Sharon Doran

In this lecture on Luke 11, we focus especially on the Lord’s Prayer.  Seeing Jesus praying in a certain place, his disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  They saw the Lord praying by himself, and they desired to have a similar union with the Father.  As faithful Jews, the disciples knew how to pray, but they wanted to pray as Jesus prayed.  From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we learn that the first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the “Eighteen Benedictions” customary in Jewish piety (CCC 2767).  The Eighteen Benedictions, also known as the Amidah, are the core of every Jewish worship service.  Established by Ezra and recited while standing, the Amidah consists of prayers of praise, petitions and thanksgiving.  The Amidah is accompanied by the Shema prayer which is said twice daily and comes from Deuteronomy 6:  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  To the Jews, God was “one” but they had no understanding of the Trinity who is one God in three Persons.

The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer, spoken at Mass, the highest prayer, just after the Eucharistic prayer and just before the reception of Holy Communion.  The order of the Mass had its earliest beginnings just after the resurrection of Jesus when he appeared to the disciples at Emmaus: First, he opened the Scriptures(Liturgy of the Word) and then,  “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them (Luke 24:30 Liturgy of the Eucharist)”  The 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension was a time of prayer and learning for the disciples, as Jesus appeared to them.  After the ascension, the disciples prayed for nine days, which can be seen as the first novena.  Then, on the 10^th day, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection.

Catechism paragraph 1085 describes the glorious Paschal mystery.  It is a beautiful reflection worth reading in its entirety:

“In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father “once for all.” His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is – all that he did and suffered for all men – participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.”

The Lord’s Prayer has been described as the summary of the whole Gospel.  As found in Luke 11 and Matthew 6, it is a series of seven petitions.  Beginning with the words “Our Father,” the Lord’s Prayer immediately draws our hearts to the intimate relationship between a father and his children.  This sense of God was new to the Jews, who experienced God as creator and ruler.  We realize now that the first creation in Genesis makes sense in light of the new creation of Christ.  On occasion, the Old Testament describes God as a father, both to the nation of Israel (see Hosea 11, Isaiah 64:8, Malachi 2:10 as examples) and to certain individuals such as King David (1 Chronicles 22:11).  With Jesus, sonship takes on a whole new meaning.  He is a “Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power (Heb 1:2-3).”  Even more, we learn that not only is God the father of Jesus, He is also our Father:  “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (John 20:17).”

The next petition in the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed be thy name.”  It is a reminder that He is God and we are not.  From the beginning with Adam and Eve until now, we are tempted to be our own God.

Next is “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”  We are reminded that we can only serve one king and we need to choose between the worldly kingdom of Satan, and the heavenly Kingdom of Jesus.  Jesus established His kingdom when he walked the earth, and His kingdom continues forever both on earth and in heaven.  He promised the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  He appointed Peter and his successors as stewards of His kingdom, the Catholic Church (IS 22).  At the center of the kingdom is the true presence of God in the Eucharist.  In the Old Testament, the true presence of God was found in the Ark of the Covenant, but at the time of Jesus, the temple no longer held the Ark as it had been hidden

In this lecture on Luke 11, we focus especially on the Lord’s Prayer.  Seeing Jesus praying in a certain place, his disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  They saw the Lord praying by himself, and they desired to have a similar union with the Father.  As faithful Jews, the disciples knew how to pray, but they wanted to pray as Jesus prayed.  From the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we learn that the first communities prayed the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, in place of the “Eighteen Benedictions” customary in Jewish piety (CCC 2767).  The Eighteen Benedictions, also known as the Amidah, are the core of every Jewish worship service.  Established by Ezra and recited while standing, the Amidah consists of prayers of praise, petitions and thanksgiving.  The Amidah is accompanied by the Shema prayer which is said twice daily and comes from Deuteronomy 6:  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”  To the Jews, God was “one” but they had no understanding of the Trinity who is one God in three Persons.

