Tuesday of the 26th week of Ordinary Time – 30 September 2025
Homily
Jesus' journey to Jerusalem is one of the major themes of Luke's Gospel. Today's Gospel begins with these words: ‘As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus, with a determined look on his face, set out for Jerusalem.’ This short sentence, which seems like an elegant and innocent introduction, is in fact so intense that it makes one shudder when one examines it closely. It must be said that translators, in whatever language, have had difficulty conveying the full force of the Greek expressions used by Luke. ‘As the time was fulfilled...’ says our translation. Luke says, literally, ‘As the days were about to be fulfilled...’ This is the same expression Luke used in his account of the birth of Jesus: ‘As the time was fulfilled that she (Mary) should give birth...’ We have therefore reached a decisive moment, the end of time, the definitive birth of Jesus. And this definitive birth, this end of time, will be his death. Our translation says: ‘As the time was fulfilled for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus, with a determined face, set out for Jerusalem.’ This beautiful paraphrase conveys the meaning of the Greek sentence quite well. But a literal translation would be much more brutal. It would have to be translated as: ‘As the time approached when he was to be eliminated’.