FOURTH SUNDAY OF
ORDINARY TIME
Reading (Jer 1:4-5,17-19)
Jeremiah perhaps wasn't even twenty when the Lord called him to be a prophet. He was a good youth, open-minded and intelligent. His intentions were to marry and lead a peaceful life in his village of Anatot, the village of his forefathers. But God, even before his conception in the womb of the mother, had already chosen him for a very difficult and risky mission: to proclaim his word to kings, leaders, and priests and to the whole people.
How will the life of Jeremiah be? A string of successes? Not at all. Even the most pleasant persons, when they start being prophets are immediately shunned and disliked, and looked on as unbearable. Why all this? Because they see the world with the eyes of God and cannot keep quiet at the sight of injustice and abuses of power: they thus openly denounce oppressions, unmask the powerful who steal, who perpetrate deeds of violence and lead the people to ruin. This is the mission Jeremiah is called to carry out. The timid boy is destined to become "a man of strife and dissension for the whole country" (Jer 15:10).
In the second part of the reading (17-18) God reveals to Jeremiah what will happen to him. He does not deceive him and does not promise him an easy life. He will be, he says, like a soldier continually pursued by his enemies, like a fortress besieged by a bloody army. But why should God send him for such a mission, knowing already that he will be defeated, that he will be victimized by his enemies?
The reading ends with words of consolation. The Lord tells his prophet: "They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue you" (19).
In today's reading we do not find Jeremiah's objection to the Lord's call: "Ah, ah, ah. Lord Yahweh, you see, I do not know how to speak. I am only a child!" (6). Isn't this also our reaction when the Lord calls us to be prophets or when he sends us out to proclaim his Word? The Vatican Council states that every Christian is a prophet. Aren't we also afraid, at times, to speak out the truth, to denounce situations of injustice and ant behavior contrary to the Gospel? Why?
If we think that we are alone in our fight against injustice then we are certainly tempted to give up, but particularly in difficult moments we should never forget the words of the Lord to Jeremiah: "They will not overcome you, for I am with you!"
Second Reading l Cor 12:31-13:13)
The Corinth, as we read in the past Sundays, was split by dissensions and Jealousies because of charisms. Paul, after telling them that all charisms are gift of the Spirit designed to form the community, points out the Christians a charism that is above all others: love.
He begins by listing the praises of love (1-3). He says that it is superior to all other gifts: the gift of tongues, the gift of prophecy, faith, charitable assistance and even immolation of one's body by fire, which was then considered the maximum of courage. This kind of love is not to be confused with the selfish passion after one's interests and pleasure. We call love the wish to possess a good already in existence or also simply the physical attraction. This is what we mean when we say that a young man is in love with a beautiful, kind and pleasant girl: it is the wish to possess her, to have her all for oneself. The love Paul is speaking of is instead like the love of God: it does not find the good, it creates it. Jesus love mankind because it was good (many men were on the contrary, thieves, murderers, adulterers), he made it good by loving it. One can have many virtues or good qualities, and even do many wonderful things, without possessing this kind of love.
In the second part of the reading (4-7) Paul speaks of love as if it were a person, and presents it by using fifteen different verbs. He says that it is patient and kind, never jealous nor boastful, never rude or seeking its own advantage, doesn't take offence or store up grievances. It does not find joy in wrongdoing, but finds it in the truth; it is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.
In the third part (8-13) love is compared to the other charisms. All these will come to an end, they will no longer be necessary and will be forgotten, just like the games of children that at a certain point adults find no longer amusing and abandon them. Love instead is eternal, it will never end.
This wonderful “hymn to love" should have us reflect on our communities. What takes place in them? Are one's gifts put at the service of the others or do they instead raise jealousies or grievances? Is the generous and unselfish love of Jesus practiced also among the Christians, members of our communities?
Gospel (Lk 4:21-30)
This
gospel passage is rather difficult to understand: how could the people of
Nazareth turn their admiration into sudden hostility for Jesus, to the point of
trying to kill him? What was so provocative in what he had said? Unclear is
also why Jesus should quote the two proverbs: “Physician, heal yourself”, and
“No prophet is ever accepted in his own country.” The last one, in particular,
sounds quite out of place: they were praising him, so there was no apparent
reason to react in this way. We can also wonder why he didn't work the miracles
they asked him, and we would also like to know how he escaped the fury of the
angry crowd.
