It was common practice in Jesus’ day, and still today in ultra-orthodox Jewish communities, to bring legal issues to a rabbi. However, Jesus made it clear to the person who asked him to mediate an inheritance issue that he would not be a judge or arbiter. What he did, though, was to spin a parable about a rich farmer who had a super bountiful harvest. He prefaced the parable with a caution. “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

The farmer built new barns to store the excess grain that his harvest yielded. It was such a great harvest that it would set him up for life. The rich farmer had lived a great life, and due to this particular harvest, he could continue the lifestyle he was enjoying until his death. From now on, he could strut down Easy Street. He was very pleased with himself! But there was something he didn’t know. This would be his last day on earth. I’m sure that everyone in the audience let out a collective sigh when they heard this. Jesus then ended the parable with a with a moral. “Thus, will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

This particular parable often falls on deaf ears because it seems to go against our instincts. Nobody wants to be poor. Nobody wants to be financially insecure. Today, the media puts us all on alert by reminding us every hour of the day that the money we have is worth less as inflation rises. If we’re lucky enough to have savings, we’re panicking because the stock market is so volatile. Banks are paying almost no interest on deposits.

Poor families and the elderly are deeply anxious as they hear talk of ending Social Security and cutting food stamp programs and welfare.

Though this parable is aimed at the rich, everyone, rich and poor alike, would do well to contemplate the bottom line of Jesus’ message. We’re all called to be “rich in what matters to God.”

You may have noticed that the man in the parable is thinking only of himself. He had a great harvest and was ready to set up a comfortable life for himself. He wasn’t doing anything that was bad in itself. He was just self-centered. He was like the rich man in the parable of the man who feasted every day while Lazarus, a poor, sick beggar, sat outside longing for the food that dropped from the table. His sin wasn’t that he feasted every day. His sin was that he never saw the poor man starving at his doorstep.

Jesus is calling to all of us, rich and poor alike, to be conscious of one another. We’ve trained ourselves not to see the person lying in the street. We’re annoyed and put off by a relative or friend who asks us for financial help. We don’t want to get involved. We want to be comfortable, and we definitely don’t want to get involved in other people’s problems.

Today’s parable is reminding us that life is a communal experience. “Being rich in what matters to God” means being aware of those around us. It means being rich in compassion. It means that our wealth isn’t stored in barns or banks; it’s stored in the heart.

We’re thinking about prayer today. In the first reading from the book of Genesis we see an interesting form of prayer. Abraham is having a conversation with God, or perhaps it might be more correct to call it an interrogation.

Things look very bad for the corrupt city of Sodom. God has shared with Abraham that he’s planning to destroy it as punishment for its sins. In this prayer, Abraham, who has only recently come to know God, is trying to get a handle on God. Is this a capricious, undisciplined God or a just God? So, Abraham begins what seems like an endless string of questions. Will you destroy the city if there are 50 good people there? 45? 40? 30? 20? 10? The prayer, conversation, interrogation, ends when God says that the city will not be destroyed if there are 10 righteous people living there.

So, the prayer leads Abraham to a deeper understand of God. In this scene, we see Abraham’s inner child engaging his heavenly Father. His conversation reveals God’s fatherly patience and loving acceptance.

This example of prayer reminds us that when we don’t understand the terrible things that happen in the world we can question God. It doesn’t mean that we have a lack of faith; it means we’re troubled, and looking for answers to our questions. When we were children we asked lots of questions of our parents. Some answers we received we understood and accepted, others didn’t satisfy us; they only brought up more questions. So, we asked more questions. This is one type of prayer.

In the gospel passage Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples. He begins with a blessing: “Father, hallowed be your name.” This is the opening line for all Jewish prayers: “Baruch ata Adonai.” Blessed are you, Lord. Our offertory prayers over the bread and wine follow this structure. “Blessed are you Lord God of all creation for through your goodness you have given us this bread to offer which earth has given and human hands have made.” We bless God and then acknowledge God’s blessings to us. Jesus’ entire prayer may be prayed in that way.

Father, hallowed by your name – your kingdom come.

Father, hallowed be your name – give us each day our daily bread (bread for our table and the bread of the Eucharist.)

Father, hallowed be your name – forgive us our sins because we forgive everyone’s sins against us.

Father, hallowed be your name – do not subject us to the final test. (the agony you suffered in the garden.)

Jesus continues his teaching about prayer by emphasizing the importance of persistence in prayer, as Abraham was persistent. He concludes with a teaching we all know by heart. So, today, as we reflect on prayer, let’s takes that final teaching to heart. Blessed are you, Lord our God, for you have given us this teaching on prayer.

“Ask and you will receive. Seek and your will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you.”

We begin our reflection with one of the most famous biblical stories about hospitality. Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent trying to catch a bit of breeze. He suddenly saw three men standing nearby. He rushed to them, greeted them, and pleaded with them to stop to refresh themselves with some water and some food. He called for the servants to wash their feet and told Sarah to make bread. Then he ran to his herd of cattle and picked out a choice steer for dinner. When all was prepared, Abraham waited on the three visitors. His extravagant hospitality was rewarded with a monumental promise. Sarah would give birth to a son in a year’s time.

