Monday – Twenty-second Week – OT2

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Monday – Twenty-second Week – OT2

 

Readings: 1 Cor 2:1-5; Lk 4:16-30.

 

Reading 1 (1 Cor 2:1-5):

When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.

Gospel (Lk 4:16-30):

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
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.

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.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not 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.'”
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.”
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 he passed through the midst of them and went away. 


Fr. Anthony Dinh Minh Tien, O.P.

I. THEME: Respect the truth!

            God treats each one of us fairly. He gives all to have opportunities to listen to His words and to receive His blessings before He judges each person. But to have equal opportunity doesn’t guarantee the same result because people’s reactions are different. There are those who only need to listen or to receive blessing once, they recognize the truth and give thanks to God; the majority of them are the Gentiles. There are those who listen many times, not only they don’t recognize but also swallow up the truth; the majority of them are those who belonged to the Church and followed God for a long time. Today readings show us this sad fact.

II. ANALYSIS:

1/ Reading I: The wisdom of the cross versus human wisdom

1.1/ God’s mysteries are beyond human understanding: Human wisdom isn’t enough to recognize God’s mysteries but also, sometimes, prevents people to understand them. In reality, those who turn their back to God’s mysteries are the wise and the learned according to human standards; while those who recognize and believe in the wisdom of the cross are the innocent, the unlearn and the humble. Many of people in the Corinthian church are of the first kind. St. Paul surely had experience with these people when he wrote the followings: “When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

1.2/ People need God’s help to understand these mysteries: To understand the wisdom of the cross, people need to have a proper attitude which is to completely based on the Holy Spirit and God’s power, not on human wisdom. This attitude is applied to both the preacher and the hearers as Paul wrote, “I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

2/ Gospel: The attitude of suffocating the truth of Jesus’ fellow countrymen

            To return to the village when one was born and raised up should be a happy and memorial event; but in today passage, it was an opportunity for the Jesus’ fellow countrymen to destroy the most important figure of their village. Beginning with the event in which Jesus entered a synagogue at Nazareth on the Sabbath, and he read the Scripture passage of the prophet Isaiah, “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.” Jesus rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

2.1/ The ingratitude reaction: According to St. Luke’s report, “All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” Two other Synoptists, Matthew and Mark, gave the reason for their unbelief which is they knew his parents and brothers and sisters while Luke said that the reason of their unbelief is because he didn’t perform signs for them to see.

            A sad fact which Jesus mentioned in today passage, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” A Vietnamese proverb says, “When one person becomes a royal officer, his whole kin shall be helped.” Jesus and his fellow countrymen might think the same, but the two sides had different viewpoints, while they want him to do wonderful signs to satisfy their material needs, Jesus wanted them to understand the important truths: He is the Son of God; they must believe in him and in his teaching to have the eternal life.

            The truth hurts, because those outside of the family and the Church have a stronger faith in God than those in the family and the Church. Jesus reminded people this sad fact many times in the Gospel; for example, the officer of the synagogue, the Canaan mother, the good Samaritan. Why does this sad fact happen? There are due to many reasons: First, some may think that they are wise and already know all the truth. Secondly, they are so used to a preacher so that his preaching is no longer important to them. Thirdly, they are so used with favors from their benefactor so that they lost the sense of gratitude. Lastly, they lost their sense to the truth: having eyes but can’t see; having ears but can’t hear; having mind but can’t think, and their heart is dull and becomes stony.

            This attitude of turning their back to the truth discouraged many prophets because they worked hard without having a result. It is better to give to those who welcome them; those whom their mind are still sensitive to the truth, their heart are gratitude to favors and their mouth know how to say thank you. How painful for us because these people, most of the time, are those outside of our family and community. Jesus listed out two cases in which these people were the  Gentiles: “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.”  

2.2/ The blindful reaction: Not only refusing the truth, they also let their anger control them and they want to kill Jesus who spoke the truth. The passage reported their reaction as follows, “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 he passed through the midst of them and went away.”

            If those people who lost their conscience, is their any hope to converse them? They are fragile as the cover of an egg, but wanted to put their head to a mountain; they must get the result of hurling themselves to a deep valley. No matter how much is Jesus merciful, he can’t save these blindful and prideful persons because they chose to be lost. Jesus left them in their mess and went away.

III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:                     

            – The truth in today readings is still happen in our family, parish and Church. Each one of us needs to examine our conscience to determine what kind of person are we. If we belong to those who listen and live according to God’s word, continue this way and give thanks to God. If

we belong to those who cover our ears and eyes before the truth, repent and return when we still have opportunities before God takes them away and gives them to others.

            – God’s prophets can’t continue to preach to those who are blind; not only to cover their eyes and ears but also to insult and to destroy the truth. In such case, prophets must also act as Jesus, leave them alone and go to those who welcome the truth.

            – We should let the truth guide us. We should not guide the truth according to our interest and individual gains. 

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