Sunday, February 3, 2013

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle C


LUKE 4:21-30
WHY DID THE PEOPLE IN JESUS' TOWN GET SO MAD AT HIM? HE DOESN'T SEEM TO SAY ANYTHING THAT MIGHT CAUSE THEM TO WANT TO KILL HIM. HOW DID WE GO FROM “ALL WERE AMAZED AT THE GRACIOUS WORDS THAT CAME FROM HIS MOUTH” TO “WHEN THEY HEARD THIS, THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH FURY”?
RECENTLY OUR SAINT JOSEPH'S SOCIETY HEARD A TALK BY FATHER PETER NARANJO, WHO WAS JUST RECENTLY ORDAINED. FATHER NARANJO HAD BEEN A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF LATTER DAY SAINTS, THE MORMONS. HE TOLD US THAT THE BEGINNING OF HIS CONVERSION CAME ABOUT WHEN ONE OF THE MORMON ELDERS LAUGHINGLY TOLD HIM THAT CATHOLICS BELIEVED THAT THE BREAD AND WINE BECAME THE BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. FATHER NARANJO LAUGHED AS WELL, AND THEN LOOKED AT HIS BIBLE. AS A MORMON ELDER, HE HAD STUDIED THE BIBLE AVIDLY, AND IT WAS HIS HABIT TO MAKE NOTES IN THE MARGINS. HE SAW THAT THERE WAS A LARGE SECTION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN THAT HE HAD NEVER WRITTEN IN. THIS WAS THE SECTION IN WHICH JESUS TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF BEING THE BREAD OF LIFE, AND TELLS THE CROWDS THAT UNLESS THEY EAT HIS BODY AND DRINK HIS BLOOD, THEY WILL NOT HAVE LIFE IN THEM; AND WHEN THE CROWD LEAVES BECAUSE THIS IS A HARD SAYING, HE ASKS HIS APOSTLES IF THEY WILL LEAVE AS WELL. YOU REMEMBER ALL THAT. THE POINT IS THAT WHILE HE WAS A MORMON, HE NEVER SPENT ANY TIME ON THIS PART OF SCRIPTURE.
JESUS HAD COME HOME. HE WAS HANDED THE SCROLL, AND HE READ FROM ISAIAH. AS PER CUSTOM, HE WOULD HAVE OFFERED A COMMENTARY ON WHAT HE HAD READ. THE ONLY PART OF IT WE HEAR ARE THE WORDS, “TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN YOUR HEARING.” BUT I IMAGINE THAT HE ALSO TALKED ABOUT WHAT WAS GOING ON – THE BLIND WERE MADE TO SEE, THE DEAF TO HEAR, THE POOR WERE HAVING THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. JESUS' REPUTATION HAD PRECEDED HIM. AND THE PEOPLE WERE PROUD. JESUS, AFTER ALL, WAS ONE OF THEM. THEY COULD BASK IN HIS GLORY. AND AS HE PREACHED TO THEM ABOUT THE MESSAGE OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET, HE PROBABLY COVERED A LOT OF TOPICS. HE TALKED ABOUT HOW GOD DESERVED OUR WORSHIP – AND THE PEOPLE SAID, “RIGHT ON” BECAUSE THAT WAS WHAT THEY BELIEVED AS WELL. HE TALKED ABOUT HOW WE SHOULD HELP THE POOR, AND THEY AGREED; NOTHING NEW THERE. AND THEN MAYBE HE POINTED OUT THAT THERE WERE QUITE A FEW PEOPLE BEGGING ON THE STREETS OF NAZARETH – MAYBE YOU SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM? AND THEN MAYBE HE REMINDED THEM THAT THE SCRIPTURES TOLD THEM TO WELCOME STRANGERS, AND THERE WERE A FEW SAMARITAN FAMILIES IN TOWN, AND SO FAR, THEY WERE ANYTHING BUT WELCOMED.
AT THIS POINT, SOMEONE IN THE CROWD SAID, “IS THIS NOT THE “SON OF JOSEPH?” NOW THAT SOUNDS INNOCENT ENOUGH, BUT SOME SCHOLARS THINK THAT IN THOSE DAYS IN NAZARETH, JESUS' PARENTAGE WAS QUESTIONED; AFTER ALL, MARY HAD BEEN PRETTY FAR ALONG WHEN THE WEDDING TOOK PLACE, AND EVEN THOUGH JOSEPH CLAIMED JESUS AS HIS SON, A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T BELIEVE HIM. WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN TOLD THAT IT WAS COMMON FOR ENGAGED COUPLES IN THOSE DAYS TO HAVE RELATIONS, BUT THAT WASN'T THE CASE; COUPLES WERE EXPECTED TO WAIT UNTIL THE WEDDING, JUST AS THEY USED TO IN OUR SOCIETY A DECADE OR TWO AGO. AND JOSEPH WAS KNOWN TO BE RIGHTEOUS; HE'D BE THE LAST ONE TO BREAK THAT RULE. AFTER THE RESURRECTION, JEWS AND OTHERS BROUGHT UP THESE RUMORS AGAIN TO DISCREDIT CHRISTIANITY. SO IN EFFECT THE PEOPLE WERE SAYING, “WHY SHOULD WE LISTEN TO THIS ILLEGITIMATE SON?” BECAUSE IF YOU WERE ILLEGITIMATE YOU COULDN'T BE A TEACHER OF THE LAW. THAT'S WHY JESUS SAID “YOU WILL UNDOUBTEDLY QUOTE ME THE OLD PROVERB, PHYSICIAN, HEAL YOURSELF.” A PHYSICIAN, AFTER ALL, COULD NOT HEAL HIMSELF, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT. IF JESUS WERE ILLEGITIMATE, HE COULD NOT MAKE HIMSELF LEGITIMATE.
