FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR C
Commentary of Fr. Fernando Armellini
A good Sunday for everyone.
The Gospel of today is a continuation of the Gospel of last week. Remember that Jesus was in the synagogue of Nazareth, where he had pronounced his programmatic discourse: "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.” A world founded on a new justice: gratuitous love.
Notice that, in this programming, Jesus did not include any religious practice, he did not preach any dogma. He announced the birth of a new world. A world where the excluded, those who were always on the sidelines, the poor who were always on the margins of history... are now placed at the center of this new world that Jesus was about to begin. The oppressors will be changed, the oppressed liberated, man’s dominion over man would be eliminated, because not only those who are crushed becomes inhuman, but also those who oppress a brother or a sister. Also, an oppression of a certain fear of God will be canceled.
And then, Jesus says: 'with my word I will open my eyes to those who do not see, blinded by their own passions, by the attraction of money, by the will to dominate over others. They are blind people. With my word, I will open their eyes.'
Then, a new justice. Not that which was preached by those who were comfortable in the ancient world, that is, 'to each his own'; the one who is well, will always be well and will be able to monopolize the goods of this world; everyone having what they can get. NO. The new justice of God is that in which people feel their fellowship, they feel that they are the sons and daughters of the one Father. They have nothing in this world, because everything is of God and they receive as gifts all these gifts From God and share them with others. But this justice of God supposes the universal brotherhood where the distinctions of race no longer exist. All are sons and daughters of the one Father. Nobody is impure. Everyone is loved by God.
Finally, he announced a 'year of grace.' Not a year of 365 days, but a year that lasts forever. The time of the new world, the really human world, which is that of gratuitous love. This was the programmatic discourse that Jesus made in Nazareth. A strong, provocative, novel preaching. Now we ask ourselves how the people present in the synagogue received it.
Let's listen to their reaction:
“Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: "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?"
The evangelist has an enigmatic notation: "All spoke highly of him." Why is it enigmatic? Because apparently, it seems a unanimous approval by those who were in the synagogue, that is, an applause for him for his programmatic discourse. But, interpreted in this way, is not understood what happened afterwards. In fact, they immediately get angry against Jesus and they want to hurl him down the mountain where the city was located. Then, also, why the mention of his father, Joseph? The wonder of the inhabitants of Nazareth is born of the words of 'grace' that Jesus has pronounced. 'Words of grace' could be interpreted as 'funny, tender, sweet, pleasant words,' but if it were calm words, what is this violent reaction?
What happens is that Jesus' message was not soft. It was a provocative, disturbing message especially for the traditionalist mentality of the inhabitants of Nazareth. There is a reason why Jesus did not start his public life in his village, but he moved away, he changed his residence to Capernaum. And, surely, this change of residence had not pleased the people of Nazareth. Why did Jesus leave his village?
Soon we will understand it better. The reaction of the listeners was motivated by the fact that Jesus has hurt their sensitivity pronouncing words of 'grace'. To understand the meaning of this grace, we remember another text by the evangelist Luke (that some translations translate it wrongly). It is found in chapter 6:32 of the Gospel and we all remember these words of Jesus: "For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” Some translations say: ‘merit’ The original Greek term does not speak of 'merit'. In the Gospel of Matthew there is talk of 'merit', but in the Gospel of Luke it is said: "Ποία ὑμῖν ὑμῖν" = poia humín jaris, which means: 'where is your jaris = your gratuity'. If you love those who love you... this is what everyone does ... where is the gratuity of your love? If you do good to those who do good to you, where is your gratuity? What do you do for free? You do only what everyone does. If you lend to those who then can return the favor, what do you do for free? These are normal things, they come naturally, spontaneously.
What Jesus says is: Here I propose a life of gratuity, of a good that comes from a new nature. Why do you do good? Because you have received the nature of a Father who does only good. "Love your enemies." Do good for free and you will be children of the Most High, because He shows his gratuity to those who do not deserve it, to the ungrateful, to the wicked. This is the novelty. This is the 'grace'.
What has caused the ill-humored, indignant reaction of the inhabitants of Nazareth is this gratuity that Jesus announced and that they could not accept. We will understand better what has happened in Nazareth if we consider that during the celebration of the Saturday liturgy, the second reading was done from one of the prophets and, being Nazareth a small town, they did not have the texts of all the prophets, but even the smallest synagogues had the text of Isaiah that was the best known. And, as it was read continuously and always repeated, they knew it practically by heart. And when the text of the prophets was read, it was necessary to read at least three verses.
