Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our gospel reading today, Luke 4:21-30, continues the gospel we heard last Sunday.  Jesus stopped in his hometown, Nazareth, and on the Sabbath day, he attended the local synagogue just as he always did.  While there, he picked up "a scroll of the prophet Isaiah" and read a passage from the prophet Isaiah proclaiming his mission.  The hometown crowd was amazed at Jesus' eloquent speech but they were not interested in what he had to say, they wanted to see some miracles.  Jesus disappointed them.  Instead of miracles, they got some very harsh words criticizing them for being narrow minded.

The people of Nazareth, like most of the people in Israel, believed that they were God's special or chosen people.  They believed that God loved them more than anyone else and they shunned people who believed differently.  When Jesus reminded them that the great prophets Elijah and Elisha were sent to minister to people from Sidon and Syria, pagan countries, they were so infuriated that they tried to hurl him down a hill.  The people of Nazareth simply did not want to hear that God loves everyone and that everyone is special in God's eyes. 

God did love the people of Nazareth and God loved the people of Syria, Sidon, Samaria, and Ethiopia.  God loves all the people in Peachtree City just as much as He loves the people in Atlanta and the entire world.  God loves all of us equally.  If we are going to fulfill God's mission for us, to build His kingdom here, then we too must love all people as unconditionally as God loves us.  St. Paul provides us with our guidelines for love in his beautiful reflection from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind.  It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails."  Our challenge is to live up to this standard of love in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our places of work, in our communities and in our world.  If we do, then the kingdom of God will be present in Peachtree City.

Lord God, our Father,
You know us and you keep loving us
even when we fail you and one another.
Your love went as deep as giving up your own Son,
that we might live and learn to love.
Fill our hearts with a constant, grateful love
and let it overflow upon our brothers and sisters.
Give us the strength to keep loving people
even when we still bear the scars
of the hurt others have caused us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.

Amen.