- Ignatius of Loyola, Priest and Monastic, 1556 was a Spanish knight from a local Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and, on 19 April 1541, became its first Superior General
August
· 5 Albrecht
Dürer, 1528, Matthias Grünewald, 1529, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1553, was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker
in woodcut
and engraving.
He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and
is known for his portraits, both of German princes and those of the leaders of
the Protestant Reformation, whose cause he
embraced with enthusiasm, becoming a close friend of Martin
Luther. Artists
OLD TESTAMENT: Hosea 11: 1 - 11 (RCL)
Hose 11:1 (NRSV) When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt
I called my son.
2 The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Ba'als,
and offering incense to idols.
3 Yet it was I who taught E'phraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of human kindness,
with bands of love.
I was to them like those
who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
5 They shall return to the land
of Egypt,
and Assyria shall be their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
6 The sword rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours because of their schemes.
7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
8 How can I give you up, E'phraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Ad'mah?
How can I treat you like Zeboi'im?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
9 I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy E'phraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
10 They shall go after the LORD,
who roars like a lion;
when he roars,
his children shall come trembling from the west.
11 They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
and like doves from the land
of Assyria;
and I will return them to their homes, says the LORD.
Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 12 -
14, 2:
18 - 23 (alt. for RCL)
Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 2: 21 - 23 (Roman
Catholic)
Eccl 1:2 (NRSV) Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
12 I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, 13
applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under
heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy
with. 14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is
vanity and a chasing after wind.
2:18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the
sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me 19 --and who knows
whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which
I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. 20 So I turned
and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the
sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and
skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This
also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get from all the toil and
strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days are full of
pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This
also is vanity.
PSALM 107: 1 - 9, 43 (RCL)
Psal 107:1 (NRSV) O give thanks to the LORD, for he is
good;
for his steadfast love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
5 hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
7 he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.
8 Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.
43 Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the LORD.
107
Part I Confitemini Domino (ECUSA BCP)
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *
and his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim *
that he redeemed them from the hand of the
foe.
3 He gathered them out of the lands;
*
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes; *
they found no way to a city where they might
dwell.
5 They were hungry and thirsty; *
their spirits languished within them.
6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *
and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He put their feet on a straight
path *
to go to a city where they might dwell.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *
and the wonders he does for his children.
9 For he satisfies the thirsty *
and fills the hungry with good things.
43 Whoever is wise will ponder these
things, *
and consider well the mercies of the Lord.
Psalm 49: 1 - 12 (alt. for RCL)
Psal 49:1 (NRSV) Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 both low and high,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,
6 those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
7 Truly, no ransom avails for one's life,
there is no price one can give to God for it.
8 For the ransom of life is costly,
and can never suffice
9 that one should live on forever
and never see the grave.
10 When we look at the wise, they die;
fool and dolt perish together
and leave their wealth to others.
11 Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they named lands their own.
12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;
they are like the animals that perish.
49 Audite haec, omnes (ECUSA BCP)
1 Hear this, all you peoples;
hearken, all you who dwell in the world, *
you of high degree and low, rich and poor
together.
2 My mouth shall speak of wisdom, *
and my heart shall meditate on
understanding.
3 I will incline my ear to a proverb *
and set forth my riddle upon the harp.
4 Why should I be afraid in evil days, *
when the wickedness of those at my heels
surrounds me,
5 The wickedness of those who put their trust in
their goods, *
and boast of their great riches?
6 We can never ransom ourselves, *
or deliver to God the price of our life;
7 For the ransom of our life is so great, *
that we should never have enough to pay it,
8 In order to live for ever and ever, *
and never see the grave.
9 For we see that the wise die also;
like the dull and stupid they perish *
and leave their wealth to those who come
after them.
10 Their
graves shall be their homes for ever,
their dwelling places from generation to
generation, *
though they call the lands after their own
names.
11 Even
though honored, they cannot live for ever; *
they are like the beasts that perish.
Psalm 90: 3 - 6, 12 - 14,
17 (Roman Catholic)
Psal 90:3 (NRSV) You turn us back to dust,
and say, "Turn back, you mortals."
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
12 So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
13 Turn, O LORD! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands-
O prosper the work of our hands!
Note: The
New American Bible (the translation used for the US RC lectionary) partially
reverses the order of verses 3 & 4.
