Jesus said to his disciples: ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.
The people stayed there before the cross watching Jesus. As for the leaders, they jeered at him. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.’ The soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said, ‘If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.’ Above him there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
Luke 21:5-19The destruction of the Temple foretold
Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers, ‘Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.’ Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. The Jews intervened and said, ‘What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?’ Jesus answered, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this sanctuary: are you going to raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.
Jesus went to a town called Nain, accompanied by his disciples and a great number of people. When he was near the gate of the town it happened that a dead man was being carried out for burial, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a considerable number of the townspeople were with her. When the Lord saw her he felt sorry for her. ‘Do not cry’ he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier and the bearers stood still, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up.’ And the dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Everyone was filled with awe and praised God saying, ‘A great prophet has appeared among us; God has visited his people.’ And this opinion of him spread throughout Judaea and all over the countryside.
Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
Jesus told his disciples a parable about the need to pray continually and never lose heart. ‘There was a judge in a certain town’ he said ‘who had neither fear of God nor respect for man. In the same town there was a widow who kept on coming to him and saying, “I want justice from you against my enemy!” For a long time he refused, but at last he said to himself, “Maybe I have neither fear of God nor respect for man, but since she keeps pestering me I must give this widow her just rights, or she will persist in coming and worry me to death.”’
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered one of the villages, ten lepers came to meet him. They stood some way off and called to him, ‘Jesus! Master! Take pity on us.’ When he saw them he said, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ Now as they were going away they were cleansed. Finding himself cured, one of them turned back praising God at the top of his voice and threw himself at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. The man was a Samaritan. This made Jesus say, ‘Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems that no one has come back to give praise to God, except this foreigner.’ And he said to the man, ‘Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’ The Lord replied, ‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.
Jesus said to the Pharisees: ‘There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried.
‘In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.” “My son,” Abraham replied “remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.”
‘The rich man replied, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.” “They have Moses and the prophets,” said Abraham “let them listen to them.” “Ah no, father Abraham,” said the rich man “but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”’
The parable Jesus reveals the reality of human life: a yearning for happiness, recognition, security, and companionship. Today's Gospel welcomes us to consider something deeper than simply avoiding sorrow, loneliness, and hunger.
From a human perspective, we might interpret this Gospel as a story about two types of people—almost like a binary system of good and bad. The first character is a wealthy man who appears to have no problems, yet his life is marked by monotony and lacks deeper meaning. The second character, Lazarus, is aimed with great suffering—he lacks food, proper clothing, and most painfully, hope. This absence of hope makes him feel like a failure.
Today, I invite both you and myself to move beyond this simple "0-1" system and look at these individuals from a different perspective.
After the meaningful reflection, we see that neither person truly lived a full life. The rich man was better off materially, but his life was protected only by his wealth, while Lazarus had almost nothing. Both faced the dilemma of "what comes next?" The rich man looked ahead to his future, uncertain of what would follow, and the poor man had not little hope for better days. Both struggled with life's big question: what is next? Their lives existed at opposite extremes.
This same situation exists today. We see people around us who are wealthy and others who have nothing. The question "what comes next?" and "is there any hope?" dwells in our hearts. Of course, no one wants to be so poor as to have nothing, but we all struggle with question: what should I do next?
The truth is that extremes rarely exist; most of us live somewhere in the middle. We all want to be happy, but a life without questions or challenges is an illusion. Even if someone claims, to have no questions, there remains a longing to be satisfied and to ask, "Where is my happiness and my future?"
Expecting life to be free from suffering, challenges, and struggles is an illusion. Complete joy is not the reality of this world. Today, God leads us—through questions and challenges—toward His place, toward eternity.
Saint Paul reminds us in his letters that our time of suffering on earth is brief compared to what comes next—our eternal home.
Life is complex. It requires us to face goodness and questions we cannot always answer. Joy and challenges both shape our humanity. This is the life to which the Lord has called us. Amen.
