Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
When Jesus enters your home, everything changes. This statement applies, whether we consider a physical home or the home of your heart. When Jesus enters these spaces, be prepared for a major shift! This is what happened to the pharisee in today’s Gospel; it will happen to us as we offer hospitality to our Lord sincerely and contritely, seeking the transformation that only he can bring.
I took note of how yesterday’s Gospel began, “While he [Jesus] was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him . . .” I invite you to pause a moment and look back over the preceding verses in the eleventh chapter of Luke’s Gospel to see what Jesus was speaking about. We find Jesus teaching the Lord’s Prayer, offering a parable on persevering in prayer, casting out a demon and teaching on the demonic, defining true blessedness, foreshadowing his resurrection through the sign of Jonah, and inviting us to be light.
Notice the response of the host pharisee to all that Jesus was saying: “The Pharisee was astonished to see that he [Jesus] did not first wash before dinner.” Really?! You’ve experienced Jesus’ miracles, his teaching that had recognized power and authority (Luke 4:32ff) and your fixation is ritual washing? This response triggered Jesus’ “woes,” his lament regarding the Pharisees’ blindness and hardness of heart. The Pharisee hosting Jesus in his home was not astonished at the power of God’s love; he was offended that Jesus did not follow the letter of the ceremonial law. The Pharisee was religious; Jesus calls us to relationship, to discipleship.
When Jesus enters your home he upends convention, he ushers in the Kingdom of God, he brings the light and love of the Father, he bears truth and grace, his presence transforms. To what does Jesus’ presence inspire us? Pause a moment and reflect. Our Gospel today points to – generosity, justice, the love of God, humility, and freedom. Sometimes we fall into the trap that says to be a good Catholic is to be “religious.” Like the Pharisees, Jesus calls us beyond mere religiosity into relationship and love. Let us examine our lives. Are there any areas in which we tend to be pharisaical? Are there any instances in which we rest on the laurels of external observance while closing off our hearts to the transforming power of God? As Jesus enters the home of your heart, how does he find you responding to him?
When Jesus enters the home of our heart, everything changes. When Jesus takes up residence in our hearts, we exhibit more authentically and consistently the fruit of the Spirit, as St Paul describes it in our first reading, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” When Jesus becomes Lord of our heart, all pharisaical tendencies fall away, and our lives demonstrate what Paul goes on to say, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.” When Jesus makes himself comfortable and at home in our heart, we are released to offer the Holy Spirit free rein. As Paul encourages us, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also follow the Spirit.” Following the Spirit and living as legalistic pharisees are mutually exclusive. When we try to be “religious” on our own we fail miserably like the Pharisees did. The only way to be a follower of Christ is to respond to him in love and invite him to take over your heart and your life.
How might our lives also be transformed if we more regularly and overtly invite Jesus into our homes? Think about ways in which you might prayerfully invite Jesus to dwell in your home, to inhabit the spaces with you, to shine his light into the hearts of not only each family member who lives there, but also into the hearts and lives of all guests who visit. Imagine how our homes would become true lighthouses if we were to sincerely and humbly ask Jesus to come and take up residence with us. What changes might you expect to see in your home life if Jesus were to come and dwell there with you and your family?
As our psalm sings, “Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.” May it be so in our lives today and always.
I’ll see you in the Eucharist,
Elizabeth Wells