NEW TESTAMENT: Colossians 3: 1 - 11 (RCL)
Colossians 3: 1 - 5, 9 - 11
(Roman Catholic)
Colo 3:1 (NRSV) So if you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of
God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on
earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When
Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in
glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly:
fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6
On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7
These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8
But now you must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and
abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you
have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed
yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to
the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew,
circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scyth'ian, slave and free; but Christ
is all and in all!
The author has described baptism as being raised with Christ and becoming sharers in his suffering and death. In the early Church, those to be baptised removed their clothes before the rite and donned new ones after it, symbolizing the casting aside of their old ways and their new life in Christ. Vv. 1-4 summarize this teaching. The author tells us that we already have close fellowship with Christ, but that this is not yet fully revealed; our lives are still “hidden with Christ in God” (v. 3). When Christ’s glory is “revealed” (v. 4) at the end of time, our complete union with him will also be seen. (Early Christians saw Psalm 110:1, “... Sit at my right hand ...”, see v. 1, as showing that Jewish messianic hopes are realized in Christ.)
Being baptised, we are expected to conduct ourselves ethically (vv. 5-17): we are to cast aside both sins of the body (v. 5) and of the mind (v. 8). “Fornication” (v. 5), porneia in Greek, means all forms of sexual immorality; the “impurity” is sexual; “passion” is lust; evil desire is self-centred covetousness; “greed” motivates a person to set up a god besides God. Because people still commit these sins wilfully and without seeking forgiveness, “the wrath of God is coming” (v. 6) on them – at the end of time. (“Image of its creator”, v. 10, recalls that God makes humans in his own image.) In the baptised community, racial and social barriers no longer exist, for “Christ is all and in all” (v. 11).
Verse 1: “have been raised with Christ”: In 2:12, the author writes: “when you were buried with him [Christ] in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead”. In Ephesians 5:14, an author quotes what may be a portion of an early baptismal hymn: “‘Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’”. [ CAB]
Verse 1: “seated at the right hand of God”: Hebrews 1:3 says “... When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”. [ NOAB]
Verse 3: “you have died”: i.e. to the world. [ NOAB]
Verse 4: Perhaps this is a paraphrase of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever”. See also Mark 13:24-27 (the Little Apocalypse); 1 John 2:28; 3:2. [ NOAB]
Verse 5: Lists of sins are common in Hellenic literature of the time, so there is no implication that the Christians at Colossae indulged in any of these sins. Similar lists are found in the Qumran literature: see, for example, 1QS (Rule of the Community) 4:3-5 and CD (Damascus Document) 4:17-19. [ NJBC]
Verse 5: “fornication”: The Greek word also occurs in Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:1 (“sexual immorality ... a man is living with his father's wife”), 1 Corinthians 6:13; 7:2; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Revelation 2:21. [ CAB]
From time to time, Clippings points out that words in the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament are found in particular verses in the translation of the Old Testament in common use when the New Testament was written. But, the Septuagint was written some two to three centuries before the New Testament, so we sometimes need to ask whether the meaning of these words had changed over the centuries. In the case of v. 5 here, we should ask: did the author know of older meanings for some of the words in his list of vices? Consider porneia (“fornication”). In Classical Greek (the language of five to six centuries before Christ), porneia seems to have primarily referred to prostitution. If the author of Colossians was aware of this earlier meaning (which might have still been current when Hosea was translated into Greek), perhaps he tied this passage with Hosea 1:2: “... Go, take for yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom”. In the Septuagint translation, “whoredom” is porneia and “the land commits great whoredom “ (Septuagint: ekporneuousa) . He was probably also aware of Proverbs 5, where good and bad women, representing wisdom and foolishness, and faithfulness and faithlessness, are mentioned. (In the Septuagint translation of Proverbs 5:3, “loose woman” is gynaikos pornes.) So it seems that more is at stake than sexual misbehaviour; indeed, the author of Colossians calls on his readers to be faithful (as Hosea called on his to be faithful to the covenant with God). Prostituting oneself in either (and both) senses is the “earthly” part. [Abbott Conway]
