Hurt So Good | January 7, 2016

January 7, 2016

Our doctorate course continues with John reiterating that you can’t claim to love God while hating anyone; in fact, he calls us liars if we do that. I could make a list of all the people that the world gives us permission to hate without remorse, but I’m sure you really don’t need me to do that. Pope Francis understands this discourse to its core and has declared a Jubilee year. In ancient times a year of jubilee meant that ALL debts were forgiven. You owe someone a million dollars? Canceled. You are in jail? Set free. The affects of mercy and forgiveness are almost harsher on the recipient than punishment because it is undeserved. Just this week I had to ask forgiveness for something extremely difficult and when I was forgiven with love and gentleness it “hurt so good” and I was humbled in a way that transformed my heart way better than any punishment ever could. Does that make sense? Sometimes we are our biggest obstacle in accepting forgiveness because we feel deserving of punishment instead, but God calls us to mercy, mercy, mercy. I know I’m like a broken record these days, but I’m just listening to my boss and the memo says “Jubilee Year of Mercy!”

John goes on to say, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God.” Begotten means procreated, in other words made by the same Spirit as Jesus. “For whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.” If we have conquered the world by our faith in Jesus Christ, then we no longer live by the rules of the world so that list of people we can hate goes right out the window! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a liar, I want to be begotten by God. So remember John’s opening line today, “Beloved, we love God because he first loved us,” and to love God means that we must love one another well. Easier said than done, but his grace is enough.

Today’s gospel should be entitled, “Shortest Homily Ever Given.” It says that the Spirit prompted Jesus to go back to Galilee. I know from personal experience that when you live in the Spirit you will wind up in places, at events, in conversations, and experiences that you would never have though of on your own. The Holy Spirit loves surprises. I find that I ask myself “Why am I here? Or how did I get here?” more times than not and the answer usually tends to be “The Holy Spirit did it.” I think Jesus knew it was time to reveal his mission to his peeps similar to a college kid coming home after graduation before they take on the world as grown up. Perhaps his Aunts and Uncles had been asking about him, or the town gossip had concocted some sort of buzz that was questionable, or his friends missed hanging out with him, and of course his Jewish mother probably felt the need to fatten him up a bit because he was looking a little scrawny. Small towns haven’t changed much.

When Jesus stood up to read in the synagogue his incredible knowledge of scripture became evident. Scrolls had no punctuation and were read from right to left, and it took a tremendous amount of training and in depth knowledge of the story to be able to read them in the synagogue. In fact, if you made a mistake, you were required to start back at the very beginning and after three mistakes; they would take the scroll away from you. Scrolls were huge and held between two rollers that would contain the entire book (in this case…Isaiah). A detail to back up Jesus’ expertise with scripture says, “Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written…” Remember there was no punctuation, no chapters or verses, and the scroll contained the ENTIRE book, but Jesus knew his Torah well and was able to find the right place easily.

Next picture yourself in front of all your best friends, your entire class at school or coworkers, and your family reading the following: “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.” Three times he emphasizes ME in the scripture that every Jew knows is about the Messiah!!! I can tell you right now that that would not fly with my friends and family. I mean I’m sure they think I’m pretty great, but the Messiah?? Yeah, no. At first, everyone was pretty darn impressed with his eloquence and the way he knew his scripture and it says that they were all looking at him intently. At this point, Jesus knew he had their attention and since he was the last reader, he had the privilege to preach or comment on the scripture (similar to the priest giving a homily after the last reading in our church). Then he says in case you were wondering, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing”, because I was talking about ME (I added the last part, by the way)!! It was the shortest and most powerful homily ever given. I feel like the congregation was in shell shock, like what just happened? They were impressed by his eloquence, and his knowledge of scripture, but wait, what did he really just say? Awkward silence for sure.

How do these two readings connect? It is vital that we believe that Jesus is the Christ and when we recognize him as Messiah, we will be able to love as God loves. Today, Jesus tells us very clearly who he is and God tells us very clearly who he is. The prophecy from Isaiah is clear and it all goes along with the jubilee year. So, bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives, help the blind to see, let the oppressed go free, and proclaim this year as acceptable to the Lord. I think that pretty much covers it, don’t you? Extravagant mercy makes us hurt so good. Amen.

Reading 1 1 JN 4:19–5:4

Beloved, we love God because
he first loved us. 
If anyone says, “I love God,”
but hates his brother, he is a liar;
for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen 
cannot love God whom he has not seen. 
This is the commandment we have from him:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father
loves also the one begotten by him. 
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments. 
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. 
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Responsorial Psalm PS 72:1-2, 14 AND 15BC, 17

R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
From fraud and violence he shall redeem them,
and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
May they be prayed for continually;
day by day shall they bless him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Alleluia LK 4:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor
and to proclaim liberty to captives.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 4:14-22

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region. 
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day. 
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. 
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
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.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 
He said to them,
“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.