Monday of the 22nd week in ordinary time
1 Cor. 2: 1-5 Luke 4: 16-30
Theme: The challenge of familiarity
In the gospel reading of today from St. Luke, we see how Jesus faced a great challenge amongst his own people. Just because they knew him, where he is coming from and his parents. So, they had no faith in him, even with his teaching in the synagogue. This gave rise to Jesus pointing out their unbelief and they got angry with him and was ready to throw him down, but Jesus walked away from them, because his time has not yet come. Ordinarily, one would have expected that they will be happy and readily receive him as one of them, irrespective of whether they knew his parents and all his relations or not. But this was not the case, they rather got angry with him when he told them the truth about themselves.
In our own time, something similar is happening amongst us as Christians and children of God. This is because we have tagged some people and we believe that nothing good can come from them, so we question everything that originates from them. What we fail to understand is the fact that the way of God is different from our human way, and God’s judgement is also different from that of humans. Remember, we are still dealing with a God who chooses the weak to shame the strong. A God that chooses those we have written off and use them as worthy instruments, to bring about his fulfilment for his people. We see this in the lives of some of the saints that we celebrate today in the church. They have a past that they are not proud of, but after their conversion, they became a worthy instrument in the hand of God. So, why would you make the mistake of judging people rashly, because by your assessment they are not good enough.
Dearly beloved in Christ, is there anyone of us who can claim to be perfect? Our situation is like that of the woman caught in adultery in the scriptures and was brought to Jesus. We were told that after the challenge of Jesus, they all left one after the other. Which simply shows that none of us is perfect, just that our imperfections come in different ways. Today’s liturgy encourages us to trust God’s process in the lives of everyone of us. As you do this may almighty God bless you in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen. Peace be with you.