God is always on the side of the poor in Luke. Jesus’s birth is announced to poor shepherds. Jesus's first sermon is a proclamation of good news to the poor. And this God--who loves the poor so much--is most often described as a loving parent. From Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist; to Mary, the mother of Jesus; to Father Abraham who takes poor Lazarus into his bosom… the Gospel of Luke reminds us of God’s unconditional love as father.
Why? During Jesus’s time, fathers were the heads of the basic unit of the hierarchical Roman society, the family. They had the power of life and death over everyone in the family. And the Emperor, on top of the pyramid of power, was the “Father of all fathers.” In Jesus’s upside-down kingdom that celebrated the discipleship of equals, there was only one father: God.
At the cross, two of Jesus’s last three words in Luke are addressed to his father. Jesus says, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” If God is our parent and we are all God’s children, then God's children include "enemies": the centurion and the soldiers who crucified Jesus. Forgiveness is one of the greatest expressions of loving enemies.
Jesus in Luke challenges his followers to love their enemies and to do good to those who hate them. He did both all his life until his death. Luke offers us three “enemies who love:” the Roman centurion who built a synagogue for his Jewish friends; the Samaritan who cared for a wounded Jew; and Zacchaeus, the tax collector, who gave all his riches to those whose only hope was God.
Jesus says to one of the rebels crucified with him, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Yes, it is rebel, not thief or robber the way most English translations render the Greek "lestes". (And these rebels were mostly dispossessed farmers and runaway slaves.) The Romans invented crucifixion for enemies of the state.
When God saves, God saves communities and peoples. To celebrate the incarnation is to celebrate that God has left heaven to be with us. No one lives and dies alone. God is always with us. Near death, Jesus reminds his fellow victim that he is not alone. No one dies alone!
Then Jesus says, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke follows Mark and Matthew’s lead here. Jesus also quotes a Psalm. In this case Psalm 31. It is also like Psalm 22, a Psalm of deliverance. Jesus believed in a God who will never forsake. And God does not forsake Jesus. Many of us pray Jesus's prayer before we sleep at night. We commit everything to God, yet we stay up all night thinking of so many things only God has control over. Let us follow Jesus. Even in death, he knew that he was safe in God’s hands.
When Nanay died at the ICU of the Philippine Heart Center no one among her family was there. Not Tatay. Not my brother nor my sister. Not me.
But she was not alone.
Friends, no one, ever, dies alone.
TO BE CONTINUED.
(Fourth of Five)
*Image generated by Microsoft Copilot
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