The Lord’s Prayer is the perfect prayer, spoken at Mass, the highest prayer, just after the Eucharistic prayer and just before reception of Holy Communion.  The order of the Mass had its earliest beginnings just after the resurrection of Jesus when he appeared to the disciples at Emmaus: First he opened the Scriptures(Liturgy of the Word) and then,  “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them (Luke 24:30 Liturgy of the Eucharist)”  The 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension was a time of prayer and learning for the disciples, as Jesus appeared to them.  After the ascension, the disciples prayed for nine days, which can be seen as the first novena.  Then, on the 10^th day, the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection.

Catechism paragraph 1085 describes the glorious Paschal mystery.  It is a beautiful reflection worth reading in its entirety:

“In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father “once for all.” His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is – all that he did and suffered for all men – participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.”

The Lord’s Prayer has been described as the summary of the whole Gospel.  As found in Luke 11 and Matthew 6, it is a series of seven petitions.  Beginning with the words “Our Father,” the Lord’s Prayer immediately draws our hearts to the intimate relationship between a father and his children.  This sense of God was new to the Jews, who experienced God as creator and ruler.  We realize now that the first creation in Genesis makes sense in light of the new creation of Christ.  On occasion, the Old Testament describes God as a father, both to the nation of Israel (see Hosea 11, Isaiah 64:8, Malachi 2:10 as examples) and to certain individuals such as King David (1 Chronicles 22:11).  With Jesus, sonship takes on a whole new meaning.  He is a “Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.  He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power (Heb 1:2-3).”  Even more, we learn that not only is God the father of Jesus, He is also our Father:  “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (John 20:17).”

The next petition in the Lord’s Prayer is “Hallowed be thy name.”  It is a reminder that He is God and we are not.  From the beginning with Adam and Eve until now, we are tempted to be our own God.

Next is “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done.”  We are reminded that we can only serve one king and we need to choose between the worldly kingdom of Satan, and the heavenly Kingdom of Jesus.  Jesus established His kingdom when he walked the earth, and His kingdom continues forever both on earth and in heaven.  He promised the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  He appointed Peter and his successors as stewards of His kingdom, the Catholic Church (IS 22).  At the center of the kingdom is the true presence of God in the Eucharist.  In the Old Testament, the true presence of God was found in the Ark of the Covenant, but at the time of Jesus, the temple no longer held the Ark as it had been hidden

Luke chapter 9 begins with the mission of the twelve Apostles, whom Jesus gave power to cure disease and authority over all demons. They were instructed to take nothing for their journey and to “shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against” anyone who did not welcome them. To “shake off the dust” was a Hebrew idiom for Jews to separate themselves from the Gentiles. So in this context, Jesus was telling the Apostles to separate themselves from the Jews who rejected the Gospel. In a similar passage, Matthew took things a step further, warning “that it shall be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (Mt 10:15).” Knowing that Jesus gave the Apostles power over all demons helps us understand why Jesus chastised the disciples for their lack of faith when they could not drive out a demon from a boy (Luke 9:40-41).

The chapter continues with Herod’s perplexity. Herod knew that John the Baptist was dead, yet he heard some thought that John had been raised from the dead or that Elijah had returned. These stories led to Herod’s desire to meet Jesus, which finally occurs during the Passion. We learn from Josephus that John was imprisoned for two years prior to his execution at Machaerus, a Herodian fortress on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. John was imprisoned for criticizing Herod Antipas for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Phillip. Just as the evil Jezebel wanted to kill Elijah the prophet, so too did Herodias want to kill John the Baptist, the new Elijah.

The feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle (other than the Resurrection) that is found in all four Gospels. Luke was the only Gospel writer who specified that Bethsaida was the location of this miracle. Bethsaida was located at the inflow of the Jordan River into the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was the home town of Peter, Andrew and Philip and was the location of many miracles, including the successive healing of the blind man as told in Mark 8. The city of Bethsaida was later renamed after Livia Drusilla, (aka Julia Augusta) the wife of Caesar Augustus, who was emperor at the time Jesus’s birth. Caesar Augustus had no male heir of his own, so at his death, he bequeathed 2/3 of his empire to Tiberius, Livia’s son by another man, and 1/3 to Julia herself. Julia was very popular among the people of the empire and was at odds with her son, Tiberius. She was declared a priestess and then later a goddess, and many temples were built in her honor throughout the empire. One of these temples was built in Bethsaida and the ancient Jewish fishing town was renamed Julias in her honor.