In case the reader thinks that suggesting that the author might know earlier meanings of words is reading too much into the text, I point out that he was sufficiently learned to write of the cosmic nature of Christ. That he used this notion in his argument shows that his readers also had a certain background in the history of ideas. In Colossians 2:8, he writes “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe [kosmos], and not according to Christ” On the other hand, these older meanings hung on much longer than into New Testament Greek than scholars sometimes give credit. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 5: “impurity”: The word in the Greek is akatharsian . In Classical Greek, this word means want of cleansing, and hence filth , and metaphorically moral filthiness. There is also the sense of something that is akatharsos being unpurified, or unatoned. So the author may mean, within the general sense of morality, something more specific about behaviour that is consonant with the cleansing and atoning work of Christ. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 5: “passion”: The Greek word, pathos, may specifically relate to sexual passion, but generally it refers to any kind of suffering. In Classical Greek, the primary meaning is pain or distress, and spiritually it refers to any kind of violent feeling, whether of love or of hate. In Plato’s writings, the family of words refers to that which is accidental or changing (as distinct from that which is substantial and immutable). So, again, there may well be two meanings here: one sexual, and one to do with faith. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 5: “evil desire”: The Greek literally means bad (or evil) longings. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 5: “greed (which is idolatry)”: Ephesians 5:5 speaks of “one who is greedy (that is, an idolater)”. [ NOAB] The word translated “greed” also occurs in today’s gospel passage (Luke 12:15). The equating of this greed with idolatry helps fit the whole set of readings together, for the harlotry to which Hosea refers is none other than the abandonment of the covenant for local idols, as Ezekiel 3:6-11 exemplifies.
In a sense, then, this little passage offers a hinge between the general argument of Hosea that the holy people should avoid the faithlessness of idolatry, and the specific injunction of Jesus to avoid greed of any kind (which is a kind of idolatry, and thus is faithlessness to God). [Abbott Conway]
Verse 8: “anger, wrath”: The Greek word translated “anger”, orge, came to mean, by New Testament times, any violent passion, but especially wrath. Thymon (“wrath”) came to mean the seat of feelings, and then specifically the seat of anger. This may explain why the author uses two terms here, rather than just one: orge refers to the action of puffing oneself up with rage, and thymos refers to the residence of anger. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 8: “anger”: Ephesians 4:26-27 advises: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil”. [ CAB]
Verse 8: “malice”: The Greek word has a range of meanings from vice, malice, and depravity to ill-repute and dishonour. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 8: “slander”: The Greek word, blasphemian, means slander when it is directed to humans, and blasphemy when it is directed to God. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 8: “abusive language”: See also Ephesians 5:4 and James 3:5-12. [ CAB] The Greek means literally foul language. The stem of the word means both shame / disgrace, and ugliness / deformity. [Abbott Conway]
Verses 9-10: Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”. [ CAB]
Verse 10: “according to the image of its creator”: Genesis 1:26-27 begins: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness ...’”. See also 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 (“... the first Adam ... the last Adam”); Ephesians 2:10; 4:24. [ NOAB]
Verse 11: In Galatians 3:28, Paul writes: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus”. [ CAB]
Verse 11: “Scythian”: The Scythians were a nomadic people from the Caucasus who threatened the Assyrian and Persian empires from the north. In the Old Testament they are called “Ashkenaz” (see Genesis 10:3; 1 Chronicles 1:6; Jeremiah 51:27). The Scythians’ cruelty was proverbial in later antiquity (see 2 Maccabees 4:47; 3 Maccabees 7:5; 4 Maccabees 10:7).
Verse 11: “Christ is all and in all”: The Greek is alla [ta] panta kai en pasin Christos. This clause expresses both the universality of Christ (following from the descriptions of the cosmic Christ in earlier passages), and his presence in everything. The two Greek words (panta and pasin ) make absolutely clear a distinction that is not always evident in modem translations. [Abbott Conway]
Verses 12-17: V. 12 tells us the qualities which the baptised are expected to possess, i.e. be “clothed” with. “Compassion” is sympathy for the needs of others. We should be meek in the sense of gentle and considerate towards others. We should be forgiving as God has forgiven us. The primary Christian virtue is “love” (v. 14); it is born out of God’s love. May our thinking and actions be motivated by “the peace of Christ” (v. 15). May we teach each other in the light of the ultimate truth, i.e. God, and be joyful in the Lord. All we do should be done as though Jesus himself is doing it.
