"To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, "I no longer hold your offense against you" But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the "offended one." As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God." (Henri Nouwen) How often non-forgiveness is at the heart of our wounded self-image, at the heart of our burdens and pain! We embrace the lie from the evil one that we can't forgive the other. In fact, at times we make an internal vow not to forgive. Who then becomes the prisoner? Who then puts a block between us and God? Forgiveness is a choice but it is a response to a grace from God.
Jesus
began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “Today this Scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the
gracious words that came from his mouth.
·
We continue from the passage we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel Reading.
Jesus is in Nazareth. He went to the Synagogue as was his custom. They asked
him to proclaim and interpret the Word of God. He probably asked for Isaiah’s
writings. He found the passage that affirmed what happened to him at the time
of his baptism: the Father affirming him and anointing him with a fresh
outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for his ministry.
·
His interpretation was simple: Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in
your hearing. In other words, I am the one whom Isaiah is prophesizing about.
·
Their first reaction was amazement. But this did not last long.
They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?”
·
He is a home town celebrity. They knew who he was. They were not ready to
accept that he was anything but the son of Joseph.
He
said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure
yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were
done in Capernaum.’”
·
They had heard that he had already cured a few people. So they were
expecting him to do the same for them.
·
They knew he was a teacher and healer. What they didn’t expect is the next
thing Jesus would say.
And
he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed,
I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky
was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the
entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow
in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during
the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only
Naaman the Syrian.”
·
Now Jesus tells them his is also a prophet like Elijah and Elisha.
·
Like them, he would not be accepted nor could he perform many miracles for
them, because of their lack of faith.
When
the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They
rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which
their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But Jesus passed through
the midst of them and went away.
·
From astonishment to questioning, to disbelieve, to anger and rejection,
they quickly moved. His words were too
much for him, because their hearts were hardened. They were satisfied accepting
Jesus as a home town celebrity, but not to be challenge by him to open their
hearts to the way of the Lord.
·
How open are we to the full message of Jesus? Do we sometimes want to
qualify it or interpret it to fit our preferences?
"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all (St. Paul, Eph 4:1-6). As we conclude the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, our prayer for unity should never stop. If we strive to live the life Paul admonishes, then we can be living signs of unity in the Body of Christ. Our commitment to unity is a continual sign that the prayer of Jesus for unity is still work in process.
"Pope John XXIII, who was moved by God to summon the Council, used to say: 'What separates us as believers in Christ is much less than what unites us.' In this statement we find the heart of ecumenical thinking...we need to be more united, more willing to advance along the path toward the unity for which Christ prayed on the eve of His Passion. This unity is enormously precious. In a certain sense, the future of the world is at stake." (Pope St. John Paul II) What unites us? That God is Triune and that Jesus Christ is Lord, True God and True Man, the Savior of the world. We are united in the Sacred Scriptures which we share (even though our interpretation may be different.) We are united in our concern for those in need.
"The unity of all divided humanity is the will of God. For this reason he sent his Son, so that by dying and rising for us he might bestow on us the Spirit of love. On the eve of his sacrifice on the Cross, Jesus himself prayed to the Father for his disciples and for all those who believe in him, that they might be one, a living communion. This is the basis not only of the duty, but also of the responsibility before God and his plan, which falls to those who through Baptism become members of the Body of Christ, a Body in which the fullness of reconciliation and communion must be made present. How is it possible to remain divided, if we have been 'buried' through Baptism in the Lord's death, in the very act by which God, through the death of his Son, has broken down the walls of division? Division 'openly contradicts the will of Christ, provides a stumbling block to the world, and inflicts damage on the most holy cause of proclaiming the Good News to every creature'". (Pope St. John Paul II) What can each of us do? First, we should pray regularly for the unity that God desires. Second, we should never speak negatively about another Christian, even if that person attacks what we believe. Third, we need to know our own faith well enough to defend what we believe, not in attack, but in loving response. Fourth, we need to take opportunities to share where we can share and work together where we can. The secular society in which we live wants us to stay divided. God desires a common front.
"The full and visible Christian unity that we long for demands that we let ourselves be transformed and that we conform ever more perfectly to the image of Christ. The unity we pray for requires an inner conversion that is both common and personal. It is not merely a matter of cordiality or cooperation, it is necessary above all to strengthen our faith in God, in the God of Jesus Christ, who spoke to us and made himself one of us. It is necessary to enter into new life in Christ, who is our true and definitive victory; it is necessary to open ourselves to one another, understanding all the elements of unity that God keeps for us and gives us ever anew; it is necessary to be aware of the urgent need to bear witness among the people of our time to the living God, who made himself known in Christ." (Pope Benedict XVI) The journey to the unity Jesus prayed for begins and continues in on going conversion. If my heart is not changed, then I will not be open to the other. But if Jesus changes my heart through the grace of mercy, then I will see the other as someone in Christ as well.
Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.
