Luke 2:19 part 3

Detail, Luke 2:19
Copyright Peter Bougie 2017

In the center middle-ground Jesus is shown teaching the crowds. You can take your pick of gospel scenes in which Jesus is teaching or otherwise dealing with crowds of people. The Beatitudes come to mind, as put forth in the gospel of Matthew. In Luke, this is the sermon on the plain, and contains four blessings or beatitudes, and four woes. “Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now; for you shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed shall you be when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Be glad in that day and rejoice; for behold, your reward is great in heaven. But woe to you that are rich: for you have your consolation. Woe to you that are filled: for you shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh; for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when men shall bless you: for according to these things did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:20-26) People sit in various attitudes of listening; a group is on the move away from the group listening to Jesus. Jesus was always amid the movements of life, but He was not swept up in them. Jesus acted among the people, but only after he had prayed in solitude. Could the group moving away be the disciples who left Jesus during the Bread of Life discourse? It was a teaching that many found too hard to accept; but it is at the root of the Catholic belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Jesus reiterates multiple times in the face of objections from his disciples that He is literally the Bread of Life, and all but the twelve leave Him. Jesus asked the twelve if they would leave too. Peter’s reply suggests he might leave if there was anywhere else to go – “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) - and that he understands that there isn’t. Is it possible that some of those who left returned later? Recall the Parable of the Two Sons. “A certain man had two sons; and coming to the first he said: Son, go work today in my vineyard. And he answering, said: I will not. But afterwards, being moved with repentance, he went.” (Matthew 21 28-32) Also, one among the twelve who stayed had now set his heart against Jesus.

A figure stands between the departing group and the entrance to the bridge, gesturing toward the bridge and inviting those toward whom he is turned to follow, where Jesus is entering Jerusalem riding on the colt of an ass. The crowds are adoring Him and waving palm fronds. Soldiers lounge, bored, at their duty posts. One leans over a parapet on the left, as if he has spotted someone in the crowd, or maybe he is trying to get a closer look at Jesus. “Is this that Messiah guy? He’s riding a yearling ass. What’s up with that?” A man fishes from the bridge, his glance following Jesus. His friend, with legs dangling over the side, waves a palm frond. Because some people would rather go fishing, even though Jesus has come to Jerusalem. At least they have noticed Him. Where the bridge meets the wall along the river, a man appears to be ecstatic, having to be restrained by his friends from falling. Perhaps he is like the woman that anointed Jesus with oil while He dined with Simon the Pharisee. Jesus said to him, “Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much; but he to whom little is forgiven loves little.” (Luke 7:47) Or perhaps he is the Prodigal Son, who, welcomed home by his father after squandering his father’s wealth, was also forgiven much.

Detail, Luke 2:19
Copyright Peter Bougie 2017

Continued in the next post.

All scripture quotations from Douay Rheims