Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Zephaniah addresses the people with a threefold exhortation: Seek the Lord! Seek righteousness! Seek humility! Israel is told to seek the Lord after having violated the covenant; to seek righteousness after having turned to sin; to seek humility after having acted arrogantly. The second part of the reading provides a very different picture. This section is an oracle of salvation, loving words of God that offer assurance and hope. The path of righteousness followed by the remnant will be the consequence of their deliverance, not its cause. The blessings are not rewards for their fidelity. Rather, every good that comes to them is a gift from God.

Paul reminds the Corinthians that, judged by the standards of society, they are really nobodies. They have little about which they can boast. According to Paul, God chooses the nobodies of the world in order to shame those who think they are somebodies. Those who lack honor in the eyes of the world are highly honored by God by being chosen, while those whom the world honors are shamed by being overlooked by God. God acts this way so that no one can boast of her or his own accomplishments. Since every good thing is received because of Christ, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31).

The sermon on the mount was directed to Jesus’ close followers, not to the broader crowds. While his teachings are all in some way directed toward the establishment of the reign of God, the type of behavior or values that he advocates here is frequently the opposite of that espoused by society at large. This fact offers us a way to understand the challenges set before us in the Beatitudes.

One way to interpret them is to look first at the blessings promised. We may see that the behavior that Jesus is advocating is at odds with what society claims will guarantee the blessing that we seek.

Dec 13 2024

God’s Word Expands the Heart

When Jesus went to his hometown synagogue on the Sabbath, after his time in the desert, he read a passage from Isaiah 61 (see last week’s Gospel), outlining a three-fold ministry of preaching the good news to the poor, bringing liberation to the oppressed and captives, and, above all, giving “recovery of sight to the blind”—a phrase from one of the Servant Songs (Isaiah 42:1–9) that presented a servant who came for all the nations.

Some have said the sudden switch from amazement at Jesus’ gracious words to a murderous hostility was due to Luke conflating several incidents. But a good argument has been made that it is Jesus extending the boundaries of God’s love to the Gentiles, those outside the covenant, that so enrages his hometown listeners, a group very similar to the present-day settlers in Israel. Then, Jesus pours oil on the flames by noting that two revered prophets of Israel, Elijah and Elisha, helped, even cured Gentiles rather than their own people.

During Israel’s history, God worked through the prophets—from Elijah to Isaiah to Jeremiah to Jesus—to expand the boundaries of the hearts of God’s people to include the poor, the weak, and the Gentiles. We hear God’s word attempting to penetrate our own hearts in St. Paul’s call to cultivate love: a call to patience and kindness, not being rude or self-seeking, but enduring all things. God’s word often calls for a dying so that more life can flood into and out from us.

Consider/Discuss

How has God’s word confronted you and called you to change?
What quality from St. Paul’s meditation on love do you find most difficult to live?

Responding to the Word

Your word, O Lord, is not always easy to receive. Sometimes it calls us to surrender what we most want to cling to, to take up what we most want to run from, and to live outside of where we are most comfortable. Give us courage to hear your word and to live it with fidelity.

Dec 13 2024

Scripture Study for

Having assured him of his prophetic call, God prepares Jeremiah for the fate that lies ahead of him. God will fortify the prophet as one would fortify a city. While the metaphor connotes extraordinary defense, it implies the possibility of massive assault. Jeremiah’s assailants will be the very people to whom he is sent to prophesy. They will include both the Jerusalem establishment and the people of the land. That is why he must prepare himself for battle. However, the passage ends with words of encouragement. His adversaries will not prevail against the prophet, because the Lord will be with him.

Paul’s praise of love is one of the best-known biblical passages. Last Sunday, Paul insisted that all gifts bestowed upon individuals by the Spirit function for the building up of the community. Today he concentrates on love, the “more excellent way.” He then contrasts life in this world with life in the next. Despite all of the gifts we receive from God, they are only partially realized here. The fragmentary nature of this life is compared to seeing but a reflection, while the perfect nature of the next life is like looking at someone face to face.