During the feeding of the 5000, Jesus told the people to sit together in companies of 50. This recalls the encampment of the Israelites in the Sinai desert. Moses divided the people into companies that surrounded the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the true presence of God. The companies were led by four of the twelve tribes as represented on banners with images of a lion (representing Judah), the face of a man (representing Ruben), an ox (representing Ephraim) and an eagle (representing Dan). Just as the companies in Sinai surrounded the true presence of God in the Tabernacle, so too did the companies of 50 surround Jesus, the true presence of God and Word made flesh, at the feeding of the 5000. The images on the Sinai banners were later seen in the description of the four living creatures in Ezekiel’s vision of heaven (EZEK 1) as well as in John the Evangelist’s vision of heaven in Revelation 4: the four living creatures surround the true presence of God in heaven. The four living creatures also symbolize the Gospel writers: Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox and John the eagle. In many churches, images of the Gospel writers in the form of the four living creatures surround the tabernacle, which contains the true presence of God in the Eucharist. The feeding of the 5000 prefigures the Eucharist: the words take, blessed, broke and gave said by Jesus are the same words spoken by the priest during the Eucharistic prayer. On the road to Emmaus, the disciples recognized Jesus after he first opened the Word and then took, blessed, broke and gave bread to the disciples. At mass, both the Word and the Eucharist are equally venerated as both are Jesus. Through Moses, the Lord fed manna to the Israelites; through Jesus the new Moses, the Lord fed bread to the 5000; through the priesthood in persona Christi, the Lord feeds us the bread of life in the Eucharist.

Finally, we learn about the Transfiguration, which most ancient historians believed took place on Mount Tabor. Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to the mountain top, where they saw Elijah and Moses visit with the transfigured Jesus about his coming exodus. The fear the Apostles felt when they saw the radiant face of Jesus reminds us of the fear of the Israelites when they saw the radiant face of Moses after he received the tablets of the law from the Lord. They were all overshadowed by a cloud, which brings to mind the Lord’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai as well as the annunciation to Mary, who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. The apostles were heavy with sleep, which reminds us of Gethsemane when the apostles fell asleep while Jesus prayed. Jesus’ human nature was highlighted in his baptism, while his divine nature was transmitted through the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration marked the turning point in the ministry of Jesus, when he set his face towards Jerusalem and his passion, death and resurrection.

Luke chapter 9 begins with the mission of the twelve Apostles, whom Jesus gave power to cure disease and authority over all demons. They were instructed to take nothing for their journey and to “shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against” anyone who did not welcome them. To “shake off the dust” was a Hebrew idiom for Jews to separate themselves from the Gentiles. So in this context, Jesus was telling the Apostles to separate themselves from the Jews who rejected the Gospel. In a similar passage, Matthew took things a step further, warning “that it shall be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town (Mt 10:15).” Knowing that Jesus gave the Apostles power over all demons helps us understand why Jesus chastised the disciples for their lack of faith when they could not drive out a demon from a boy (Luke 9:40-41).

The chapter continues with Herod’s perplexity. Herod knew that John the Baptist was dead, yet he heard some thought that John had been raised from the dead or that Elijah had returned. These stories led to Herod’s desire to meet Jesus, which finally occurs during the Passion. We learn from Josephus that John was imprisoned for two years prior to his execution at Machaerus, a Herodian fortress on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. John was imprisoned for criticizing Herod Antipas for his unlawful marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Phillip. Just as the evil Jezebel wanted to kill Elijah the prophet, so too did Herodias want to kill John the Baptist, the new Elijah.

The feeding of the 5000 is the only miracle (other than the Resurrection) that is found in all four Gospels. Luke was the only Gospel writer who specified that Bethsaida was the location of this miracle. Bethsaida was located at the inflow of the Jordan River into the Sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was the home town of Peter, Andrew and Philip and was the location of many miracles, including the successive healing of the blind man as told in Mark 8. The city of Bethsaida was later renamed after Livia Drusilla, (aka Julia Augusta) the wife of Caesar Augustus, who was emperor at the time Jesus’s birth. Caesar Augustus had no male heir of his own, so at his death, he bequeathed 2/3 of his empire to Tiberius, Livia’s son by another man, and 1/3 to Julia herself. Julia was very popular among the people of the empire and was at odds with her son, Tiberius. She was declared a priestess and then later a goddess, and many temples were built in her honor throughout the empire. One of these temples was built in Bethsaida and the ancient Jewish fishing town was renamed Julias in her honor.