The text used by Jesus was a well-known text, one of the most read, known to all. Where does the irritation of the listeners originate? Because Jesus had not read three verses, that they knew very well, but only a verse and a half. And the people expected Jesus to continue... and you are probably curious to know how the text of Isaiah quoted by Jesus continued. Jesus said: "I was sent to announce the liberation ... a year of grace" ... and there he stopped. And the people expected him to continue saying: "... and the day of vengeance of our God.” Jesus did not say this... and the others were waiting for Jesus to continue reading.
They were a people who had suffered greatly, oppressed by the Assyrians, by the Babylonians. They expected the punitive intervention of God against the pagans who had oppressed them for so many centuries. They remembered the prophecies that one day 'a son of David would rule a kingdom over the whole world, over all the peoples and that would be the revenge of our God.' They expected that God will call them to account, and Jesus stopped with 'a year of grace'. Of totally gratuitous love where God has manifested this gratuity of his gifts. No more punishments. His words of 'grace' contained an unheard-of message, unacceptable to the traditionalist mentality of these people.
This gratuity is the center of the message of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the gratuity of God's love which still scandalizes many people today. There will be no more punishments. God does not do some reprisal against those who do evil and those who do not understand the way of life that He indicates. These are people that you must love and help because they go out of the way. Not to punish them.
We also understand the reference to Joseph: "Is not this the son of Joseph?" In the Semitic culture, 'son' is the one that gives continuity to the life of the father, to the tradition of his people. And when 'son of some person' is mentioned, it means more than 'generated from', it means the one who `resembles', the one who gives continuity to the values incarnated in his father. Matthew calls Joseph: 'the righteous one.' What was understood in Israel by a 'just person'? The person who was the observant of the Torah, the faithful observer of the law, of the traditions. And the gospel of Luke remembers how traditionalist the family of Jesus of Nazareth was. From the beginning, he talks about Mary and Joseph who go to the temple for purification; and the evangelist notes that they do it to follow the tradition of the laws of Moses, "as it is written in the law of the Lord, to offer a sacrifice, two pigeons as mandated by the law of the Lord."
It is a family faithful to tradition. And the evangelist says that every year, for Easter, they traveled to Jerusalem. It was a traditional family. The Evangelist John notes that the 'brothers of the Lord,' therefore, his closest relatives, did not believe in him because he had turned away from the mentality of his people. Jesus has announced something unacceptable to his people: the acceptance of all, no discrimination between Hebrews and non-Hebrews. It was the beginning of the announcement of universalism; of the announcement to all the peoples of God's love and gratuity.
Here we begin to understand what the evangelist means and has underlined: "All spoke highly of him.” Actually, it's not about 'approval,' but 'they all agreed in affirming that Jesus had moved away from tradition.' In other words, he was a heretic. Faced with this reaction of his people, we ask ourselves: What will Jesus do? Will you step back, correct the statement he has made?
Let's listen:
“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.’"
One day two bishops met. One of them lived in a place where Christians were persecuted, and his colleague asked him: How do you do to live as a Christian in a place where you are persecuted? The bishop was a little pensive and then goes to his colleague and says: 'What I do not understand is how you manage to live as a Christian without being persecuted.' The one who announces the Gospel with authenticity has certainly had the experience of incomprehension, of the rejection of a message that upsets the logic of the ancient world.
In Nazareth, Jesus had this experience. If he expected them to be bound to the ancient mentality, they would refute his message. What Jesus did was not to try to loosen the tension by softening the differences by explaining maybe that everything was born of a mundane misunderstanding. No, he does not step back. He must present the disturbing new logic and expects this reaction to occur. In fact, he quotes two prophets who deny the expectations of the people of Nazareth. And, therefore, he distances himself from their convictions, a refutation of their dreams, a condemnation of their illusions. The people expected the punishment of pagan peoples to take place, but, instead, Jesus quotes Elijah and Elisha, two prophets, who denied these expectations, because they helped the pagans.
