Get Caught Doing It

Have you ever experienced what it feels like to be caught doing exactly what you’ve been called to do? Has your purpose in life ever been revealed to you in one single moment or encounter? These would be the moments when we know that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us. There is an “uprightness” in our posture, a confidence in our words, an air of solid ground beneath our feet, and peace. I have these moments often with my memory care sweethearts where the atmosphere takes on a weight of glory, if you will, and its fragrance triggers a knowing deep within. This knowing is my anointing, my set apartness, my rested upon by the Holy Spirit self, my favor, my glad tidings, my liberty, and my uprightness. In today’s gospel Jesus is caught doing exactly what He was called to do in the reading of the Word by the Word made flesh and guess what? people took offense to it. There will always be people that take offense, misunderstand, don’t hear our hearts, and misinterpret our “favor.” I mean for heaven’s sake, “They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.” Yep, they tried pushing Jesus over a cliff, and these were his friends and neighbors!!! “But he passed through the midst of them and went away.” What gave Him the ability to pass through the midst of a murderous mob? Peace. The peace of knowing who He was and what He was about. We can have the same peace when we walk upright, stand in our anointing, allow the Spirit to rest upon us, and declare God’s promises through His Word. These things come from time spent in His presence. Intentional intimacy with God draws us into a space of receptivity where we can change our posture from bent over by people’s offenses to standing upright in our identity as His beloved daughter or son. 

I pray that each of us gets caught doing exactly what we’ve been called to do today. When people take offense, may we pass through the midst of chaos into the solid ground of our anointing where peace is our posture and the Spirit rests upon us. It is well with my soul.  

Reading 1 1 THES 4:13-18

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
about those who have fallen asleep,
so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord,
that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself, with a word of command,
with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven, 
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left,
will be caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words.

Responsorial Psalm PS 96:1 AND 3, 4-5, 11-12, 13

R. (13b) The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
For great is the LORD and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are things of nought,
but the LORD made the heavens.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
R. The Lord comes to judge the earth.

Alleluia SEE LK 4:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel LK 4:16-30

Jesus 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.
They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"
He said to them, "Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say, 'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said,
"Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.