FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
31 JANUARY 2016
In
his Gospel, Saint Luke clearly reveals the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. At the beginning of the Gospel, the Angel
Gabriel had announced to a lowly young woman that she had been chosen to be the
mother of God. Mary believed and
accepted the child in her womb through the power of the Holy Spirit. At his birth in Bethlehem, the angels
announced to the outcasts of the area the good news of the Savior’s birth. The shepherds believed and worshipped him. When
John baptized Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River, the voice from heaven
clearly announced that “this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
When Jesus
comes home to Nazareth as an adult, his reputation preceded him. The local people had heard of his
miracles. They probably wanted him to
prove himself to them by working a couple of miracles at home. Instead, he goes to the synagogue, where he
reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and announces that the prophecy is
now fulfilled in their hearing. They
marvel at the words which come from his mouth.
But, they cannot believe what he says.
They cannot believe that he is the Son of God, because they see him only
as the son of Joseph. Their blindness
turns to anger when he tells them that his mission will extend from the
children of Abraham to everyone. He
reminds them that a pagan widow had welcomed Elijah, and that a pagan general
from Syria had been healed by Elisha.
They cannot open their eyes to recognize the Son of God standing in
their midst. They do not want to share
Isaiah’s vision of liberation with strangers and foreigners. They cannot accept the love of God which will
include everyone. They try to kill
him. But, his time has not yet
come. He walks through their midst to
continue to reveal his identity and his mission to anyone who will accept it.
Knowing
that God is love, Jesus is manifesting God’s love to them. In his first Letter to the Corinthians, Saint
Paul defines God’s love. Paul’s
definition is very close to the definition of love given by Saint Thomas
Aquinas: love is willing the good for
another only for the sake of that other.
God’s love is pure. God does not
love us to put on a huge show. God is
not interested in looking good to others.
God does not brood over injury, nor does God take pleasure when we have
to suffer the consequences of our bad choices.
In fact, God forgives completely.
This is the
love that Paul recommends to the people of Corinth. Some members of the community were trying to
impress everyone with their extraordinary gifts and demonstrations of
faith. Some of them spoke in tongues,
while others paraded around their gift of prophecy. Paul flatly dismisses any of these gifts or
talents if they are not done with love.
Paul gives this same message to us.
We who embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior have the opportunity
to witness to God’s love in our world.
Loving as God loves us is very hard work and goes well beyond those
sentimental feelings we have for those for whom we care. In fact, this kind of love enables us to love
our enemies, in the sense that we will what is best for them, not for our own
benefit, but for their good.
Jesus, like
Jeremiah centuries before him, found that his words spoken in love would
eventually bring him to death. Like,
Jeremiah, Jesus trusted that his Father would never abandon him in his efforts
to put a human face on God’s love. When
we were baptized, we were anointed as priests, prophets, and kings. Sharing in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, we
gather here to pray and celebrate the central Mystery of our faith. As kings, we know that the Father loves us as
much as he loves his Son. As prophets,
we can have the courage to speak the truth in love, willing the good of the
other, even when that love is not returned to us. God’s love never fails, and God will never
fail us.
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