Neli ML

  Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost 2025 Luke 16 :1-13 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today’s Gospel presents one of Jesus’ most intriguing parables, one that speaks directly to the issue of wealth. It is important to note that Jesus never condemned wealth in itself, but he consistently challenged the systems that allowed for its accumulation in the hands of a few. His constant teaching was to share resources with the poor, who made up the vast majority of the population in his time. To understand this challenging parable, we must place it in the economic context of first-century Palestine under Roman occupation. By this time, much of the land had been taken from its original family owners and given to local elites and Roman rulers. Land was concentrated in a few hands, forcing most people to become tenant farmers or day laborers. Furthermore, although God’s Law forbade it, the system allowed landowners to charge exorbitant interest rates, which they used to seize more land and ...

  Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost 2025 Lucas 14:1, 7-14 Rev. Neli Miranda   The “ honor and shame” culture ruled in some ancient societies, including first-century Palestine.   These were two pivotal values that structured the public life of Jewish society.   Honor was the fundamental “social currency” which was a reputation ascribed at birth in a recognized family and achieved through power, wealth, and social standing. Shame, on the other hand, was not merely private guilt but a public reality. It meant the loss of face and status in the community’s eyes. In Jesus’s time, most of the population—the poor, the sick, the despised tax collectors and prostitutes, and those considered criminals—lived in a state of shame, excluded from the circles of the honorable elite. Shame and honor governed public behavior and was a strong incentive that marked people’s daily actions. Maintaining one’s status was a primary motivation even if it meant stepping over others. So...

  Tenth Sunday After Pentecost. August 17, 2025. Lucas 12:49-56 Rev. Neli Miranda   Fire, division, hypocrites! These are harsh words to hear from Jesus in today’s Gospel. To understand their meaning, we must place ourselves with Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. Time is short, opposition is intensifying, the cross is approaching, and many still fail to understand the urgency of his message. From the beginning of his proclamation, Jesus has faced the opposition and rejection of the Jewish leadership, yet, he continues his proclamation and “has set his face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51). This journey to the religious and political center of Israel is a point of no return. He knows it would lead to his execution, having already told his disciples, “ The Son of Man [He himself] must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed . . .” (9,51) . It is in this context of intense, anxious movement toward the fulfillment of ...

Ninth Sunday After Pentecost 2025 Luke 12:32-40 Revd. Neli Miranda   Last Sunday we reflected on the parable of the rich fool who, in his desire to accumulate wealth for himself, was unaware that his life would be demanded of him that very night. In light of this, Jesus offers us a crucial exhortation: “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” This message continues to resonate in our hearts today, emphasizing that “. . .life does not consist in the abundance of possessions” (12,15). Today, Jesus deepens his teaching on possessions. Before we delve into today’s Gospel, let us recall the verses that immediately precede it, where Jesus encourages us not to worry or be anxious about our material needs. He assures us that God, like a loving father, knows our needs and provides for them: “. . . do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying… your ...

  Eighth Sunday after Pentecost Luke 12:13-21 Rev. Neli Miranda In today’s Gospel, we encounter a man who approaches Jesus, demanding intervention in the distribution of a family inheritance : “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me” (12,13). Jesus’s response is both swift and revealing : “Friend, who appointed me a judge or arbitrator over you?” (12,14).   He quickly shifts from the legal issue to the deeper spiritual concern at hand. The man, likely the younger brother seeking his one-third share under Judaic law, wants a mediator for his financial dispute. Instead of taking sides, Jesus turns to his disciples and the surrounding crowd with a warning. Having just taught them, in the previous verses, what and whom to fear, he adds a new danger to the list: greed. "Watch out!" he says, "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed" (12,15). He identifies greed as a corrosive force, a form of idolatry where the self is placed at the ...

  Fifth Sunday after Pentecost 2025 Luke 10:25-37 Rev. Neli Miranda As Jesus makes his way toward Jerusalem, an expert in the Law approaches to test him, asking “ Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life ?” In an ingenious move, Jesus turns the question back to the expert, redirecting him to his own field of knowledge. Jesus poses two key questions, not just about the content of the Law but, crucially, about the expert’s personal interpretation of the Law: “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” The expert answers brilliantly, synthesizing two core commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” To this, Jesus responds directly and affirms, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” Given that the expert’s initial question was a test, his follow-up is an attempt to justify himself, and seeking to define the ...