Jesus does not come to proclaim what we want to hear. He comes to proclaim the Truth. In the Gospel today we hear of how the full revelation of Truth is fiercely opposed to the point where the Nazarenes want to kill Jesus.<\/p>\n
For the Jews, salvation came from one\u2019s status as a child of Abraham and obedience to the Law. Birthright plays a role in salvation, which continues today. God\u2019s covenant with the Jews remains and will forever remain. However, Jesus proclaims the words of Isaiah, \u201cto proclaim release to the captives (Lk 4:18),\u201d are fulfilled (v.22).<\/p>\n
Fulfillment carries with it two meanings. The first is a perfection, a filling. The second is an overflowing as a result of being filled. God\u2019s fulfills His promise of sending a Messiah to the Jews in the person of Jesus. But the abundance of His mercy cannot be contained. It flows out to the Gentiles, alluded to by Elijah and Elisha (v.25-27). God restores the dead or dying to life. Through Elijah\u2019s prayers, God restores a dead son to life; through Elisha\u2019s instructions to Naaman, God restores the leper\u2019s skin to a youthful countenance (1 Kg 17:17-24, 2 Kg 5:1-19). In fact, Elijah and Elisha are prophets at a time when Israel is faithless. It is the faithless Gentiles who believe when Israel, called to faith, chases after idols.<\/p>\n
Thus, the saving grace of God is offered to the world, Jew and Gentile, through Jesus. But Jesus begins His work within the human heart. He first proclaims the Truth to us. Gaudium et Spes<\/em> paragraph 22 says Jesus \u201cfully reveals man to himself, and makes his calling clear.\u201d Jesus meets us where we are, but He does not leave us there. Hans Urs von Balthasar says Jesus comes to be our intimate friend, but calls us to adore Him as the all-high Lord. Jesus goes to the \u201cgodless nations\u201d of the heart – sin, secrets, sorrow – so that we may live in Him.<\/p>\n But Jesus does not force Himself on us. God does not desire death, but He will not force us to live. We have to answer His call. We can be like the Nazarenes who try throwing Jesus off a hill, trying to extinguish the Truth of God\u2019s revelation; we can sin and reject God. Or we can embrace the Truth, \u201cput aside childish things (1 Cor 13:11),\u201d and cooperate with grace – choosing to abide in God. For the Truth liberates us from sin so that we can go to our true home: the bosom of the Father. But we have to choose to receive the \u201cgood news to the poor\u201d in Christ Jesus. For, as St Bede the Venerable says, \u201cwe abide in God insofar as we do not sin.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph Yuson <\/strong>– St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n Fot. Fatih Ozdemir\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[168,39,167,146,154,166],"class_list":["post-1972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider","tag-fourth-sunday","tag-jesus","tag-jew","tag-joseph-yuson","tag-messiah","tag-st-joseph-seminary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n