Theophilus means "friend of God" We don’t know much about him, except that he is a convert to Christianity who has already received some instructions. Luke wants to elaborate on these teachings by placing the Gospel message in an orderly fashion.
Luke will begin with the annunciation and birth of John the Baptism; the annunciation of birth of Jesus; Jesus’ presentation in the Temple after his circumcision; Jesus returning and remaining in the temple when he was twelve years old.
He adds material that neither Matthew nor Mark has in their Gospel narratives.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news of him spread throughout the whole region. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
What is not stated in today’s reading is the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan by John the Baptist and the affirmation of the Father as well as the pouring of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus in his humanity. Following that pivotal moment in Jesus’ life there is the first confrontation with the Devil in the Temptation story. Luke’s narrative now continues.
The role of the Spirit in Jesus’ personal life and public ministry is a strong emphasis in Luke’s Gospel. Luke wants to teach that Jesus in his humanity, anointed by the Spirit, was able to teach in a way that amazed the people. They knew that there was something different about Jesus and his ministry.
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
Can you imagine the excitement in Nazareth when Jesus returns? Obviously, they had heard about what happened to him at the Jordan and what people were saying about his teachings.
Jesus is a faithful adherent to the covenant, so he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, probably along with Mary, his mother.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Luke sees this passage as a confirmation that Jesus was aware of what happened to him at the Jordan after he was baptized. The Spirit of God fell upon him and anointed him for the work he was called to do in proclaiming the message of the Kingdom of God.
It was a custom that, if an important person came into the synagogue, to honor that person by asking them to do the reading and give a reflection.
These signs—bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, etc—were signs foretold by Isaiah and other OT prophets of the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Noticed that Jesus deliberately chose the reading from Isaiah, which he was very familiar with from his childhood upbringing.
How aware are we of the Spirit and his gifts in our life? How open are we to allowing the Spirit lead us? Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."
His interpretation was very brief and to the point. Isaiah was stating a sign of the coming of the Messiah in this passage. Jesus, without saying he was the Messiah, says today this passage is fulfilled in him.
The reactions of the people moved from amazement, to question and finally anger and rejection. They remembered Jesus growing up in their small village. They could not accept him to be any other than what they remembered.
This rejection by his neighbors and family members is the prelude to the rejections from others that Jesus will experience.
What application can we make from this passage in our life?
"Dear brothers and sisters, division is a wound in the body of the Church of Christ. And we do not want this wound to remain open. Division is the work of the Father of Lies, the Father of Discord, who does everything possible to keep us divided....It is he who is persecuting us. It is he who is persecuting Christians today, he who is anointing us with (the blood of) martyrdom. He knows that Christians are disciples of Christ: that they are one, that they are brothers! He doesn’t care if they are Evangelicals, or Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic…he doesn’t care! They are Christians. And that blood (of martyrdom) unites. Today, dear brothers and sisters, we are living an “ecumenism of blood”. This must encourage us to do what we are doing today: to pray, to dialogue together, to shorten the distance between us, to strengthen our bonds of brotherhood." (Pope Francis) He identifies the common enemy--the father of lies. For too long we have been fighting each other, rather than fighting against the source of our division. The prophetic prayer of Jesus for unity will come about when we join together in a common cause against the true enemy.
"We will search together, we will pray together, for the grace of unity. The unity that is budding among us is that unity which begins under the seal of the one Baptism we have all received. It is the unity we are seeking along a common path. It is the spiritual unity of prayer for one another. It is the unity of our common labor on behalf of our brothers and sisters, and all those who believe in the sovereignty of Christ." (Pope Francis) Today, we begin a week of intercession for unity among Christians. It was the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper. "Father, that they may be one as you and I are one." This unity has been broken for centuries because of human intervention. Our unity was to be a witness. Now, our disunity is what the world sees. Join in the pray for unity among Christians.
"One of the greatest dangers in the spiritual life is self-rejection. When we say, "If people really knew me, they wouldn't love me," we choose the road toward darkness. Often we are made to believe that self-deprecation is a virtue, called humility. But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation. It is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God's eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God's beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth." (Henri Nouwen) Many times we live in the lie of not loving ourselves or thinking we are not loveable. One of the greatest revelation of God to us is that He loves us and that we are loveable. If we embrace this truth we live in reality as a free person. If we reject this truth, then the lie will control us and keep us in the darkness of nothingness.
“He by Whom man was made had nothing to gain by becoming Man; it was our gain that God was incarnate and dwelt among us, making all flesh His home by taking upon Him the flesh of One. We were raised because He was lowered; shame to Him was glory to us. He, being God, made flesh His residence, and we in return are lifted anew from the flesh to God.” (St. Hilary of Poitiers) How gracious and merciful is our God towards us. He gave himself fully to us and for us so that we can be fully his and with him for eternity. He gave all so that we may have all.
The Book of Exodus states: "God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." Coming from the OT, this is truly a different view of God, who often seems to be harsh and far from love in his chastisements. But when the OT says that God is merciful, it means that he has the tenderness of a mother towards her child. God is merciful because he sees us as his children in need of love and care. We don't deserve his mercy, but he graciously pours out his mercy because of his own nature. He would not be God if he was not both merciful and just.