These somewhat strange details are an invitation not to take the event as press news, but to look for the more profound meaning. One thing was clear to all: the people of Nazareth and also his relatives had not believed in Jesus (cf Mark 3:21). Luke assumed it in order to teach the Christians of his communities. But what caused the synagogue assembly to react in such an aggressive way? Let us try to understand. We, too, might have to admit that our behavior is not much different from theirs.
l. The villagers of Jesus are enraged with him, in the first place because he refuses to work miracles in his own village (22-23). If he is the Messiah, let him do extraordinary deeds like Moses! They expect a “son of God" and find instead a "son of a carpenter". What a disappointment! What is the use of beautiful words, without proving one's authority through prodigies?
And what do you think of this demand? Is it a sign of faith? No, it is the contrary of faith. Jesus has not come to solve our problems all at once with miracles. He has not saved the world by working prodigies, but by proclaiming his gospel and by giving up his life. The miracle is his Word, this is what works the miracles and transforms the life of people, of families, of communities and creates a new world.
Let us ask ourselves: why do we run to Jesus? Why do we go to church? To listen to his word, or is it because we hope to get some special favor? Don’t we pray more intensely than usual when we are sick, when we need rain, or when we are looking for a job? And if our prayers are not listened to, don't we, at times, reject Jesus, like the people of Nazareth, and go to see the witchdoctors, the diviners or the members of other sects? Will we ever understand that our chapels are not "the market of miracles”, where we can buy them at will, but the place where we hear the Word"?
2. We find an even greater provocation in the second part of today’s gospel. To explain the reasons why he does not do in his village what he had done at Capernaum, Jesus recalls the examples of Elijah and Elisha: one provided flour for a widow of Sidon, while the other cured a leper from Syria. Both of these prophets instead of helping people from their own country, helped foreigners (25-27). The people of Nazareth see clearly what Jesus means: he wants them to accept that the salvation of God is not a privilege reserved only for Israel.
This is too much! They are already annoyed because, abandoning their village, he had gone to live in Capernaum, a commercial town full of pagans and where the observance of the Law was not really felt as a priority. They now realize that this was not an isolated gesture, but a sign that the salvation of God is being extended to all peoples of the earth.
The words of Jesus irritate the assembly further: they challenge their narrow-mindedness. They also understand the meaning of another detail that had taken place during the liturgy of the Word. When Jesus rose to the passage of Scripture "The Lord has anointed me to bring the good news... and to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord” he had broken off his reading. Why did he not continue with the next verse” and to proclaim a day of vengeance for our God" (Is 61:2)? The people of Nazareth, like all the people of Israel, yearn for this vengeance, await anxiously the punishing intervention of God against those that have oppressed and humiliated them for centuries. When the time seems to be ripe for all this, instead of vengeance Jesus is proclaiming that salvation is for all, he even gives the impression to favor those who should instead be punished.
We should not wonder then at the reaction of his listeners: they are all angry with him, they stand up and drive him out of town and try o kill him (29).
Do we really behave very differently from the people of Nazareth? I have my doubts. One day I heard a Christian threaten a pagan: “God will one day judge you and pass sentence on you!" meaning: one day God will punish you. That particular pagan was not what we may call a good man, but to attribute to God this kind of intervention means that we have failed to understand the good news brought by Jesus; it means that we continue to reason like the people of Israel that could not tolerate that salvation was to be proclaimed also to the pagans. The justice of God is not like our justice. We are just because we condemn the wicked, he is just because, with his love, he saves him.
Did we ever criticize, reject or contest the proclamation of universal salvation?
The last verse: "But he passed through the crowd and walked away” (30) is a consoling note for all those who, like Christ, announce a message of joy, liberation and hope. They will encounter opposition, they may be slandered, persecuted, but, protected by God, they will pass through their aggressors and will continue safely on their way, like their master.
Theme of the Sunday
Today the liturgy of the Word gives us two examples of people faithful to their mission: Jeremiah and Jesus, two prophets who came to find themselves in similar situations and who had to announce unwelcome truths to their listeners.
The first reading tells us about the vocation of Jeremiah. God, knowing the difficulties he would be confronting, encouraged him to keep steady like an iron pillar, like a bronze wall.
The gospel describes the rejection of another prophet, Jesus, by his own villagers, annoyed by his behavior and by his message.
The second reading describes the charism of love and it can be linked to the theme of this Sunday because the Christian is the prophet of love, and for love he risks even persecution.