1.2.2004 4th Sunday Ordinary Season Year C
First Reading: Jeremiah 1, 4-5, 17-19
Psalm 70
Second Reading: I Corinthians 12, 31-13, 13
Gospel Reading: Luke 4, 21-30
The prophets were prophets because they were announcing the coming of the Lord
Jesus! They announced him with words, but the Spirit of God made them prophets
in life too.
Today we listen to Jeremiah, who tells us how he was called to become a prophet.
God spoke to him showing him the great love He bore Jeremiah even prior to his
birth. God chose him and consecrated him. He, the prophet is the object of God's
attentions: how could he then be afraid of men? Can men harm him, no matter
how powerful they are, if God is with him? "I am with you to deliver you",
said the Lord.
There is no reason for Jeremiah to try and escape the difficult task he is given!
Certainly when he begins to prophecy, his life will be in danger, because the
powerful of the world will be against him: they will not want to be reproved.
They think they are omnipotent, they think they can do what they want without
considering the love God has always had for the poor and humble, for truth and
justice. With their thirst for riches and honours, they will try to silence
any who remind them of God's judgement: the prophets are, therefore, seen as
enemies! Not only the rich and the influential are like this, but also those
who dream of honours and of being rich, even if they are poor.
And so the Gospel reading brings us to Nazareth! Here there are, probably, no
rulers or authorities. In Nazareth there are the poor and simple acquaintances
of Jesus. Despite their humble conditions, they boast rights and dream dreams
of greatness. Since Jesus had performed miracles in other cities such as Capernaum,
they thought they had the right to those miracles only because Jesus had lived
among them! They were not humble, they did not have faith in him as did those
who had been healed in other places. Jesus realizes this and tells them so.
He had read the Scriptures to them and had clearly stated that they were referring
to him: they could have and should have interpreted his miracles in the light
of the Scriptures and understood that he was the long awaited Messiah. They,
however, limited themselves to considering him, as they always had done, Joseph's
son.
Jesus, as with the prophets, wants to help his "friends" from Nazareth
take a step further, to see things as God sees them, to change the conclusions
reached by normal, self-interested reasoning. If he comes from God, is sent
by Him, he must obey God who loves all men and who listens to those who have
faith in Him even if they are pagans. The prophets had already manifested this
universal love of the God of Israel: Elijah had done the greatest miracle in
the land of Sidon, for a pagan widow and Elisha had healed a pagan leper who
had come to him. It is as if Jesus were saying that miracles did not happen
automatically, just through knowing him and that one cannot claim rights before
God. Miracles are signs from which there is a message to understand, a revelation:
who is doing them? Is it a magician or a wonder worker? Or is it a messenger
of God to listen, to question and then to obey? The true miracle occurs in the
heart of whoever takes God's revelation seriously and has faith in Jesus! Faith
in him can work miracles and move mountains, as he states in other occasions!
The Nazarenes do not understand. They consider Jesus one of themselves and they
want him to use his "powers" to their advantage. They cannot understand
that God is the God who loves everyone and that His love can only be seen and
felt by those who love unselfishly. Jesus wishes to direct hearts to this kind
of love, but he will have to do it elsewhere, for "no prophet is acceptable
in his own country"!
Disinterested love is the topic of the second reading. St Paul knows that among
Christians God has given many gifts, gifts of grace, but he fears that instead
of being a cause for unity , they may cause jealousy, envy and hence divisions.
Evil is always at work and tries to use God's gifts against Him! For this reason
the Apostle wishes to remind the Corinthians of the new commandment given by
Jesus and bring the faithful to see disinterested love as the greatest gift
of all, the most desirable, for this is the atmosphere within which all gifts
should move, so that they may truly manifest God's kingdom. If a believer does
not have this love, all his good qualities would be as nothing, without meaning
or value. Selfless love is supported by faith, which being faith in the God
of love, leads to love and therefore, unites our lives with Him, Thanks to love,
our lives become prophecy and revelation of the true God! We Christians are
all prophets with a joy that is not held back by the greed and vanity of the
world: with our lives we declare that God is free love.