Cycle C - Year II:  

30 January 2022: Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

Second Reading:   1 Corinthians 12:31--13:13 (or 13:4-13)

Gospel:  Please Read  Luke 4:21-30 

To look beneath the surface.....!

In this age of social media, if you want to start something that requires public support or attention you tap social media  so that people take notice.

There was no social media hundred years ago, but our Lord Jesus called public's attention when He started His public ministry.

The Gospel this Sunday tells us that returning to His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus went to the synagogue and read a passage from the Prophet Isaiah describing the signs that the Messiah would perform. Then after reading our Lord sits down and declares to those in the synagogue, "Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." That is to say, our Lord Jesus revealed to His townmates that He is the Messiah and invited them to believe in Him so that they receive the goodness, grace and freedom of which the prophetic text of Isaiah spoke.

We can say that this is the very first "sermon" of Jesus at Nazareth, and it is significant because it shows how He Himself understood His ministry: His mission to the world is to make God's goodness and gracious love available to everyone. Jesus Himself is the incarnation of this divine and loving presence of God.

At first the people of Nazareth were amazed at Jesus' gracious words. But in the end they rejected His claim as the Messiah, because they knew Him too well as just "the son of Joseph". And so our Lord said this famous biblical passage: "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place." (Lk 4:24)

Recall that in the Gospel narratives, so often people who encounter our Lord Jesus also fail to look beneath the surface, so to speak. That is to say, the town people of Nazareth saw Jesus as the humble carpenter in their midst. And not surprisingly our Lord often speaks of those who are blind and deaf to His saving message because they cannot accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Even now in our own generation, the temptation not to believe in Jesus as the Messiah is still with us. Some may be impressed of Jesus as a great preacher, or miracle worker, or a good and saintly man. But if we do not see Jesus as our Messiah, as God in the flesh who died and rose again to set us free from sin and evil, then our Christian faith is empty of its heart and substance.

In other words, it's a question of faith that the people of Nazareth, (and including our own generation) failed to see Jesus as the Messiah. Faith is not a response to a certain number of miracles. Faith is unreserved, total and unconditional trust in God that leads to acceptance of all that He has said to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is looking beneath the surface of what the eyes can see, and believing in the words that Jesus speaks to us to proclaim God's kingdom.

Acceptance and following of Jesus involves openness to the Spirit's call to search our hearts. For this reason, Jesus does not need to prove His claim as the Messiah by performing miracles.   Rather, once we listen to Jesus' preaching with a sincere heart, we become able through God's grace to commit ourselves to Him and see Him for who and what He truly is.  In this way, we begin to share in the salvation our Lord Jesus promises to all His followers, not at some future time but already here and now, just as our Lord Jesus says, "Today, this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."   

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray for God's grace to be able to look beneath the surface and see the Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ..... in the Holy Eucharist. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!