Philip Larkin said -

Man hands on misery to man.

    It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can, 

    And don’t have any kids yourself. 

(quoted in Wall Street Journal [July 6, 2024] 'Review,' p. C10)

-from Larkin poem, 'This Be The Verse'

Family Issues in Jesus' Sayings - Luke 12:13-15, Etcetera

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”  Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Lk 12:13ff NIV)

This passage also appears in Gospel of Thomas (saying 72), but without the warning to 'guard against greed.'  Instead, GTh has Jesus ask his disciples, "Amen, am I a divider?"  Also, GTh doesn't have prepositional phrase, "between (or "over") you," in Jesus' original response in Luke.  Additional witness of GTh to this interchange increases likelihood of its standing in the life of Jesus.  DeConick includes logion 72 in the "kernel" portion of GTh, which she dates "prior to" 50 A.D.(1)  Since this dialog is unparalleled in other NT gospels, it may have come to Luke via word of mouth.  Together, the two gospels point to early oral tradition as the medium which brought this encounter to them.  Luke 12:15, admonition contra avarice, may be supported as authentic teaching of Jesus of Nazareth on the basis of coherence with Mark 7:22 (greed or covetousness defiles) and similarity to Q saying at Matthew 6:25//Luke 12:22-23 ("life [psyche] is more than food").(2)

The interjection imploring Jesus to oversee a bequest mentions a "brother" (GTh "brothers"), which brings a family matter to the attention of Jesus.  It is not uncommon for disputes to arise concerning inheritances among surviving family members.  Laws, lawyers and courts help to settle such matters.  Provision for proper execution of estates is made in the Law of Moses (e.g., Num 27:8-11).  Though improper disposition of property could ruin a family and the assistance of a rabbi to counsel a family here is reasonable, Jesus deflects the request by exempting himself from such a role (i.e., "arbiter" or "divider").  Why?    

Jesus' strident refusal to become involved in an issue of fairness or justice for a family is akin to other gospel teachings on the requirements of God's kingdom.  

• A scribe came and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.  Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air, nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (Mat 8:19f) 
• Another of his disciples said to him, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.  Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead (Mat 8:21f)
• Said another, I will follow you Lord, yet first allow me to bid farewell to those at my home.  Then Jesus said to him, None laying hand upon plow and looking backward is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:61f)

Home and the details of family life are to be set aside in Jesus' mission of  leading people to God's kingdom.  

Jesus' own family, his mother and brothers, were looking for him and sent word to Jesus to come to them.  Jesus' response - "Who are my mother and my brothers?"  "Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother" (Mk 3:31-35 NIV).  Jesus' own family relations "were strained" (3) because of his dedication and focus on God.                                  

Notes

1. April DeConick, The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation (London: T & T Clark, 2007), pp. 8, 228      
2. The Jesus Seminar understood Lk 12:15, not as genuine saying of Jesus, but a "Lukan comment."  See Robert Funk and Roy Hoover, The Five Gospels (NY: Macmillan, 1993), p. 338 
3. Helen Bond, The Historical Jesus (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), p. 112.  Cf. Lk 2:41-52; Jn 7:1-9

Alienation

 People who don't know God are like people who don't know themselves.  People are alienated and don't realize.  The kingdom of God is within you!

Reminiscence

 Today, while I was waiting for waffles to pop out of the toaster, a memory surfaced that I've recalled more than a few times in the past.  It's a memory of a morning years ago at our family summer house on Green Island down the shore.  Mom was in the kitchen and breakfast was already on the table when I came downstairs from the bedroom.  It was a sunny, summer day and we had guests, Uncle Phil and Aunt Phyllis.  Uncle Phil, I remember, had been suffering with an illness, so it was good that he was able to come down the shore and stay a few days.  Everyone else had eaten already and I reached for a new cereal box that had just been opened. The plastic bag inside the box had been ripped open in an awful way, indicating that someone had struggled with it.  I asked Mom about this and she said Uncle Phil had opened it and I was disgusted.  This feeling of disgust I soon got over and I felt bad for Uncle Phil, understanding that everyday things became difficult for the elderly.  It is this emotion of disgust that has caused the memory of that morning to be preserved liminally, often arising into consciousness when certain signals happen, such as this morning, when I put the waffles in the toaster, pieces broke off onto the countertop, eliciting a brief feeling of disgust.  Mom and Uncle Phil have died (r.i.p.), Daddy had died years before that long-ago morn (rest in peace, Dad).  This quiet reminiscence is tinged with longing - for the past not to have ended and for the present to be somehow different.  I guess the feeling or longing is really for eternity, where time is not and loved ones are always near.         

A Ray from Heaven

 Sister Susan had a Mass said in memory of Rizzuto family deceased on Sat. 3/9/24, 5:30pm (vigil Mass).  March 9th is Dad's birthday.  Mass was attended by myself, Susan, Anne Marie.

Years ago, Sue made a donation to her church, St. Aloysius, Caldwell, NJ, to cover cost of ten Mass books (include liturgy and hymns), but since then, has been unable to find one in the pews with her dedication inscribed inside front cover.  On March 9, 2024, she finally found one - inside front cover was printed, "In memory of Dr. Paul J. Rizzuto by Susan Mello" - in pew where we happened to sit.  Sue was happy.  She showed it to me when I arrived late.  I said "wow."  Our Dad was a hard-working man and we remember him with love.  Rest in peace, Dad.  May Mom and brother Michael also rest in peace.  Aunt Ida and Aunt Mill too, rest in peace.  Thank-you God.   

Wishful Thinking

 A wish is a desire for something vouchsafed to a Higher Power in the secret chamber of a person's heart.  A wistful person has hope of fulfillment by that Divine Providence.  Is God the end-product of years of wishful longing, going back to prehistoric times?  Did humans make gods and the supreme God in their hearts and minds because of their needs, which needs we weren't able to satisfy on our own?  Yes, of course and this is how God made us.  [However, God, in the Bible, commands no idols for his people; Ex 20:1ff.]  

   

Nice Little Video (link)

 https://youtube.com/shorts/3-2d-OiJRwo?si=80VpCKokTdW9b3sX

Music is touching.