move, and looking for something they could criticize him for.
Jesus, always supremely aware, beat them to the punch: He asked if it was lawful to cure someone on the sabbath.
But he continued by ridiculing, once again, their hypocrisy.