Verse 12: In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul says: “By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things”. See also 1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Peter 1:5-7. [ CAB]
Verse 12: “compassion”: See also 2 Corinthians 6:6 and Ephesians 2:7.
Verse 12: “humility”: In 2:18, the author counsels: “Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking”. See also 2:23. [ CAB]
Verse 12: “meekness”: It is also mentioned in Galatians 6:1 (“gentleness”) and 2 Timothy 2:25. [ CAB]
Verse 12: “patience”: See also 2 Corinthians 6:6; Ephesians 4:2; 2 Timothy 3:10; 4:2. [ CAB]
Verse 13: See also 2 Corinthians 11:19; Galatians 6:6; Romans 9:19; 15:7; Hebrews 8:8; Matthew 6:14-15; Ephesians 4:32. [ CAB]
Verse 15: “the peace of Christ”: In John 14:27, Jesus tells his disciples (and perhaps other followers): “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid”. Ephesians 2:14 says that “... he [Christ Jesus] is our peace ...”. See also 2 Thessalonians 3:16. [ CAB]
Verse 15: “rule”: Literally, be umpire.
Verse 17: In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul advises something similar: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God”. [ CAB]
GOSPEL: Luke 12: 13 - 21 (all)
Luke 12:13
(NRSV) Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to
divide the family inheritance with me." 14 But he said to him,
"Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" 15 And he
said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for
one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." 16 Then he
told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And
he thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no place to store my
crops?' 18 Then he said, "I will do this: I will pull down my barns and
build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I
will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
relax, eat, drink, be merry.' 20 But God said to him, "You fool! This very
night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared,
whose will they be?' 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for
themselves but are not rich toward God."
Jesus’ story of the farmer is particularly apt for a rural crowd. The farmer’s land “yielded a good harvest” (v. 16, Revised English Bible). As the frequent use of “I” in vv. 17-19 shows, he thinks only of himself, of his material well-being. He fools himself into thinking that materiality satisfies his inner being (“soul”, v. 19). This example story (unusual because God is a character) does not attack wealth per se, but rather amassing wealth solely for one’s own enjoyment. Purely selfish accumulation of wealth is incompatible with discipleship. God calls the farmer a “fool” (v. 20) for ignoring his relationship with him. Earthly riches are transient, but a time of reckoning is coming, when we will all be judged by God. This time may be when we die or at the end of time, or both. We must trust in God, leaving the future in his hands. Jesus makes his point by providing an absurd example: materialism can get in the way of godliness. (The crowd would recall that, in the Old Testament and in the Apocrypha, foolishness often has overtones of immorality, of deviating from God’s ways.)
This parable is found only in Luke. It exemplifies the meaning of the Cross: in 9:23-25, Jesus tells his disciples: “ ... ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?’” . The highly systematic way in which the farmer goes about protecting his harvest shows how absurd such selfishness is. See also Galatians 6:8-9.
Avoid the fate of the fool, whose reliance is on his possessions rather than on God!
This reading is the start of a long section on the deleterious effect possessions can have on discipleship. It ends at 12:34. [ NJBC]
It’s too bad that some modern translations miss what is undoubtedly some of the story-telling technique in the parable: So I’ll say to my soul, ‘Soul!...’. For that is what is in the Greek: the REB (for example) seems rather tame by comparison. The next part of the narrative, in which God shouts ‘Hey, dummy!...’ (NRSV: “‘You fool’”, v. 20) (which is actually what the Greek aphrón can carry, since it means senseless, and was used to refer to statues) ... statues, idols, the idolatry of greed: somehow it all fits in very nicely! But Our Lord, in packing in crowds of thousands ( 12:1) certainly knew how to tell a good story. Following from the encounter with the man in the crowd, this tale must have had them rolling on the grass. Can you imagine Our Lord acting out the story as he went? I can. One of my teachers always presented Jesus as a rollicking good story-teller. He used to say that one of the phrases probably missing from the Gospels is and the people fell about laughing ! [Abbott Conway]
Verse 13: “inheritance”: For the eldest son receiving a “double portion”, see Deuteronomy 21:17. For inheritance laws, see Numbers 27:1-11. [ JBC]
Verse 14: “Friend”: The Greek word is anthrope, the generic for human being. (Andros means a male.) Interestingly, Jesus uses the word again in the parable (v. 16); one would expect him to use andros. [Abbott Conway]
Verse 14: “who set me”: Jesus explicitly rejects the position of a second Moses, which the man’s request seems to imply. In Exodus 2:13-14, Moses sees two Israelites fighting. He asks “‘Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?”, and the man replies “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? ...”. [ BlkLk]
Verse 15: “one’s life ...”: See also 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (“there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it ...”). The Greek carries the sense that real and meaningful life cannot come from abundance of possessions. [ JBC]
Verses 16-19: The farmer is so egotistical that he eliminates both God and his neighbour from his sight.