There
was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
- Cana was about four miles from Nazareth.
- This is the first mentioned of Mary in
John’s Gospel. The second time will be at Calvary. In placing Mary at the
beginning and the end of Jesus’ ministry is John trying to say something
about Mary’s involvement in the redemptive work of Jesus?
- Since Joseph is not mentioned, it is
possible that he has died.
Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him,“ They have no wine.”
- Mary was not only a guest, but she
probably, like the other women, helped in the serving of the food.
- Mary’s role as intercessor is identified
here. She continues this role on our behalf even in the present moment.
And Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern
affect me? My hour has not yet come.”
- Here and from the cross Jesus addresses
his mother as “woman.” This is done in respect. He probably never called
her by her name.
- “My hour” is a favorite expression in
John’s Gospel. It refers to Jesus ultimate glorification of the Father
through the gift of his life on the cross.
His mother said to
the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”
- This simple directive Mary gives to us
as well. Her role is to point us to Jesus. How obedient are we to Jesus?
Now
there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each
holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with
water.” So they filled them to the brim.
- This would compute to about
100-150 gallons of water. When Jesus does something he is overly generous.
Recall the multiplication of the loaves and the fish or the miraculous
catch of fish to the point the nets were breaking. One of the signs of the
messianic times was abundance.
Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the
headwaiter.” So they took it. And when
the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it
came from -. although the servers who had drawn the water knew -.,the
headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine
first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have
kept the good wine until now.”
- Has
Jesus treated you any different? Has he not provided you with the best?
What should our response be?
Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs at Cana in
Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
- In
John’s Gospel, this was the first sign or miracle Jesus performed that led
to his disciples putting their faith in him.
- How do
we apply this passage to our life? What does Jesus want to teach us
through this event?
"You will never know real mercy for the failings of others until you know and realize that you have the same failings in your own soul. (St. Bernard of Clairvaux) During this Year of Mercy, reflecting on God's expansive mercy to us in spite of our many failings may help us to show that same mercy to others. We don't deserve mercy, it is a gift. But if we do not show that same mercy to others, then what we deserve, namely God's justice, will be measure out to us. So we have a choice: God's mercy or God's justice.
"If we—all of us—accept the grace of Jesus Christ, he changes our heart and from sinners makes us saints. To become holy we do not need to turn our eyes away and look somewhere else, or have as it were the face on a holy card! No, no, that is not necessary. To become saints only one thing is necessary: to accept the grace that the Father gives us in Jesus Christ. There, this grace changes our heart. We continue to be sinners for we are weak, but with this grace which makes us feel that the Lord is good, that the Lord is merciful, that the Lord waits for us, that the Lord pardons us—this immense grace that changes our heart.”
( Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy ) This grace is given to us in the present moment. We need to ask Jesus to be able to recognize, accept and act on this grace. Change comes from a decision to move from what I am doing, which is not beneficial to me in the life of holiness, to choosing to act more in accordance with God's plan for my life.
"When we have something on our mind and we want to ask God to forgive us, it is He who is waiting for us--to forgive us....Why? To embrace us. Nothing more. To say to us: son, daughter, I love you. I let my Son be crucified for you: this is the price of my love, this is the gift of my love." (Pope Francis) How can we resist such an invitation? And yet many do. Why? Is it pride and a feeling that I have to do something? I can't just accept unconditional love. Is it a sense of shame and guilt and a feeling of being unworthy? That is why he became Man to make visible his love in spite of our guilt. There is no reason to hesitate if we look intently at the crucified Savior.
"Choices make the difference. Two people are in the same accident and severely wounded. They did not choose to be in the accident. It happened to them. But one of them chose to live the experience in bitterness, the other in gratitude. These choices radically influenced their lives and the lives of their families and friends. We have very little control over what happens in our lives, but we have a lot of control over how we integrate and remember what happens. It is precisely these spiritual choices that determine whether we live our lives with dignity." Henri Nouwin How have past choices impacted our lives for the good or for the bad? How do we want our choices from this point on to influence our journey? What choices have I made today and what choices will I be making? The difference between choices that bless us and those that do not is the reality of God in our lives. We can choose to do what pleases God or we can choose to be self-focused. The choice is ours and so are the ramifications.
“If the Magi had come in search of an earthly King, they would have been disconcerted at finding that they had taken the trouble to come such a long way for nothing. Consequently they would have neither adored nor offered gifts. But since they sought a heavenly King, though they found in Him no signs of royal pre-eminence, yet, content with the testimony of the star alone, they adored: for they saw a man, and they acknowledged a God.” (St. John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church) Sometimes we take for granted the grace of faith. Yet, it is this grace that enable the Magi to see with human eyes a new born baby, but with the eyes of faith, the God-Man. With human eyes we see a piece of bread, but with the eyes of faith we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. We receive this grace at each Eucharist.
