HOMILY OF 22ND MONDAY ORDINARY TIME: YEAR A
HOMILY OF 22ND MONDAY ORDINARY TIME: YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
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Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
Today we begin reading the Gospel of St. Luke. This will bring us up to the end of the year. We have already taken up the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew. The Gospel of St. John is spread through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.
In the Gospel today, Jesus goes to Nazareth and enters the synagogue as was His custom. On that particular Sabbath day, He proclaimed the reading from Scripture. The passage comes from the prophet Isaiah. This is a very significant passage – for three reasons.
First, Jesus categorically states here that the prophecy of Isaiah is now fulfilled as He speaks: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” It is as if saying, “Look no further. I am here, and I am what this passage is talking about.”
The second reason why this is significant is because it directly refers to Jesus. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” This is confirmed when, during his baptism in the Jordan River, “the Holy Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove” and a voice was heard from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).
And He further adds, “because He has anointed me.” In saying this, He is making it clear that He is the Messiah or the Christ, the long-awaited liberating King of Israel. Christos () is the Greek word for ‘Messiah’. It means someone who is anointed with oil. A person was made king by having oil poured over his head. But Jesus was not anointed with oil. It was the Holy Spirit who figuratively ‘anointed’ Him in His baptism.
And finally, this passage fully captures the mission of Jesus. We may as well call it the ‘mission statement’ of Jesus: to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are hurt and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Clearly, in His ‘mission statement’, there is nothing that points to a political messiah. There is no mention of liberating Israel from foreign powers, about conquering enemies and of bringing back the glories of the Jewish nation.
The people of Nazareth were awestruck by what they heard. They admired at the way Jesus speaks with authority and candidness. But they could not believe that these words are coming from the son of their town’s carpenter. And they are frustrated, because they expect Jesus to perform some miracles for them just like in other towns. They believe that, being His townmates, they are entitled to some special favors and treatment from Him.
Their amazement, doubts and smugness, however, turned into violent hatred when Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” As examples, He even mentioned the prophets Elijah and Elisha who were sent to help, not the Israelites, but pagans or outsiders. Elijah helped a widow of Zarepath during the great famine, while Elisha healed the leper Naaman, a pagan officer.
Hearing this, the people rose as one and drove Jesus out of the town, and almost succeeded in throwing Him off the cliff. Thankfully, Jesus “passed through the midst of them and went away”, for His hour has not yet come.
As Christians, we share in the mission of Jesus to proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel account today is a reminder to us of the dangers and risks involved in this mission. We, too, can be rejected, ostracized and slandered. But this is not reason for us to keep quiet and do nothing out of fear.
Pope Benedict XVI exhorts us: ʺThe truth that sets us free cannot be kept to ourselves; it calls for testimony, it begs to be heard. In our own time, the price to be paid for fidelity to the Gospel is no longer being hanged, drawn and quartered but it often involves being dismissed out of hand, ridiculed or parodied. And yet, the Church cannot withdraw from the task of proclaiming Christ and his Gospel.ʺ
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