During the feeding of the 5000, Jesus told the people to sit together in companies of 50. This recalls the encampment of the Israelites in the Sinai desert. Moses divided the people into companies that surrounded the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the true presence of God. The companies were led by four of the twelve tribes as represented on banners with images of a lion (representing Judah), the face of a man (representing Ruben), an ox (representing Ephraim) and an eagle (representing Dan). Just as the companies in Sinai surrounded the true presence of God in the Tabernacle, so too did the companies of 50 surround Jesus, the true presence of God and Word made flesh, at the feeding of the 5000. The images on the Sinai banners were later seen in the description of the four living creatures in Ezekiel’s vision of heaven (EZEK 1) as well as in John the Evangelist’s vision of heaven in Revelation 4: the four living creatures surround the true presence of God in heaven. The four living creatures also symbolize the Gospel writers: Matthew the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox and John the eagle. In many churches, images of the Gospel writers in the form of the four living creatures surround the tabernacle, which contains the true presence of God in the Eucharist. The feeding of the 5000 prefigures the Eucharist: the words take, blessed, broke and gave said by Jesus are the same words spoken by the priest during the Eucharistic prayer. On the road to Emmaus, the disciples recognized Jesus after he first opened the Word and then took, blessed, broke and gave bread to the disciples. At mass, both the Word and the Eucharist are equally venerated as both are Jesus. Through Moses, the Lord fed manna to the Israelites; through Jesus the new Moses, the Lord fed bread to the 5000; through the priesthood in persona Christi, the Lord feeds us the bread of life in the Eucharist.

Finally, we learn about the Transfiguration, which most ancient historians believed took place on Mount Tabor. Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to the mountain top, where they saw Elijah and Moses visit with the transfigured Jesus about his coming exodus. The fear the Apostles felt when they saw the radiant face of Jesus reminds us of the fear of the Israelites when they saw the radiant face of Moses after he received the tablets of the law from the Lord. They were all overshadowed by a cloud, which brings to mind the Lord’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai as well as the annunciation to Mary, who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. The apostles were heavy with sleep, which reminds us of Gethsemane when the apostles fell asleep while Jesus prayed. Jesus’ human nature was highlighted in his baptism, while his divine nature was transmitted through the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration marked the turning point in the ministry of Jesus, when he set his face towards Jerusalem and his passion, death and resurrection.

This chapter begins with a list of women who accompanied Jesus and his apostles and provided for their needs:  Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.   Mary Magdalene, who had 7 demons driven out of her, is often erroneously thought to be a prostitute.  The Church Fathers saw these demons as a metaphor for the 7 deadly sins.   Scripture never calls her by this title, but beginning with Pope Gregory the Great, some have assumed this was the case.  However, much like the Eastern Church, many of the great saints of the early church did not apply this label to her.  Mary was from Magdala, a thriving fishing village on the Sea of Galilee.  Mary has been called “the apostle to the Apostles” as Jesus entrusts her with the mission of bringing the good news of the resurrection to the disciples locked away in the upper room (John 20).

Luke 8 marks a transition from Jesus’ direct approach to teaching (as seen in Luke 6 with the Sermon on the Plain) to the use of parables.  These simple memorable stories are rich in spiritual meanings and are often directed to the common people, as opposed to the Jewish aristocracy who seem unable to comprehend their meaning.  While used extensively by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, parables can also be found in the Old Testament.  In 2 Samuel 11-12, we read of the story of King David and Bathsheba.  King David lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in David’s army.  After Bathsheba became pregnant with David’s child, David attempted to cover his sin by encouraging Uriah to sleep with his wife.  When Uriah refused, David had him sent to the front lines to be killed, instructing Joab to draw back the other soldiers in the heat of battle, leaving Uriah exposed to the enemy.   Nathan the prophet then told David the parable of a poor man whose only lamb was taken by a wealthy neighbor who slaughters it to host a party for a guest.  When David heard the story, he declared that the wealthy man deserved to die.  When Nathan told David, “You are the man!” David repented of his sin, composing the Psalm 51 where he acknowledged his sin and begged the Lord’s forgiveness.

