FOURTH SUNDAY OF YEAR

 

Cycle “C”:  Luke 4, 21 – 30

There is no such thing as indifference. Either you love or you hate. Being indifferent to your neighbour is actually a form of hate: treating them as though they did not exist. That is precisely hatred. The people of his day could not be indifferent to Jesus. Either they loved him or they hated him. His message was both sweet and demanding. Many hearts and minds were won over to the Good News; but many others turned away. I hope they were not lost. At the point when today’s Gospel begins, Jesus had just read from the Hebrew Scriptures in the synagogue. His reading from Isaiah was received with reverence. On sitting down (the traditional teaching position), Jesus made a surprising declaration. The promise of Isaiah is fulfilled here, today. The response of the people is fascinating. They embrace and accept him. Amazed by his gracious words and conscious of his background, “all spoke well of him” (Lk 4,22). All seemed well with the world  -  the prophet is honoured and the people are happy.

Jesus shatters this illusion. He cut through the veneer of platitude. He challenges the members of the synagogue to see that God works outside their predetermined ideas. The people’s reaction changes to one of chagrin, irritation, hostility and anger. They expected the sweet wine of contentment, not the vinegar of hard work. Jesus was calling them and us to practise what counsellors today term, “tough love,”  -  the kind of love that confronts and challenges the loved one to be prepared for the painful experience of growth  -  intellectual and spiritual development and emotional maturity. Don’t we demand that of our children whom we love ?

As you heard in the first reading, the prophet Jeremiah shrank before the prospect of confronting his people  -  priests, country folk, even the king  -  until God promised to make him into a “fortified city, a pillar of iron and a wall of bronze.”  Jesus, “armed with the power of the Spirit,” is not intimidated by the outburst of the fury that dragged him to the brow of the hill to hurl him headlong. What is the message he proclaimed at such cost to himself ? It was the message of God’s universal love; that God has no favourites, but loves all, Jews and Gentiles, alike. He is not hampered and hemmed in by our petty prejudices of caste and culture, race and religion, even merit and demerit.

One senses the same challenging tone in St. Paul’s celebrated “hymn to love” (the 2^nd. reading). The Holy Spirit had full burners working when he inspired Paul of Tarsus on this one. All of us at some time have asked in one form or another, “What is love ?” There are of course many answers to the query. The one offered by mystics is the one I find most satisfying. They would say simply that love is a person. His name is Jesus. Wherever Paul mentions the word “love”, we could substitute the word “Jesus”. Listen !  Jesus is always patient and kind. He is never jealous. He does not take offence, and is not resentful. He takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth. He is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes. The splendid language does fit the Leader well, doesn’t it ?  But suppose wherever St. Paul mentions love, we substitute our own names ?  Is there anyone here who thinks the language fits us ?  If anything, we should be red in the face  -  all of us  -  and hopefully laugh at ourselves. Yet, the exercise does tell us the direction we Christ followers should be heading.

Everyone speaks today of “universal brotherhood” and “the family of man.” Travel and communication have made the world smaller and seem to bring human beings together. Yet the human community is riven by racism, communalism and nationalism. “Where is love ?” as the little Oliver sang in the well-loved musical. Yet even in our world where selfishness is often mistakenly called “love”, one glimpses it at times. In the tear-stained face of the wife whose husband returns home, often dehumanised by the demon of alcohol; in the sad silent gaze of the father who hopes for the return of his headstrong, wayward son; in the forgiving love of a wife for an untrue husband; in the endless patience of parents struggling with a handicapped child; in the words of forgiveness on the dying lips of those slaughtered by terrorists.

And we wonder: “How is it possible ?” My answer is, “These people have filled in for Jesus.”

PRAYER:  (Ali Newell)  Loving Father, for your love for us, compassionate and patient, which has carried us through our pain; wept beside us in our sin, and waited with us in our confusion, We give you thanks.

Lord Jesus Christ, for your love for us, strong and challenging, which has called us to risk for you, asked for the best in us, and shown us how to serve, We give you thanks.

O Holy Spirit, we come to celebrate that you are present deep within us, and are at the heart of all life. Forgive us when we forget your gift of love, made known to us in Jesus, and draw us into your presence.

We give you thanks.