BUT JESUS GOES ON; HE REFERS TO THE MIRACLES HE'S WORKED, AND THEN SAYS, “LET ME TELL YOU A COUPLE OF STORIES FROM THE BIBLE. FOR THESE WERE STORIES THEY ALL KNEW. AND GRADUALLY, THE CROWD REALIZES WHAT JESUS IS SAYING. “YOU ARE PROUD OF BEING JEWISH, OF BEING “GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE” AND THAT'S OK. BUT YOU'VE DRAWN LINES AROUND YOURSELVES AND THOSE WHO AREN'T JEWS. YOU'VE EVEN DECIDED WHO IS A GOOD JEW AND WHO ISN'T. ALL YOU DO IS ERECT WALLS BETWEEN YOURSELVES AND OTHERS. BUT GOD BREAKS DOWN THESE WALLS. TO GOD, A PAGAN GENERAL FROM SYRIA OR A PAGAN LEBANESE WIDOW IS JUST AS WORTHY OF A MIRACLE AS YOU ARE. GOD HATES LINES, GOD WANTS ALL THE WALLS BROKEN DOWN. AFTER ALL, THAT'S WHAT ISAIAH MEANT WHEN HE TALKED ABOUT HILLS BEING LEVELED AND VALLEYS FILLED, CROOKED ROADS BEING MADE STRAIGHT, ALL PEOPLE COMING TO THE NEW JERUSALEM TO WORSHIP THE LIVING GOD IN HIS TEMPLE.
AND THAT WAS TOO MUCH FOR THE CROWD. HERE WAS THIS MAN, WHO HAD GROWN UP IN THIS TOWN, WHO EVERYONE KIND OF KNEW WAS NOT REALLY THE SON OF JOSEPH, DARING TO PREACH TO THEM, DARING TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE, DARING TO CHALLENGE THEIR WAY OF LIFE, WHICH THEY ALL BELIEVED WAS ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT COULD GET. AND TWISTING SCRIPTURE TO SUPPORT WHAT HE WAS SAYING. THAT WAS BLASPHEMY. THAT WAS A DIRECT INSULT TO GOD.
AND IN THEIR SECRET HEARTS, THEY KNEW WHAT HE WAS SAYING WAS TRUE, BUT THAT WASN'T THE POINT AT ALL; THE POINT WAS THAT GOD WAS BEING BLASPHEMED, AND BEFORE ANYONE TURNED THEIR ATTENTION TO LESSER THINGS, LIKE LIVING OUT THE SCRIPTURES, IT WAS NECESSARY TO DESTROY THE BLASPHEMER.
FATHER NARANJO BECAME A CATHOLIC AND THEN A CATHOLIC PRIEST BECAUSE HE ALLOWED THE SCRIPTURES TO CHALLENGE WHAT HE BELIEVED. UP TO THEN, HE HAD AVOIDED THE “HARD SAYINGS”. HE HAD IN FACT, PUT THEM SO FAR OUT OF HIS MIND THAT HE WAS SURPRISED WHEN HE REALIZED HE HADN'T STUDIED THEM AND PONDERED THEM. THE PEOPLE IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF NAZARETH HAD IGNORED THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR OWN SCRIPTURES, AND PROBABLY NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THOSE DANGEROUS AND SUBVERSIVE PASSAGES. WHEN THEY WERE READ IN THE SYNAGOGUE, THE RABBI PROBABLY PREACHED ABOUT HOW MERCIFUL GOD WAS – BUT NEVER THAT GOD CARED ABOUT GENTILES. AND UNLIKE FATHER NARANJO, WHO ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE CHANGED BY THE SCRIPTURES, THE PEOPLE WHO HEARD JESUS REFUSED TO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE CHANGED, GOING SO FAR AS TO TRY TO DESTROY THE ONE WHO OPENED THE SCRIPTURES FOR THEM.
IF YOU DON'T READ THE BIBLE, I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE IT UP. I HOPE YOU WILL READ IT WITH YOUR MIND OPEN, BECAUSE IT CONTAINS A LOT OF HARD SAYINGS, THINGS THAT CHALLENGE YOU AND I. BUT EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ THE BIBLE, AT LEAST LISTEN TO THE SCRIPTURES WHEN YOU COME TO MASS; IT'S EASY TO HEAR THOSE THINGS THAT CONFIRM US IN WHAT WE BELIEVE AND HOW WE ACT; BUT LISTEN TO THE PARTS THAT CHALLENGE US, THE PARTS THAT PUT YOU AND ME TO SHAME, AND ALLOW THEM TO CHALLENGE YOU, AS THE PASSAGES FROM JOHN CHALLENGED FATHER NARANJO. OTHERWISE, JESUS WILL MOVE ON AND TAKE HIS MESSAGE TO ANOTHER TOWN, LEAVING US IN OUR COMFORT ZONE – OR OUR PRISON.