The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to see the Life in the Spirit of the people who teach and those we encounter in our lives daily.
Encounter the Spirit
The reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians proclaims Christ crucified.
* [2:3] The weakness of the crucified Jesus is reflected in Paul’s own bearing (cf. 2 Cor 10–13). Fear and much trembling: reverential fear based on a sense of God’s transcendence permeates Paul’s existence and preaching. Compare his advice to the Philippians to work out their salvation with “fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12), because God is at work in them just as his exalting power was paradoxically at work in the emptying, humiliation, and obedience of Jesus to death on the cross (Phil 2:6–11).1
Psalm 119 praises the glories of God’s Law.
* [Psalm 119] This Psalm, the longest by far in the Psalter, praises God for giving such splendid laws and instruction for people to live by. The author glorifies and thanks God for the Torah, prays for protection from sinners enraged by others’ fidelity to the law, laments the cost of obedience, delights in the law’s consolations, begs for wisdom to understand the precepts, and asks for the rewards of keeping them...2
The Gospel of Luke describes the rejection of Jesus at Nazareth.
* [4:18] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me: see note on Lk 3:21–22. As this incident develops, Jesus is portrayed as a prophet whose ministry is compared to that of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Prophetic anointings are known in first-century Palestinian Judaism from the Qumran literature that speaks of prophets as God’s anointed ones. To bring glad tidings to the poor: more than any other gospel writer Luke is concerned with Jesus’ attitude toward the economically and socially poor (see Lk 6:20, 24; 12:16–21; 14:12–14; 16:19–26; 19:8). At times, the poor in Luke’s gospel are associated with the downtrodden, the oppressed and afflicted, the forgotten and the neglected (Lk 4:18; 6:20–22; 7:22; 14:12–14), and it is they who accept Jesus’ message of salvation.3
Jay Carney shares that one line stands out to him: “Is this not the son of Joseph?” Jesus’ neighbors ultimately cannot reconcile this new messianic prophet with the young man they thought they knew, the son of a lowly workman. Is this not a temptation that all of us face? So often we fail to see God’s unfolding grace in front of our eyes, because we have already made up our minds.
We put people in stereotypical boxes, and fail to appreciate their unique gifts. We remember friends as they used to be, and don’t allow for them to mature, grow, or change. We think that God’s blessing is only for “our people,” and fail to accept that God is equally at work in the lives of the widow of Zarephath or Naaman the Syrian. In sum, we get locked into our “human wisdom,” as St. Paul writes today, and fail to see the “power of God” at work all around us.4
Don Schwager quotes “By reading Isaiah, Jesus shows he is God and Man,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"Now it was necessary that he should manifest himself to the Israelites and that the mystery of his incarnation should now shine forth to those who did not know him. Now that God the Father had anointed him to save the world, he very wisely orders this also [that his fame should now spread widely]. This favor he grants first to the people of Nazareth, because, humanly speaking, he had grown up among them. Having entered the synagogue, therefore, he takes the book to read. Having opened it, he selects a passage in the Prophets which declares the mystery concerning him. By these words he himself tells us very clearly by the voice of the prophet that he would both be made man and come to save the world. For we affirm that the Son was anointed in no other way than by having become like us according to the flesh and taking our nature. Being at once God and man, he both gives the Spirit to the creation in his divine nature and receives it from God the Father in his human nature. It is he who sanctifies the whole creation, both by shining forth from the Holy Father and by bestowing the Spirit. He himself pours forth his own Spirit on the powers above and on those who recognized his appearing. (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 12)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 comments that the pure-hearted perspective of children, along with their lack of inhibition, can often bring rare clarity to complicated situations.… Think about the heartfelt “I love you” coming from a young toddler. Or think about how easy it is for young children to become friends and show affection to each other. Such simple innocence has a way of boiling things down to their most important elements—and softening our hearts in the process.
This is exactly how Jesus himself lived. He made it a point to call simple, unsophisticated people to be his disciples, not just the wealthy and influential. He honored the widow who placed her last two coins in the Temple collection box (Luke 21:1-4). And he warned his followers, “Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Jesus identified not with the worldly wise but with the “least ones” (25:45). Today, try to take a step in the direction of simplicity. Think of someone you know who manifests a humble, childlike faith. What is it about that person that attracts you? Their sense of trust? Their quickness to forgive? Their ability to listen patiently? Let whatever it is inspire you—and tell the Lord it’s something you want too.6
Friar Jude Winkler connects the proclamation of Christ by Paul to the Corinthians to his rejection in Athens. Jesus reads from Trito-Isaiah and connects His mission to the Jubilee year. Friar Jude reminds us that when we look for the good in others, we find it.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, begins with Thomas Merton’s classic description of the True Self as written following his “conversion” at Fourth and Walnut in Louisville.
At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak [God’s] name written in us, as our poverty, as our indigence, as our dependence, as our [birthright]. It is like a pure diamond, blazing with the invisible light of heaven. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and cruelty of life vanish completely. . . . I have no program for this seeing. It is only given. But the gate of heaven is everywhere. [2]7
Fr. Richard concludes that the God-given contemplative mind... recognizes the God Self, the Christ Self, the True Self of abundance and deep inner security. The influence of the Spirit is visible when we find beauty, truth, and goodness on our journey.
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