The scripture to which Jesus refers in this reading is a passage from Isaiah read as part of last Sunday’s Gospel (Isaiah 61:1–2). It announces the ultimate age of fulfillment. It provides a glimpse into the kind of messiah that Jesus will be, namely one who will refashion society for the sake of the oppressed. Here Jesus insists that God even goes beyond the confines of Israel into the territory of the Gentiles. This filled the people in the synagogue with fury. To think that the prophetic promise of fulfillment would be extended to the Gentiles was, in their estimation, pure blasphemy. In indignation, they rose up against Jesus. They drove him outside the city limits and sought to cast him down, but he escaped unscathed.

Dec 10 2024

Listen to the Voice

I have been proclaiming the wonderful deeds of Jesus since I was a girl. Even if they threaten me, I will stand up and tell. His love changed my life. His story must be told:

My job was to tend the fire outside the synagogue entry. I was just a girl. Every Sabbath, the men arrived to talk and argue about the law. They never saw me. On this day, he saw me. He smiled at me as he went inside.

The coals of the fire glowed red and orange. I placed another log on the flames. I heard his voice: “The Lord has sent me to set captives free,” he said, “to give sight to the blind.” My heart pulsed like the embers in that fire. This was love. The men were awed at his preaching. He sat. He said, “Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” The silence was thick. I knew it then in my heart. This was the One we had been waiting for.

His preaching was not enough for some. My father’s brother asked him to do a special miracle just for Nazareth. I knew my uncle, who only wanted something to boast about. That was not love. That was cold. Even a young girl could see that. I started to object, but my father muttered, “Be still!” Jesus saw their coldness. His eyes looked sad.

They grew angry. They wanted to hurt him. I don’t know how he got away. But he did.

They can behead me if they like. I will be faithful to my call to speak of him. There has never been anyone so loving as Jesus. I will not be still. Like Jeremiah, I will speak! God will be with me, with a love that radiates like a fire in my bones.

I will speak!

Consider/Discuss

Today’s Gospel story is like a family reunion gone wrong. Jesus has come home. And some of his neighbors are not content simply to hear him preach, even though “gracious words came out of his mouth.” They want their native son to put them on the map with signs and wonders. Jeremiah the prophet also found himself unwelcome in Israel. What is it about human nature that we listen least to those who are closest and are most impressed by those from far away, especially more than fifty miles away? Why do we do that?
We are all called to speak of the love that we have received. Evangelization is not just for priests and preachers. In the early church, ordinary people told the story of Jesus, even if it meant death, even if it meant being ostracized by family. How are you and I called to speak today?

Living and Praying with the Word

Living Word, thank you for vocal cords. Texts and emails are fine, but thank you for the warmth of a voice. There are some voices that we no longer hear, ones that we hope to hear, and voices that we haven’t always appreciated until they are silent. Help us to savor the voices of those who love us, those who are close by. Help us to really hear them. They are a gift to us. Thank you for the gift of voice. Help us to use it well.

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

The relationship between Jeremiah and God was never easy. God demanded that Jeremiah give stern warnings and condemnations that brought the prophet pain and hatred. Yet the relationship was profoundly honest and intimate, allowing the prophet at times to express his deep resentment of his calling and even the fact that he had been born (Jeremiah 20:7–18). Here, at the scene of his calling, Jeremiah is told that he has been created to serve as God’s prophet; it is not an optional vocation. God recognizes that this life’s work will be painful for Jeremiah, but God also affirms that the prophet will be faithful to his role in speaking God’s word, because God will be with him.

Paul has been warning the Corinthians that the spiritual gifts they have received have led them to overvalue their own personal worth, taking pride in them and ranking them in importance. The result has been division, the exact opposite of what the gifts are intended to produce. As important as the gifts obviously are, they are a detriment to the community if they are not received and exercised in love. Love leads the individual to seek the good of others, to work for their benefit, and to give way to their needs when possible. The gifts given to the Corinthians are meant to be exercised in love and out of love; otherwise, they are not only wasted but indeed harmful.

In Nazareth, the people are amazed but also confused at Jesus’ announcement that the scriptures are now being fulfilled. This ambiguous response points to the perennial difficulty of recognizing who is a true prophet. Jesus assumes that the people want proof of his claim. Prophets such as Elijah and Elisha were known for working wonders, which were proofs of their authenticity. Rather than accede to this expectation, Jesus provocatively points out that there were times when both prophets helped non-Israelites instead of Israelites. While this reminder points to a central theme in Luke, the universal scope of Jesus’ mission, it infuriates the townspeople, once again illustrating the fact that prophets are often deeply unpopular among their own people.