Gospel Reflection Jan 26 – Msgr. Hendricks
Sunday, January 30
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 4:21-30
Gospel:
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?”
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 Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.
Gospel Reflection:
The beginning of the gospel for this Sunday refers to the last few verses of the gospel from last Sunday, when Jesus has come to the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth on the Sabbath and has been asked to read the scripture. He reads from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 4:14-21. Making the reference to the passage from Isaiah, he refers to the holy one Isaiah and identifies himself, quoting, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Later in the gospel when John the Baptist is in prison by King Herod, sends his disciples to Jesus to pose the question, “Are you the one who is to come or should we look for another?” Jesus again quotes in a different way the same passage from Isaiah ending the disciples of John back with the same message: the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.
In short it is Jesus who reveals to his hometown crowd that indeed He is the one, the longed for Messiah. The reaction of the people in the synagogue will char the course of his whole ministry and eventually his death. Rejection! All of this is brought to a climax with the Resurrection of Jesus in his Glorified Body. He is indeed the one who was to come and we need not look further.
This is where we should look now to the only one in whom we can place our absolute trust and fidelity. The point is that all of our hopes and dreams, our expectations of the future life after bodily death reside with Him.
Re-read both the gospel for today and the gospel from last Sunday and there you will find your footing for a stable and wonderful life.
Monsignor Hendricks