Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C

LUKE 4:21-30
WHY DID THEY GET SO MAD AT HIM? WHY DID HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, THE PEOPLE HE GREW UP WITH, THE PEOPLE WHO AT FIRST WERE AMAZED AT THE GRACIOUS WORDS WHICH FELL FROM HIS LIPS – WHY DID THEY SUDDENLY TURN ON HIM – NOT JUST REPRIMANDING HIM, NOT JUST EXPELLING HIM FROM THE SYNAGOGUE, BUT MAKING AN ATTEMPT TO KILL HIM? WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
IF YOU WERE JEWISH, IN JESUS' TIME, YOU HAD A DEEP-SEATED PREJUDICE AGAINST PEOPLE WHO WEREN'T JEWS, EVEN PEOPLE WHO WERE VERY MUCH LIKE JEWS, SUCH AS THE SAMARITANS. WE LEARN THROUGH OTHER SOURCES THAT THE JEWS WERE DIVIDED EVEN AMONG THEMSELVES; WE KNOW ABOUT THE PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES. BUT THERE WERE MANY OTHER DIVISIONS. THERE WERE THE ZEALOTS, THOSE WHO REMEMBERED JUDAH MACABEE AND THE ALMOST SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN FOR THEIR FREEDOM. THEY REMEMBERED THE MASS SUICIDE AT MASADAH, WHEN THE SURVIVING JEWS, HOLED UP ON A MOUNTAIN, KILLED THEIR WIVES AND CHILDREN, AND THEN THEMSELVES, RATHER THAN SURRENDER. THE ZEALOTS WERE FEW IN NUMBER, BUT THEY WANTED TO GO TO WAR WITH THE ROMANS, AND SHAKE OFF THEIR RULE OR DIE TRYING. THERE WERE THE ESSENES, POSSIBLY PEOPLE WHO MIGHT HAVE INFLUENCED JOHN THE BAPTIST. THEY FELT THAT IN ORDER TO BE JEWISH YOU HAD TO COMPLETELY SEPARATE YOURSELF FROM THE WORLD. THEY WERE MORE SEPARATIST THAN THE PHARISEES. THEY LIVED IN THE DESERT IN A SORT OF MONASTIC COMMUNITY. THERE WERE THE JEWS WHO LIVED THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE, THE ONES WHO WORSHIPED IN SYNAGOGUES AND USED A GREEK TRANSLATION OF SACRED SCRIPTURE. THEY WERE LOOKED DOWN ON BY THE HEBREW SPEAKING JEWS IN JUDAH, WHO CONSIDERED THEM LESS THAN PURE. AND THE GREEK-SPEAKING JEWS LOOKED AT THE JEWS IN JERUSALEM, AND CONSIDERED THEM BACKWARD AND INSULAR. BUT ALL THESE DIVISIONS ASIDE, ALL OF THEM BELIEVED THAT EVEN THE LOWEST JEW WAS BETTER THAN THE GREATEST GENTILE. AFTER ALL, THE JEWS WERE GOD'S SPECIAL PEOPLE, AND RIGHT THERE IN SCRIPTURE, YOU COULD READ WHAT GOD INTENDED TO DO TO THE GENTILES, AND IT WASN'T PRETTY.
SO HERE COMES JESUS, WHO DELIVERS AN INSULT WHICH IS ALMOST BLASPHEMOUS. HE MENTIONS TWO MIRACLES, DONE BY TWO GREAT PROPHETS, TWO MIRACLES WHICH BYPASSED THE JEWS WHO COULD HAVE USED THEM, AND HEALED GENTILES. THE CONGREGATION HAD BEEN THINKING THAT WITH JESUS, THEIR KINSMAN, THE KID WHO GREW UP IN THEIR TOWN, WHO CLAIMED TO BE ACTING FOR GOD – CERTAINLY HE WOULD DO EVEN MORE SPECTACULAR THINGS IN THEIR MIDST THAN HE HAD BEEN DOING IN OTHER JEWISH TOWNS. AND JESUS LETS THEM KNOW THAT THEIR SENSE OF PRIVILEGE, AS JEWS, AS HIS FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS, ENTITLES THEM TO NOTHING AT ALL. IT ISN'T BECAUSE HE IS THE CARPENTER'S SON THAT THEY TRY TO KILL HIM; IT'S BECAUSE IN THEIR HEARING, HE SEEMS TO HAVE BLASPHEMED, HE SEEMS TO HAVE CHALLENGED THEIR VIEW THAT THEY ARE GOD'S SPECIAL PEOPLE. INSULTING THEM IS THE SAME AS INSULTING GOD.
