Daily Retreat 01/28/07
2007 Jan 28 SUN: FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Jer 1: 4-5. 17-19/ Ps 70(71): 1-2. 3-4. 5-6. 15-17/ 1 Cor 12: 31 – 13: 13/ Lk 4: 21- 30
From today’s readings: “The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.... In You, O LORD, I take refuge.... Love is patient, love is kind.... Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing....”
Luke Lays Out Life’s Option
In chapter 4 of St. Luke's Gospel, the stirring manifesto of the Messiah's mission is presented (last Sunday’s Gospel, which leads into this Sunday’s passage). Jesus quotes from the book of the prophet Isaiah about how the Lord has sent Him to announce the good news (the Gospel) and to proclaim liberty to the captives, and healing to the blind, and release to the prisoners... and it's so filled with good news — and yet, after a momentary euphoria, there's this reaction from the people of Nazareth that they don't want to hear the good news... in fact, they want to get rid of Jesus! And this is what happens time and time again in this Gospel: Luke paints in inviting detail just how good is the good news, and yet there's people who completely ignore or even reject this good news.
But Luke also takes great pains to show, not just who Jesus is (the One who brings the good news) but also who are the people who do receive the good news (see, for instance, next Sunday’s Gospel). Luke, more than any other evangelist, has a beautiful picture, a portrait, of the supporting cast: the people who received the good news, who were there with Jesus and are taken up by His message. Now Luke of course, has good reason for this detail, because in his second volume (the Acts of the Apostles) he's going to develop more fully how those people who received the good news, the supporting cast of Jesus, continued to carry out His mission.
So Luke presents this ongoing contrast between those who accept and those who reject the Gospel. Consider, for example, the crucifixion of Christ, there's only one Gospel that sets off the good thief and the bad thief- and that's the Gospel of St Luke. What a contrast - in the hour of death, either humbly crying out, "Jesus, remember me!" or tragically, blaspheming Him. All throughout the Gospel, there are people that get the message and there are people who don't get the message. So you and I, the readers, are presented with this clear option: are we going to humbly accept Jesus and His Gospel, or are we going to tragically ignore and reject Him, and drive Him out of our own hometown?
Jer 1: 4-5. 17-19/ Ps 70(71): 1-2. 3-4. 5-6. 15-17/ 1 Cor 12: 31 – 13: 13/ Lk 4: 21- 30
From today’s readings: “The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.... In You, O LORD, I take refuge.... Love is patient, love is kind.... Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing....”
Luke Lays Out Life’s Option
In chapter 4 of St. Luke's Gospel, the stirring manifesto of the Messiah's mission is presented (last Sunday’s Gospel, which leads into this Sunday’s passage). Jesus quotes from the book of the prophet Isaiah about how the Lord has sent Him to announce the good news (the Gospel) and to proclaim liberty to the captives, and healing to the blind, and release to the prisoners... and it's so filled with good news — and yet, after a momentary euphoria, there's this reaction from the people of Nazareth that they don't want to hear the good news... in fact, they want to get rid of Jesus! And this is what happens time and time again in this Gospel: Luke paints in inviting detail just how good is the good news, and yet there's people who completely ignore or even reject this good news.
But Luke also takes great pains to show, not just who Jesus is (the One who brings the good news) but also who are the people who do receive the good news (see, for instance, next Sunday’s Gospel). Luke, more than any other evangelist, has a beautiful picture, a portrait, of the supporting cast: the people who received the good news, who were there with Jesus and are taken up by His message. Now Luke of course, has good reason for this detail, because in his second volume (the Acts of the Apostles) he's going to develop more fully how those people who received the good news, the supporting cast of Jesus, continued to carry out His mission.
So Luke presents this ongoing contrast between those who accept and those who reject the Gospel. Consider, for example, the crucifixion of Christ, there's only one Gospel that sets off the good thief and the bad thief- and that's the Gospel of St Luke. What a contrast - in the hour of death, either humbly crying out, "Jesus, remember me!" or tragically, blaspheming Him. All throughout the Gospel, there are people that get the message and there are people who don't get the message. So you and I, the readers, are presented with this clear option: are we going to humbly accept Jesus and His Gospel, or are we going to tragically ignore and reject Him, and drive Him out of our own hometown?
posted by FrPitstick | 1/23/2007
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