Fr. Jeff’s Weekly Homily

January 28, 2007
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

READING 1: Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19
They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.

Psalm 71
I will sing of your salvation.

READING 2: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

GOSPEL: Luke 4:21-30
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.

A grandmother was visiting from up north. At her home she was accustomed to driving a compact car and she was struggling and complaining a bit as she chauffeured her 11 and 8 years old grandsons in her daughter’s seemingly huge SUV. She drove downtown and the only parking spot she could find was a parallel one. It appeared to be no longer than the car. She shifted the car into reverse, cut the wheel sharply and even to her own amazement, parked the car perfectly on the first try. Her 11 year old grandson jumped out of the car and put coins in the meter. She thanked him. He said, “No problem, I lost the bet!” As she hugged the 8 year old, she said, “Blest are those who have not seen but have believed.” Families are a wonderful thing!

I grew up in a small town atmosphere. My parents knew my friend’s parents when they were all teenagers. I went to the same Catholic grammar school as my parents and my fifth grade teacher, Sister Theresa Joseph, remembered my grandfather from the time when on a previous assignment she had been the principal at the school. This is Catholic schools week and I am sure the kids in Catholic school will tell you how short the grapevine is. When I was in eighth grade, I tried to open a checking account at the bank that was two blocks from my home. They gave me some papers for my parents to sign. Before I got home my mother already knew about it. It was the first thing my dad said to me when he got home from work. And the next day, even Sr. Anita Marie, my eighth grade teacher knew about it and made fun of me in class. I am telling you this because this is the way I hear today’s Gospel story. Jesus went home and was preaching in the same synagogue he had learned to read in. The older people knew his parents and probably remember the odd circumstances of his birth. The younger people probably were his childhood friends. They probably liked him. They probably liked what he had to say until he got personal. They may have thought: “Now, he’s gone from preaching to meddling.”

It raises the question: is there someone close to you, maybe within your own household who has something to say that you don’t want to hear? Are there some challenges facing your family? We hear a lot about “dysfunctional families” these days. But, honestly, isn’t every human family in some way dysfunctional? If the neighbors who were likely as close to Jesus as family didn’t want to hear Jesus; it may not be far off the mark from our own experiences. Are we reacting to someone vocalizing our reality without giving reality a chance?

This might be a good week to pray for the grace to open ourselves to the Holy Spirit and accept our own reality as just that. Reality simply is. God knows our truth and finds ways to inform us. The people who were angered by Jesus were just afraid. Our advantage is that we know he knows us and we know we don’t have to be afraid because we know how he loves us. And that is good news!

Fr. Jeff McGowan
Queen of Peace Catholic Community
Gainesville, Florida