4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
January 29-30, 2022
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen/St. Joseph, Taneytown
“Likes” and “Dislikes”
This week’s reading from the Gospel of Saint Luke takes up where last week’s reading left off. In last week’s Gospel, Jesus gave an inaugural sermon in the Nazareth synagogue. Quoting Isaiah’s prophecy, he laid out his mission as Messiah and Lord. It was to be a mission of liberation, of mercy, healing, and forgiveness to those held captive by sin and oppression in their various forms. Jesus then proclaimed himself as the fulfillment of all God promised through Isaiah: “Today,” he said, “this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Today’s Gospel records the reactions of the hometown folks to Jesus’ message. At first, it was positive. People marveled over Jesus’ gracious words. Had he been on social media, he would have received a lot of “likes”. Soon enough, though, things began to turn. People started asking, “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son” – In other words, “We know him and his family. Where did he get all this? . . . .” Jesus sensed that the people of Nazareth were not going to believe in him. But instead of cutting his losses and moving on, he engaged them. Anticipating the Cross, Jesus quoted them a proverb, “Physician, heal thyself.” Hearing those words, we remember how people taunted the crucified Lord: “He saved others, but himself he cannot save!” From the start, the Cross cast its shadow over Jesus’ ministry.
From there, things went from bad to worse. Tempers flared as Jesus compared the congregants to their faithless ancestors whom God bypassed with his favors. When famine struck, food was given to a Gentile widow of Zarephath, but not to the many widows in Israel. Naamen, a Syrian general, was cured of leprosy but lepers in Israel were not cured. With that, their anger boiled over, so much so, that they tried to hurl Jesus off a cliff. Jesus eluded them, because the hour destined for his saving death had not yet come. . . . So, we might say that Jesus’ inaugural homily went well enough, but his engagement with the townsfolk afterwards went south in a hurry!
Like the prophet Jeremiah, Jesus understood that his heavenly Father had sent him to those who would not only disagree with his teaching but also would reject him, even as Jesus would be rejected by the chief priests and elders of the people. True, many came to believe in Jesus and many believed in him ardently. But in the end, ‘the Lord of glory was crucified’.
Contemporary Reactions to Jesus
Evidently, the Nazareth congregants were a rather feisty, opinionated bunch. From the perspective of 2,000 years, it is easy enough for us to judge them. Yet, that is not why we are reading this Gospel account today. Rather, we reflect on the reactions of the Nazareth congregation in order to re-examine our own responses to the teachings of Christ.
As followers of Christ and as members of the Church, we would not be likely to consider overt rejection of Christ or denial of his teachings. Still less would we become so angry with the Lord that we’d harm him if we could. Yet, we have to give at least this to that Nazarene congregation: They took Jesus seriously. They were nothing if not passionate. To be sure, people today can be passionate about their faith. Some are angry with the Lord because they feel he does not understand their pain, or else because they feel they were wronged by those who claim to be his followers. Others are upset with the Church, sometimes because of certain moral teachings, or because of what they see as ill-considered decisions by church leadership. Still others sincerely struggle with various Church teachings and simply want church leadership to acknowledge their struggles and to walk with them. Where there is some level of engagement, there is reason for hope.
The most disheartening response to the Lord and his teachings is indifference. Indifference is an attitude of apathy, a lack of interest, disregard – a tendency to view the Lord and one’s faith as nice but not important, something to be turned to only once-in-awhile, when deemed useful or consoling. Needless to say, those who take such a casual approach to religion quickly move on if the message makes them feel uncomfortable or fails to conform to conventional wisdom or political correctness. Here there is neither passion nor engagement, only flickering faith. Often in my priestly ministry, I have spoken with people who stopped coming to church or participating in church activities. More than a few times, they told me that they held nothing against the Church, but that they no longer saw the importance of actively practicing their faith. Indifference is much more difficult to deal with than conflict!
Indifference the Opposite of Love
In one of his daily homilies, Pope Francis said that the opposite of love is not hatred but indifference—indifference to God and neighbor. Indifference responds to God’s love and to a neighbor in need with a shrug of the shoulders and that adolescent word, “whatever”! In today’s reading from Saint Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, he shows us a more excellent way to respond to the Lord and our neighbor, viz., love. We may be blessed with every gift of nature and grace, Saint Paul tells us, but if we are lacking in love, then we are nothing and we gain nothing. The Apostle then gives us a profile of love – love is patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, does not insist on having its own way, is not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice at the wrong but rejoices with the right. Love, he says, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
Saint Paul’s profile of love is, in fact, a profile of Christ – this is how Christ loves his Father and how he loves us in all our neediness: he loves us with that special kind of self-giving love that Scripture calls “agápe” – a love that is utterly generous, unconditional, and passionate. When we allow the Spirit to fill our hearts with Jesus’ self-giving love, then we begin to love as he loved and to live as he lived – not perfectly – but enough that we can find the wherewithal to believe, to hope, and to endure, even when the road is winding, the fog hangs low, and the trumpet is uncertain.
History does not record whether Mary, the Mother of Jesus was in that synagogue when he give his inaugural sermon wherein he identified himself as the Messiah, the Savior who came to bring healing, liberation, and love. If she were there, her heart would have responded to his address with loving faith – not only because Jesus was her Son, but because she was his sinless disciple who had already learned the more excellent way of love. Through her prayers, may we too respond to Jesus with a love that believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, and may God bless us and keep us always in his love!