BUT JESUS WILL DO THIS AGAIN AND AGAIN, TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES, TO GROUPS OF PHARISEES AND SCRIBES. IT WILL BE THE SUBJECT OF MORE THAN ONE PARABLE – THE CLASSIC BEING THE STORY OF THE PHARISEE AND THE PUBLICAN. AND HIS MIRACULOUS CURES ARE FREELY GIVEN, BUT THERE IS NO LOGIC AS TO WHY HE CURES THIS ONE AND NOT THAT ONE, EXCEPT THAT IN THE GOSPEL STORIES, IT SEEMS THAT ALL HIS MIRACLES ARE DONE TO MAKE A POINT. JESUS IS COMPASSIONATE, JESUS HAS PITY ON PEOPLE; BUT THOSE ARE NOT THE MAIN REASONS HE HEALS.
THE PEOPLE IN JESUS' HOME TOWN SEE JESUS AS A SORT OF WALKING HOSPITAL BUT THEY DON'T SEE HIM WITH EYES OF FAITH, THEY DON'T SEE THE UNDERLYING REALITY HERE, THE REALITY THAT MADE THE BLIND MAN AND THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AND PETER AND COUNTLESS OTHERS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AS LORD, EVEN AS THE SON OF GOD. THEY ARE BLINDED BY THE FACT THAT HE IS THE CARPENTER'S SON.
CHRISTIANS HAVE DIFFERENT ATTITUDES TOWARDS MIRACLES. SOME OF US ARE WILLING TO ADMIT THAT THEY HAPPEN, AND THAT THEY DID HAPPEN IN THE PAST, BUT WE HAVE VARIOUS REASONS WHY WE NEVER SEEM TO WITNESS THEM TODAY. SOME OF US FEEL THAT IT IS A MATTER OF FAITH, AND WE FEEL GUILTY BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FAITH TO GET GOD TO CURE US OR OUR LOVED ONE. SOME OF US FEEL THAT THE MIRACLES OF JESUS DID WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO – GET THE CHURCH STARTED – AND NOW THERE IS NO REASON FOR MIRACLES, BECAUSE THE CHURCH HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.. AND THERE ARE CHRISTIANS WHO INSIST THAT MIRACLES ARE ALL AROUND US, ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS CLAIM THEM, OR PRAY FOR THEM IN THE NAME OF JESUS. AND IF WE ARE RIGHT WITH GOD, WE CAN EXPECT MIRACLES. THERE ARE EVEN BOOKS OUT THERE THAT TEACH US HOW TO GET MIRACLES.
BUT JESUS WORKED MIRACLES TO SHOW PEOPLE THAT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WAS AT HAND, TO DEMONSTRATE THAT HE HAD GOD'S POWER. AND THAT CONDITIONED EVERY MIRACLE HE WORKED. IF THE MIRACLE COULD NOT TEACH HIS DISCIPLES SOMETHING, OR REVEAL SOMETHING TO THE CROWDS WHO FOLLOWED HIM, THEN IT WASN'T SOMETHING HE DID. JESUS IS THE GOD OF NATURE, AND AS NATURE'S GOD, DISTURBS THE NATURAL ORDER AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. OR, PERHAPS ANOTHER WAY TO PUT IT IS TO SAY THAT WHAT IS NATURAL IS THE GREATEST MIRACLE OF ALL.
NONE OF US GOES THROUGH LIFE WITHOUT AT LEAST ONCE OR TWICE WISHING FOR A MIRACLE; WE PRAY FOR THE HEALING OF A LOVED ONE; WE PRAY THAT GOD WILL SAVE THE LIFE OF A LITTLE CHILD, OR A DEAR FRIEND; OR HEAL A PARENT OF A CRIPPLING INJURY. AND WE WONDER WHY HE DOES NOT ANSWER. AND THEN WE REMEMBER THE STORY OF JESUS IN HIS HOME TOWN. I THINK GOD'S GREATEST GIFT TO US IS OUR FREEDOM, AND GOD DESIRES THAT WE USE THAT FREEDOM TO RESPOND TO HIS LOVE. BUT WE DON'T HAVE TO. AND IF WE ARE TRULY FREE, THEN WHAT WE DO MUST HAVE CONSEQUENCES, OR ELSE OUR FREEDOM IS JUST A SHAM. AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH MIRACLES. THEY CAN HAPPEN, I BELIEVE THAT. BUT A MIRACLE, SOMETHING THAT DISTURBS THE NATURAL ORDER, HASTHE POTENTIAL TO DIMINISH THE FREEDOM WE ARE GIVEN, AND IRONICALLY, THAT'S THE PROBLEM.
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO? WE REMEMBER THAT JESUS DIED FOR US OUT OF LOVE, AND WE HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS FITS INTO HIS LOVING PLAN. AND WE CAN ASK FOR MIRACLES, BUT REMEMBER THAT THEY ARE PURE GIFT, AND IF A PRAYER SEEMS NOT TO BE ANSWERED, IT DOESN'T MEAN OUR FAITH IS WEAK, OR WE AREN'T LOVED BY GOD. IT ONLY MEANS THAT GOD HAS SOMETHING GREATER IN STORE, SOMETHING WE WILL LEARN IS SO MUCH MORE THAN WHAT WE HAD THOUGHT ONE TIME WOULD HAVE BEEN OUR GREATEST DESIRE.