Much like Nathan, Jesus used parables to speak truth to those in power. Full understanding of these stories will come at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit brought the gifts of wisdom and understanding.  Beginning with the parable of the sower, Jesus taught the crowds about the importance of one’s receptivity to the Word of God.  The seed is the Word of God, and the ones on the path are those who have hear the Word, yet the devil takes it away from their hearts.  The ones on rocky ground are those who hear the Word with joy but have no root and then fall away in a time of testing.  The ones among the thorns hear the Word, but they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  Finally, the ones in good soil hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. The mini-parable of the lampstand follows and is a warning to all that what is hidden will ultimately be revealed.  All secrets will eventually come to light.

When Jesus entered a boat, he was leaving the western Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee and was traveling to the eastern pagan side.  When a storm arose, the disciples panicked and begged for the Lord’s help.  After calming the storm, Jesus asked them a rhetorical question, “Where is your faith?”   This story recalls the story of Jonah, who was thrown overboard in a storm.  As Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the fish, so too did Jesus spend 3 days in the tomb.  As Jonah was expelled by the fish onto the shore, so too did Jesus break forth from the tomb.

Upon arriving on the pagan side of the lake (to the region of the Decapolis), Jesus encountered the Gerasene demoniac, who wandered naked amongst the tombs.  Jesus restored the man’s dignity, asking for his name and driving the legion of demons into a heard of swine, who promptly threw themselves off a cliff into the sea, which is symbolic of the abyss from which the demons came.  The healed man begged to follow Jesus, but instead Jesus instructed him to tell others what God had done for him.  This evangelization set the stage for the miraculous feeding of 4000 that occurred at a later date when Jesus returns to the Decapolis (Matthew 15, Mark 8).

When Jesus returned to the Jewish side of the lake, he was greeted by the news that the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus was near death, so he set off to see her.  Along the way, a woman afflicted with a hemorrhage for 12 years reached out to touch Jesus’ garment, in the hopes that her suffering would be put to an end.  This beautiful miracle within a miracle is steeped with spiritual significance.  Because of her bleeding, this woman would have been ritually unclean for 12 years as prescribed Leviticus 15.  Through her faith in Jesus, the woman was immediately healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ clothes.  Because the healing was instantaneous, Jesus remained ritually clean and was not subject to the prohibitions outlined in Leviticus 15.  Upon arriving to Jairus’ house, Jesus was told that he was too late, and the child had already died.  Jesus replied, “Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be saved.”  Taking Peter, James and John with him into the parents’ house, Jesus commanded the child to get up.  Her spirit returned and she immediately got up.

These two miracles have a deep spiritual meaning beyond the physical healing of the woman hemorrhaging for 12 years and the raising of the 12-year-old girl.  Recall that the number 12 is symbolic for “governance”:  the twelve tribes of Israel; the 12 apostles.   The woman represents old daughter Zion, who is no longer bearing fruit and the young girl represents new daughter Zion.  Before Jesus, Israel was subject to the laws of the Old Covenant.  Jesus brings healing to the hemorrhaging woman, just as he brings healing to Israel.  Jesus brings life to the young girl, just as he brings life to Israel, ushering in a new governance and a New Covenant.

This chapter begins with a list of women who accompanied Jesus and his apostles and provided for their needs:  Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna.   Mary Magdalene, who had 7 demons driven out of her, is often erroneously thought to be a prostitute.  The Church Fathers saw these demons as a metaphor for the 7 deadly sins.   Scripture never calls her by this title, but beginning with Pope Gregory the Great, some have assumed this was the case.  However, much like the Eastern Church, many of the great saints of the early church did not apply this label to her.  Mary was from Magdala, a thriving fishing village on the Sea of Galilee.  Mary has been called “the apostle to the Apostles” as Jesus entrusts her with the mission of bringing the good news of the resurrection to the disciples locked away in the upper room (John 20).

