The first year of the immediate preparation for the Great Jubilee
Year 2000, the year of Jesus

Jesus came for many reasons, but one of the main ones was to teach
us how to live, how the Father wants us to relate to Him and how
we are to relate to each other. Scripture often shows people
addressing Jesus as "Rabbi", which means teacher. He used what was
a normal method of teaching in ancient times and it's still
effective today. He told stories with a moral. We call them
parables. I think most people recognize that our Lord probably
didn't have specific people in mind when He spoke of a farmer
sowing seed, of a father welcoming back a son who had been a
prodigal. The reason for the story was to make a point about how
we are to act if we're to be children of God. I highly recommend
you read and ponder all of them, but for lack of space, let's look
at a few that speak to me personally.

The first that comes to mind is the story of the Pharisee and the
tax collector (Luke 18:10) who came to the temple to pray. The
Pharisee spoke up to God, to give thanks that he wasn't like the
rest of humanity, that he was good and holy and he listed some of
the good things he had done. Now please recognize that he had
actually done what was right, he had been careful not to disobey
God's laws and yet there was a problem there. He thought he did it
himself, and thought God should be grateful. He was quite proud of
himself! The tax collector, who was an agent of pagan Rome, taking
money from his people for them (and getting his own cut), was in
the eyes of the Jews, a traitor to God's people and thus had
rejected Him.  Frankly, he was borderline at best, and yet his
outcry showed he recognized his sinfulness and could only beg for
mercy. Simply put, he humbled himself before God and that made him
acceptable to God, while the pride of the Pharisee caused him to
be rejected. The lesson is God loves a humble person who
recognizes the reality of the who God is and who we are.

The story we call "The good Samaritan" (Luke 10:30) could have
been called "who is my neighbor". It shows a person in need, he
had been mugged and left naked and beaten by the side of the road.
We know the story. A priest and Levite didn't want to get involved
and ignored him. Now these were good religious people and they
should have stopped, instead it was a Samaritan who had mercy and
cared for the man. That's quite a lesson to ponder. Jesus shows a
person who was essentially a heretic, doing what God wants, while
the "good people" didn't. It kind of makes you wonder how God
looks at some of the people we often think of as out on the
fringe, and how we devout people measure up in His eyes. It's a
bit uncomfortable to think about it.

Our age really needs to think about the parable about the rich man
who had a good harvest and thought, "wow, I've got it made, my
mutual funds have done great, my 401k is awesome, now I can retire
to my condominium and sit back and just enjoy life." God says to
him, "You fool! This very night you life shall be required of
you." Opps! The lesson is that first of all we'd best be concerned
to store up treasure with God. The rest can be awfully temporary
and it needs to be looked at from the standpoint of eternity. Take
time to consider what will be important when you come before God.

Personally I like the gospel of Luke, I can relate to the way he
writes. So often there's an emphasis on the mercy of God, on the
goodness of God and I wonder sometimes if he had to deal with
pompous people because of some of the parables. Please find one of
the gospels that particularly talks to you and read it, either by
yourself, or with a discussion group in your parish. Pick out a
parable and mull it over, let God lead you to insights that apply
to you. There's so much there, you'll never come to the end of it
so take your time. It took our group four months to read Luke and
now we've started reading Acts, which is sort of "Luke, part two."
Ask Jesus to teach you the way you're meant to live, look at the
way you've lived in the past and move on with Him. It's an
exciting time ahead, after all it's God's world and He's in
control of what's to come. All He asks is that we walk with Him.
It's a lot less lonely and scary that way.

January 31, 1997

The eighth in a series of articles on the Jubilee Year 2000 for
the parish bulletin

Deacon John Taylor, St. Mary of the Mission Parish, Opelika,
Alabama

(c) copyright 1997, John E. Taylor

Note: Anyone is welcome to reprint this article as long as it is
not for profit.

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