We continue our reflection with a second famous story about hospitality, the story of Mary and Martha. But this story has a twist. Jesus was teaching in their home. Martha, attuned to the obligation of hospitality, was frantically trying to prepare food and drink for all the guests. Her sister, Mary, had abandoned her and was scandalously sitting with the men who were listening to Jesus. Martha, quite brazenly, marched up to Jesus, interrupting his teaching. She then reprimanded him for not sending Mary back to assist her.

Jesus told Martha that she was “anxious and troubled about many things.” Maybe her problem wasn’t a hospitality issue. Could it be that she was jealous of Mary, the rebel, who had, as Jesus told Martha, “chosen the better part?”

The reward for Martha’s hospitality – opening her home to Jesus and offering water and snacks to his guests – had a built-in reward. She had a chance to listen to the teaching of Jesus, his proclamation of the kingdom of God.

Our lesson for today. Hospitality from the heart is a sacred labor blessed by God. Hospitality, though difficult at times, brings with it a blessed reward. If we only take a look, we might see the reward staring us in the face.

A FINAL THOUGHT FROM THE SCRIPTURE

“Let your love for one another continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:1)

To test Jesus, a “scholar of the law’’ asked him what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus threw the question back to him by asking him, “What is written in the law? How do you interpret it?” The scholar answered by quoting two famous passages from the Hebrew Scripture. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength and with all your mind. (Deuteronomy 6:5), and your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18b)

This shrewd lawyer understood quite well the meaning of these two commandments. He knew that just about everybody could agree with the first commandment: love God. There’s nothing that’s contentious about it. Everybody could say that they love God. The extent of that love could vary but the basic command to love God would be easy for most people to accept. It was like motherhood and apple pie.

However, the second commandment was much more challenging for everybody. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The scholar was looking for a fight with this liberal rabbi from Nazareth, and so, he asked Jesus to define a neighbor for him. Luke comments that the scholar asked this to “justify himself.” Jesus decided to engage him. He spun the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus made some major accusations in the parable. The people who walked by the dying man represented various types of people in the scholar’s circle of colleagues, a priest, and Levite, a member of the priestly tribe. These were people who officially said they loved God.

They served in the temple ritual. They put their “love of God” above their love of neighbor. They were on their way to Jerusalem to perform their priestly duties. If they touched this bloody, dying man they would be rendered ritually unclean and would not be permitted to perform their religious duties. So, they left him to die.

Then, the religious outcast came by, the Samaritan. The Jew who was dying on the side of the road was saved by a heretic and cultural enemy who overlooked his religious and cultural prejudice.

The moral of the parable was absolutely clear, but Jesus asked the scholar, “Which of the three was neighbor to the robber’s victim?” “The one who treated him with mercy,” came the answer. For the scholar and for anyone who could hear, the parable answered his question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Be a Good Samaritan!

I ask you to revisit this passage during your personal prayer time this week. Allow the parable to speak to our contemporary situation. Open your eyes to the cancer of “them and us,” that we Americans are suffering today. Like good Jews and good Samaritans, we can’t talk to each other. We’re committed to our hatred for each other. We refuse to look for common ground for creative and healing dialogue. Instead, we wage war with one another. Our objective is to conquer and dominate the other.

I’ll conclude with a teaching from the apostle John. “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar.” (1 John 4:20a)

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)

This passage is so very important to help us understand what it means for us to be Christians, followers of Christ. Jesus taught us that “the harvest is abundant.” God has done a great deal of work on each one of us. God planted the seed, nurtured it and cared for it until it matured and was ready to be harvested. The Psalm puts it this way: “I thank you Lord, with all my heart…You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, so wonderfully you made me; wonderful are your works.” (Psalm 139:1, 13-14)

God willed us into being and guided us to maturity, but Jesus acknowledged a glitch. He noted that the harvest, the fruit of God’s labor, stands waiting to be gathered and brought into the kingdom of God. Through God’s labor everyone has been prepared for the kingdom, but we need something more. We need to be invited. That’s where the seventy-two disciples in today’s gospel come in. This is where we come into the story, too.

“So, ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Some commentators say that Jesus sent the disciples out two by two so that one would pray while the other preached. Personally, I think we all have to pray, and we all have to preach.

We have to be people of prayer. Jesus often spent the night in prayer before he began a new segment of his mission. Prayer is that si

lent time when we invite the Spirit to speak to our hearts. This is essential to give us insight into the message of Jesus and the courage we’ll need to witness to it. Not pulling any punches, Jesus was clear that the work of harvesting could be difficult and maybe scary. “I am sending you like lambs among wolves.”

He also asks that we be simple and honest with our message. Remember, this is a heart to heart ministry. “Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals.” We must be single-minded, determined and sincere. The kingdom of God holds the gift we all long for. “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’”

In John’s Gospel, during the last supper, Jesus spoke intimately with his disciples. He said to them, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27) Jesus was opening the door of the kingdom for them. His gift of peace wasn’t freedom from struggle or danger, however. It was the peace that would remain secure and powerful in their hearts no matter what challenges life would bring them. This is what the laborer is asked to offer, the peace of the kingdom of God.

Today, the gospel is inviting each of us to work to bring in the harvest. God has already planted the seed throughout the world. Let’s pray to the Spirit for the gift of peace so that we can we can begin the ministry we’ve been called to. From deep within our hearts let’s proclaim the kingdom of God. Let’s be brave. Let’s say, “Peace be to this household.”