Now I want to make a reflection for the preachers of the Gospel, considering what happened to Jesus. It is a phenomenon that is repeated often for the evangelizers. People try to catch them and involve them with their expectations. Sometimes it is thought that the capable evangelizer is the one who does not provoke, the one who does not disturb, the one who says what people like to hear, what has always been considered fair, what has always been done... But, the evangelizer should not please people. He must announce the Word of Christ, not what people expect. They should not promote an alienating religion... certain traditions that have little or nothing to do with faith in Christ. Traditions that many times they are only remnants of a poor faith, although that is what the people like. The preacher must be faithful to the Gospel, not to what people expect.
This is the important message that comes to us from Nazareth; of what happened to Jesus and what he has done. He has not stepped back to win the sympathy of the people. The Gospel must be announced in its authenticity, it can be received or rejected, but not modified. I understand that people like certain things, but you have to announce what Jesus has asked to be announced: this new world, this unconditional love of God. The preacher must be willing, like Jesus, to accept failure, but he cannot modify the Gospel message to please the listeners.
I mentioned that Jesus confirms his position by quoting two great prophets: Elijah and Elisha. What did Elijah do? At a time when there was a famine in Israel, instead of helping the widows of Israel, he went to help, with the gift that God wanted to give this pagan woman—he gave her food. She was a pagan woman. We do not know if she was good or bad, but she was not an Israelite. This is the sign that the gifts of God, through the prophet, poured not only on his people, but, on that occasion, poured right on a pagan person. This was the sign that God made no distinction between peoples, races, tribes... For God, all are his sons and daughters.
And Elisha had done the same thing. There were so many lepers in Israel. He had cared for a leper who was Aramaic, a commander of the army of the Damascus king and this one adored 'Benadad', 'Adad Rimon' who was the Damascus god and, therefore, did not even worship the God of Israel, even though he eventually understood that life and healing come only from the Lord. So, Jesus quotes these two prophets to show that the God of Israel welcomes everyone. He is the God of all and loves all freely.
At that moment, the inhabitants of Nazareth understand where Jesus wants to say: Israel is not the only recipient of the promises made to Abraham and his descendants. And they also understand the reason why Jesus has left Nazareth, because if he had stayed there he would have wasted his time. The people of Nazareth could understand and would not change their mind and heart; they would not accept the novelty of the Gospel. They were closed in their exclusivist mentality. They thought that they were the only recipients of God's love. In this context, we now see the final reaction of the inhabitants of Nazareth. Let's listen:
“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 Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.”
What has irritated the assembly in Nazareth were the words of 'grace' of Jesus. A challenge to the pettiness and narrowness of their religious convictions. And Jesus is expelled from the village. If they do not kick you out of town, it means you think the same way as those in the village. The word 'village' in the Gospel always have a negative connotation. It points out the attachment to traditions, not wanting to change, even when the new message arrives, brought by the prophet, who come from God, there is closeness. This is the image of 'village' in the gospels.
In fact, we remember that when Jesus heals the deaf and dumb, what does he do? The evangelist Mark says that Jesus took him away from the people. Therefore, to open the ears and begins to speak in a new way it is necessary to move away from what everyone says, what everyone thinks. You must leave the town. And when Jesus heals the blind man from Bethsaida, he takes him out of town and at the end tells him: do not go back to the village. ‘At first you did not see, now I have granted you the sight. If you go back to the way you thought before, you will go back to blindness.’ This is the first image that we have of Jesus as an announcer of the Gospel. Defeated. Excluded. Jesus and his message were not well received; people did not like it.
As announcers of the Gospel, you must keep this in mind because if what happened to Jesus does not happen to you, you should ask yourself: ¿Did my message present the authentic Gospel or I just sought to say what people expect, what people want to hear? The narrative concludes by saying that Jesus, passing in their midst (people wanted to hurl him down from the hill where the city of Nazareth was built) Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.
Actually, there is no hill in Nazareth. From what mountain did they want to hurl down Jesus? It is a metaphorical mountain. The inhabitants of Nazareth had locked themselves in their positions and those who do not conform to their mentality are thrown out, they fall apart. What does the evangelist mean by saying that “Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away?” Went away... it is not a prodigious and miraculous disappearance of Jesus. The language is metaphorical and very important. It is a message of comfort and hope that the evangelist wants to give to the Christians of his community: announcing the authentic gospel they will be persecuted, they will find opposition, hostility, incomprehension. They must take it into account, but they must cultivate this conviction, this certainty that, if you are faithful to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth, you will continue on your way and will be sure that your life will be successful. The work you have done will leave a mark on the history of humanity.
I wish everyone a good Sunday and a good week.
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