Luke 8 marks a transition from Jesus’ direct approach to teaching (as seen in Luke 6 with the Sermon on the Plain) to the use of parables.  These simple memorable stories are rich in spiritual meanings and are often directed to the common people, as opposed to the Jewish aristocracy who seem unable to comprehend their meaning.  While used extensively by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, parables can also be found in the Old Testament.  In 2 Samuel 11-12, we read of the story of King David and Bathsheba.  King David lusted after Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in David’s army.  After Bathsheba became pregnant with David’s child, David attempted to cover his sin by encouraging Uriah to sleep with his wife.  When Uriah refused, David had him sent to the front lines to be killed, instructing Joab to draw back the other soldiers in the heat of battle, leaving Uriah exposed to the enemy.   Nathan the prophet then told David the parable of a poor man whose only lamb was taken by a wealthy neighbor who slaughters it to host a party for a guest.  When David heard the story, he declared that the wealthy man deserved to die.  When Nathan told David, “You are the man!” David repented of his sin, composing the Psalm 51 where he acknowledged his sin and begged the Lord’s forgiveness.

Much like Nathan, Jesus used parables to speak truth to those in power. Full understanding of these stories will come at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit brought the gifts of wisdom and understanding.  Beginning with the parable of the sower, Jesus taught the crowds about the importance of one’s receptivity to the Word of God.  The seed is the Word of God, and the ones on the path are those who have hear the Word, yet the devil takes it away from their hearts.  The ones on rocky ground are those who hear the Word with joy but have no root and then fall away in a time of testing.  The ones among the thorns hear the Word, but they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.  Finally, the ones in good soil hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance. The mini-parable of the lampstand follows and is a warning to all that what is hidden will ultimately be revealed.  All secrets will eventually come to light.

When Jesus entered a boat, he was leaving the western Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee and was traveling to the eastern pagan side.  When a storm arose, the disciples panicked and begged for the Lord’s help.  After calming the storm, Jesus asked them a rhetorical question, “Where is your faith?”   This story recalls the story of Jonah, who was thrown overboard in a storm.  As Jonah spent 3 days in the belly of the fish, so too did Jesus spend 3 days in the tomb.  As Jonah was expelled by the fish onto the shore, so too did Jesus break forth from the tomb.

Upon arriving on the pagan side of the lake (to the region of the Decapolis), Jesus encountered the Gerasene demoniac, who wandered naked amongst the tombs.  Jesus restored the man’s dignity, asking for his name and driving the legion of demons into a heard of swine, who promptly threw themselves off a cliff into the sea, which is symbolic of the abyss from which the demons came.  The healed man begged to follow Jesus, but instead Jesus instructed him to tell others what God had done for him.  This evangelization set the stage for the miraculous feeding of 4000 that occurred at a later date when Jesus returns to the Decapolis (Matthew 15, Mark 8).

When Jesus returned to the Jewish side of the lake, he was greeted by the news that the twelve-year-old daughter of Jairus was near death, so he set off to see her.  Along the way, a woman afflicted with a hemorrhage for 12 years reached out to touch Jesus’ garment, in the hopes that her suffering would be put to an end.  This beautiful miracle within a miracle is steeped with spiritual significance.  Because of her bleeding, this woman would have been ritually unclean for 12 years as prescribed Leviticus 15.  Through her faith in Jesus, the woman was immediately healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ clothes.  Because the healing was instantaneous, Jesus remained ritually clean and was not subject to the prohibitions outlined in Leviticus 15.  Upon arriving to Jairus’ house, Jesus was told that he was too late, and the child had already died.  Jesus replied, “Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be saved.”  Taking Peter, James and John with him into the parents’ house, Jesus commanded the child to get up.  Her spirit returned and she immediately got up.

These two miracles have a deep spiritual meaning beyond the physical healing of the woman hemorrhaging for 12 years and the raising of the 12-year-old girl.  Recall that the number 12 is symbolic for “governance”:  the twelve tribes of Israel; the 12 apostles.   The woman represents old daughter Zion, who is no longer bearing fruit and the young girl represents new daughter Zion.  Before Jesus, Israel was subject to the laws of the Old Covenant.  Jesus brings healing to the hemorrhaging woman, just as he brings healing to Israel.  Jesus brings life to the young girl, just as he brings life to Israel, ushering in a new governance and a New Covenant.