Word to the Wise
Monday, August 30, 2021 - Monday in the 22th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Thess 4:13-18 and Luke 4:16-30]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. 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.”
The daily gospel scriptures move today from the end of Jesus' public ministry in the Gospel According to Matthew to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry in the Gospel According to Luke. He arrives in his hometown and, being a pious Jew, attends the synagogue on the sabbath. The people have already heard about his ministry and are anxious to hear from him. What they heard, however, was not what they expected! The hometown son of the carpenter claims to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah about the "suffering servant." One can imagine them saying, "Did you hear what I just heard?" It was too much for them to accept and they ran him out of town.
In preaching parish missions, I have used this gospel passage to challenge the parishioners to understand that the prophecy of Isaiah describes what any baptized Christian should be doing! Each baptized Christian should be able to say that he or she is the fulfillment of that prophecy! I include the following story from my own life.
When I was an undergraduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans back in the 1960's, I used to go visit a cousin of mine and his family on weekends. Across the street from his home was another guy from my hometown who was a rather startling Vatican II Catholic before that council even occurred! We were sitting in his yard on a sunny humid day when a man came across the yard. He was wearing a hat and had his coat draped over his arm with his tie a little loose from the heat of the day. In one hand he had a sheaf of papers. He turned out to be from the Jehovah's Witnesses and wanted to share his faith with us. We assured him we were practicing Catholics and not in need of his services at that point, and he thanked us and went on to the next house. My friend turned to me and said, "You know, we should be out doing that today!" I have never forgotten that remark.
Evangelization doesn't come easy to us Catholics because we tend to leave it to bishops, priests and religious! But we are all called to it. Our neighbors in the parish may not be receptive to our efforts, but we should remember that Jesus' "neighbors," who had known him since he was a little boy, also rejected him. Pope Francis has challenged us all to be "missionary disciples!" Can we be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy? Why not? AMEN
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