Gospel for September 2, 2013, Monday Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc. Posted at 09/02/2013 1:18 AM | Updated as of 09/02/2013 1:30 AM 22nd Week in Ordinary Time Psalter: Week 2 Ps 96:1 and 3, 4–5, 11–12, 13 The Lord comes to judge the earth. 1st Reading: 1 Thes 4:13–18 Brothers and sisters, we want you not to be mistaken about those who are already asleep, lest you grieve as do those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose; it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus. God will bring them together with Jesus and for his sake. By the same word of the Lord we assert this: those of us who are to be alive at the Lord’s coming will not go ahead of those who are already asleep. When the command by the archangel’s voice is given, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, while the divine trumpet call is sounding. Then those who have died in the Lord will rise first; as for us who are still alive, we will be brought along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the celestial world. And we will be with the Lord forever. So, then comfort one another with these words. Gospel: Lk 4:16–30 When Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus then unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and new sight to the blind; to free the oppressed and announce the Lord’s year of mercy.” Jesus then rolled up the scroll, gave it to the attendant and sat down, while the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he said to them, “Today these prophetic words come true even as you listen.” All agreed with him and were lost in wonder, while he kept on speaking of the grace of God. Nevertheless they asked, “Who is this but Joseph’s son?” So he said, “Doubtless you will quote me the saying: Doctor, heal yourself! Do here in your town what they say you did in Capernaum.” Jesus added, “No prophet is honored in his own country. Truly, I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens withheld rain for three years and six months and a great famine came over the whole land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow of Zarephath, in the country of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and no one was healed except Naaman, the Syrian.” On hearing these words, the whole assembly became indignant. They rose up and brought him out of the town, to the edge of the hill on which Nazareth is built, intending to throw him down the cliff. But he passed through their midst and went his way. Reflection: Why do the listeners of Jesus, who are initially appreciative of him, turn against him? David Bosch suggests that the clue to an answer lies in the point in Isaiah’s prophesy where Jesus stops reading and rolls up the scroll. Jesus ends at: “to announce the Lord’s year of mercy.” However, in Isaiah, the phrase actually says: “to announce the Lord’s year of mercy and his day of vengeance” (Is. 61:2). For the Jews of those times, whose history was replete with slavery, subjugation, and humiliation, the year of the Lord’s mercy was inseparable from the Lord’s day of vengeance on their enemies. Mercy for themselves, and vengeance on their enemies, were the two sides of the same coin, the deepest desire of a nation that had suffered long. But Jesus would dare to break the inseparable phrase and end with the announcement of mercy, period. Vengeance was not his mission. Revenge was not an option in his Gospel.Thus, as he kept on speaking of God’s grace, his audience grew upset and angry. Jesus was challenging the unquestioned ethos of their nation. No wonder they wanted to kill him. Jesus would not comprise his Gospel to appease people or save his life. Would you?
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 22:20:28 +0000
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