Verse 18: Jesus’ audience would probably have known Sirach 11:18-19: “One becomes rich through diligence and self-denial, and the reward allotted to him is this: when he says, ‘I have found rest, and now I shall feast on my goods!’ he does not know how long it will be until he leaves them to others and dies”. [ BlkLk]
Verse 19: “eat, drink”: This is echoed in 12:45. [ NJBC]
Verse 20: Jeremiah 17:11 says: “Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools”. See also Job 27:8; Psalm 39:6; Luke 12:33-34. [ CAB]
Verse 20: “fool”: Foolishness often has overtones of immorality in the Old Testament and intertestamental literature. It is not just an epithet for stupidity. See Job 31:24-28; Psalms 14:1; 49; Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. The word Jesus uses for “fool” is not the same as the one he forbids us to use with reference to our fellow human beings in Matthew 5:22. [ Blomberg]
Verse 20: “life”: BlkLk offers soul. He also uses this word in vv. 22 and 23. However, he says that the Greek word, psyche, combines both life (as animating principle in a living creature, i.e. very being) and soul as contrasted with body. Psyche also occurs in v. 19, where it is translated as “soul”.
Verse 20: “is being demanded”: The Greek literally means they demand. This is a rabbinic circumlocution for God demands. This construction also occurs in v. 48 and 6:38.
Verse 20: “‘whose will they be?’”: This is the punch line of the example story, and forces readers to ask the basic question: What is life all about? [ NJBC]
Verse 21: Luke gives his own answer to the question in v. 20: find the meaning of life by acknowledging God and giving alms to the needy. [ NJBC]
Verse 21: “not rich”: The REB translates these words as a pauper.
Verses 22-34: The parallel is Matthew 6:25-33, 19-21. [ NOAB]
Verses 22-31: God’s providential care of his people makes unnecessary anxiety about appearance or daily needs, since a share in the life of God’s kingdom cannot be gained by human merit, but only as the Father’s gift.
Verse 24: “ravens”: They were considered unclean: see Leviticus 11:13-15 and Deuteronomy 14:11-14. They were known in antiquity as careless creatures who even fail to return to their nests. [ NJBC]
Verse 25: See also 10:41 (Martha and Mary); 12:11 (“When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say”); Philippians 4:6. [ NOAB]
Verses 27-28: Jesus draws the attention of members of his audience to situations in which their existence seems as helpless and as short-lived as that of ravens and lilies. One such situation is that of opposition to the good news which they preach. See 8:11-15 (the Parable of the Sower). In such situations, Jesus authoritatively assures his disciples with “little faith” of God’s gracious care for them. [ NJBC]
Verse 27: See also 1 Kings 10:1-10 (the Queen of Sheba visits Solomon). [ NOAB]
Verse 28: “you of little faith”: NJBC offers “little flock”. Jesus’ followers are few in number, struggling, and opposed.
Verse 29: “do not keep worrying”: BlkLk offers do not be in suspense. While the Greek word appears only here in the New Testament, contemporary usage suggests the meaning: to swing between heaven and earth, thus to have no sure footing, and so be anxious.
Verse 30: “nations of the world”: BlkLk offers all the nations of the world. He says that this is one of the most common rabbinic designations of the non-Israelite section of humankind. The words are those of a Jew to Jews whom he is recalling to their divine mission. Hence the emphatic And do not you search ... (NRSV: “And do not keep striving”) at the beginning of v. 29, and the beginning of v. 30b in the genitive but you have a Father who (NRSV: “and your Father”) See also Matthew 6:8: “... your Father knows what you need before you ask him”. [ NOAB]