Jezus powiedział do faryzeuszów: ”Żył pewien człowiek bogaty, który ubierał się w purpurę i bisior i dzień w dzień świetnie się bawił. U bramy jego pałacu leżał żebrak okryty wrzodami, imieniem Łazarz. Pragnął on nasycić się odpadkami ze stołu bogacza; nadto i psy przychodziły i lizały jego wrzody. Umarł żebrak i aniołowie zanieśli go na łono Abrahama. Umarł także bogacz i został pogrzebany. Gdy w Otchłani, pogrążony w mękach, podniósł oczy, ujrzał z daleka Abrahama i Łazarza na jego łonie. I zawołał: "Ojcze Abrahamie, ulituj się nade mną i poślij Łazarza; niech koniec swego palca umoczy w wodzie i ochłodzi mój język, bo strasznie cierpię w tym płomieniu". Lecz Abraham odrzekł: "Wspomnij, synu, że za życia otrzymałeś swoje dobra, a Łazarz przeciwnie, niedolę; teraz on tu doznaje pociechy, a ty męki cierpisz. A prócz tego między nami a wami zionie ogromna przepaść, tak że nikt, choćby chciał, stąd do was przejść nie może ani stamtąd do nas się przedostać". Tamten rzekł: "Proszę cię więc, ojcze, poślij go do domu mojego ojca. Mam bowiem pięciu braci: niech ich przestrzeże, żeby i oni nie przyszli na to miejsce męki". Lecz Abraham odparł: "Mają Mojżesza i Proroków, niechże ich słuchają". Tamten odrzekł: "Nie, ojcze Abrahamie, lecz gdyby kto z umarłych poszedł do nich, to się nawrócą". Odpowiedział mu: "Jeśli Mojżesza i Proroków nie słuchają, to choćby kto z umarłych powstał, nie uwierzą”.
Przypowieść Jezusa ukazuje prawdę o ludzkim życiu: o pragnieniu szczęścia, uznaniu, bezpieczeństwie i ludziach otaczających nas. Dzisiejsza Ewangelia zaprasza nas, by spojrzeć głębiej niż tylko na postawę unikania smutku, samotności i głodu.
Z ludzkiego punktu widzenia moglibyśmy odczytać tę Ewangelię jako opowieść o dwóch typach ludzi – niemal jak binarny system dobra i zła. Pierwszą postacią jest bogaty człowiek, który wydaje się nie mieć problemów, ale jego życie naznaczone jest monotonią i brakiem głębszego sensu. Druga postać, Łazarz, doświadcza wielkiego cierpienia – brakuje mu jedzenia, odpowiedniego ubrania, a co najboleśniejsze, nadziei. Ten brak nadziei sprawia, że czuje się przegrany.
Dziś zapraszam zarówno Ciebie, jak i siebie, abyśmy wyszli poza ten prosty system „0-1” i spojrzeli na te postaci z innej perspektywy.
Po głębszej refleksji widzimy, że żadna z tych osób nie przeżyła w pełni swojego życia. Bogaty człowiek był lepiej sytuowany materialnie, ale jego życie chronił jedynie majątek, podczas gdy Łazarz nie miał prawie nic. Obaj stanęli wobec dylematu: „co dalej?”. Bogacz patrzył w przyszłość, niepewny, co go czeka, a biedny człowiek miał niewiele nadziei na lepsze jutro. Oboje zmagali się z wielkim pytaniem życia: co dalej? Ich egzystencje istniały na przeciwległych biegunach.
Ta sama sytuacja występuje dziś. Widzimy wokół siebie ludzi bogatych i takich, którzy nie mają nic, albo prawie nic. Pytania „co dalej?” i „czy jest jakaś nadzieja?” mieszkają w naszych sercach. Oczywiście, nikt nie chce być tak biedny, by nie mieć nic, ale wszyscy zmagamy się z pytaniem: co powinienem zrobić dalej?
Prawda jest taka, że skrajności rzadko się zdarzają; większość z nas żyje gdzieś pośrodku. Wszyscy chcemy być szczęśliwi, ale życie bez pytań czy wyzwań to iluzja. Nawet jeśli ktoś twierdzi, że nie ma pytań, pozostaje w nim tęsknota do zaspokojenia pytania: „Gdzie jest moje szczęście i przyszłość?”
Oczekiwanie życia wolnego od cierpienia, wyzwań i zmagań to iluzja. Pełna radość nie jest rzeczywistością tego świata. Dziś Bóg prowadzi nas – poprzez pytania i trudności – do Swojego miejsca, ku wieczności.
Święty Paweł przypomina nam w swoich listach, że czas cierpienia na ziemi jest krótki w porównaniu z tym, co nastąpi – w wieczności.
Życie jest złożone. Wymaga od nas mierzenia się z radością pytaniami, na które nie zawsze mamy odpowiedź. Radość i wyzwania kształtują nasze człowieczeństwo. Do takiego życia powołał nas Pan. Amen.
About me
My name is Father Piotr Gasiorek, a
catholic priest working in Gibraltar
since 2015. Originally I come from
Poland. In 2022 I was naturalised as
Gibraltarian, and 2023 been
incardinated to The Diocese of
Gibraltar
