1st Reading: Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13
Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
Homily: Ted Keating SM (his notes)
Death of Thich Nhat Hanh—Vietnam, Exile. Refused permission to enter the States so settled in France at what became Plum Farm. 2 Evening workshops for PAX on the occasion of Pope Francis’ letter on Non-violence. Dramatic influence in the USA. The Miracle of Mindfulness was transformative even into psychology and health circles. Dr. Weil. The miracle of the breath—respiration, inspiration, aspiration, perspiration, the Holy Spirit. The method has tremendously influenced catholic practice. Nuns and other religions. As old as the Axial age from Hinduism and Buddhism. Perfect for today but let us begin with the Word of God.
Context of Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and Consecrated you. You are to be a prophet to the Nations—the shocking revelation of the Prophetic tradition. Story of Jonah. The enemy is at the gate and the King and his court prophets are preparing to stir up the army and their swords to ward them off. Yahweh says that you will lose and you can’t defend yourselves. Sue for Peace. He enrages the King and the Generals and the court Prophets and they set out to kill him. They do lose and Jeremiah apparently is marched off with them to exile and enslavement.
Context of Jesus. Baptism in the Spirit and the Voice of God declaring Jesus His Son. The Spirit leads him into the desert for the three great temptations to power and glory, a permanent source of food for hunger from the Stones, and presumption of a right to abuse his obvious powers. He rejects all these and heads out for the beginning of his ministry in Galilee and his hometown.
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.
Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus is the fulfillment of all prophecy as the Messiah but the effect of His Words and Deeds will be prophetic as God among us—embracing lepers, healing in the sabbath in Synagogues, struggles with the religious and civil leaders that will lead to his death and the manifestation of the Resurrection. To live a life rooted in God will inevitably lead to the prophetic voice.
We didn’t use this phrase in our planning but it did occur to me afterward that we have a sandwich here today with the agape love of the Corinthian reading, sandwiched between two pieces of bread that are the consequences of accepting and acting out a life of the agape love in an often cruel and violent world more interested in the power dynamics of worldliness—who’s up, who’s down, who’s in, who’s out, who is to be written off a sinner, who’s richer, who’s poorer, who’s weak, who’s strong. The four loves—agape, sturgos/affection, philia/friendship, eros/beauty—all reduced to one terribly overburdened word love in English. No wonder our culture and society end up in so much confusion with love. All love will wear thin and weaken without a dose of Agape.
Our certainties and absolutes of our tribal life as human beings are evident in those willing to murder Jeremiah and Jesus in our readings. In the face of the Word of God, the King, his court prophets, and generals are sure of the effect of their arms and warriors even though Yahweh has been revealing to them forever that not by arms and horses and arrieros will they triumph but only in the strength of God among them—the God of steadfast love, boundless mercy, everlasting loyalty will they succeed and endure. But they know better. Are there any resonances to this in our own world today about the ease with which war can settle all conflicts and international difficulties? Does the horror of Afghanistan come to mind with 20 years of certainties and proclamations of our government?
Jesus already has a reputation that elicits admiration, wonder over His words and miracles but “Hey, c’mon. We know this guy. Isn’t Mary his mother, Joseph His Father, isn’t he the carpenter. Too much ordinariness, too close by, too known to us. What arrogance that he would identify Himself with the Messiah, the return of David who will restore our national story and international power that we had in our past. Don’t try to tell us you are the Messiah—the fulfillment of all the prophecies. You act like you are here for all humanity and not just us Jews.
Jesus reminds them that Elias was not sent to any Jew to liberate the widow and her young child from famine. It was a pagan in pagan territory. He did not mention the story of Jonah and all of his crocodile tears when Yahweh sent him to save the Ninevites in Iraq.
They are infuriated and seem to throw him over a cliff. So much for the cost of prophecy
A few words on Thich Nhat Hanh in this context. “Be Peace” and you will know what to do because God will start directing your life towards universal compassion and empathy—just like God. But you too could be exiled from Vietnam never again to find a home as his last book indicates. But then you will know that you really have no home except in God and then all the other homes in our lives will integrate into one great wholeness. The intense desire for home leads us finally to know the home of our own heart for the first time.
Meditation:
We are the Body of Christ, called together into this community. We offer our gifts, our lives, our commitment in loving service to each other, the dedicated and joyful service that Jesus gave us, saying “Do this in memory of me.” We pray that our gifts and our energies be transformed into the true Bread of Life for our world in these difficult and troubled times. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who is always present for us. We are Christ for one another, through the power of the Holy Spirit where we live now and forever.