Tuesday, October 15, 2019
28TH Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Rom 1:16-25
GOSPEL: Luke 11:37-41
As Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his house. He entered and reclined at table. Seeing this, the Pharisee was surprised that he had not first performed the ablution prescribed before eating. The Lord said to him: “You Pharisees! You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but within you are filled with rapaciousness. Fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside too? But if you give what you have as alms, all will be wiped clean for you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A group of friends on a joyriding escapade had to make a stopover at a town in Negros Oriental. It so happened that the town was celebrating its annual fiesta. Feeling hungry they thought of ways to get free lunch. To those who are not familiar with Cebuano culture, this maxim is instructive: “When fiesta time is running every house is one’s dining”. The group trooped to one house, presumably the house of rich family because it was big. Thinking they were distant relatives because they kissed everyone’s hand, the host ushered them to the dining table. Trouble came when the matriarch joined them at table and began asking how each was related to her. One by one they slipped out of the house by the kitchen door. Hilarious yet embarrassing!
Jesus’ experience in the house of a Pharisee was even more embarrassing. He was a legitimate guest, yet his host subjected him to a more cruel scrutiny. He even made a big fuss of Jesus’ failure to do the customary washing of hands before eating. The host got a dose of his own medicine when Jesus exposed his hypocrisy. Jesus said: “You Pharisees! You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but within you are filled with rapaciousness.”
The elderly host who scrutinized the uninvited guests did not intend to embarrass them. Not so with the Pharisee. There was malice in the way he watched Jesus closely from the moment he entered his house. How unfortunate that an occasion of love and hospitality such as a meal was used to trap innocent guests like Jesus. If one is uncharitable during occasions so associated with charity like a meal, how can we expect him to be charitable in other occasions? “
At fiesta time all jokes are valid”, say the Italians. For sure Italians do not go so far as crack offensive jokes, for the essence of a meal is charity. “When fiesta time is running, every house is one’s dining.” The nature of a meal as charity is fully realized in our Eucharistic banquets. The host is Jesus himself who considers everyone not just relatives but brothers and sisters under one Father. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.