Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This homily was preached by Fr Nicholas King SJ

Scripture readings: Jeremiah 1:4-5,17-19;  I Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Luke 4:21-30

I have probably said this to you before; but you all have a vocation, a calling from God that you and only you can hear and follow, and the readings this week (and “today”, a word that we shall hear later) invite us to think what our vocation might be like. One thing you can be sure of is that your vocation will not necessarily bring us into great comfort.

Look at Jeremiah: in the first reading, we hear about Jeremiah’s calling; he is told that God has always known him: “before you came to birth I consecrated you, appointed you as prophet to the nations”; “put on your kit… Up you get (today) and tell them everything I order you” And God continues: “I am going to make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron…against the kings of Judah and its princes and its priests and the people of the land”. So it is going to be tough; and you could do worse this week than read all the way through all 52 chapters of Jeremiah’s work, to see how tough he is going to find it; see, for example, how the prophet bellows at God in a later chapter: “you seduced me, and I let myself be seduced!” So God tells him to “brace yourself… do not be dismayed… I'll make you a fortified city, a pillar of iron”. but it is going to be difficult, because Jeremiah is to confront “the kings of Judah, its princes and its priests… they will fight against you but shall not overcome”. What is the source of his confidence? Simply this, that God has told him “I AM with you… it is the Lord who speaks.” So our vocation comes from recognising God’s speech. And that means that if today you are feeling totally inadequate for what God is asking of you, cheer up – you will not go under or be destroyed.

Then in the second reading, Paul is making his final attempt in this letter to stop the Corinthians squabbling; that is his difficult vocation, just at the moment, as they were playing games like “I am more spiritually gifted than you are! – so there!” To cope with their arrogance, he gives them that great hymn to love which is chapter 13 of his first letter to them; and how does he do it? What he does is to make a list of the things that are not love, all the spiritual gifts the Corinthians were boasting about, and saying that none of these is any good without love. Then he pens a beautiful description of what could well be his beloved Jesus, to show what they should be like. Finally he thinks of other things that might be mistaken for love, and none of them does the trick; we have to hang on until the end of the passage: “there remain these three things: faith, hope, and love”. As you and I work out our vocation here is the mantra we must recite: “and the greatest of these is love.” And love, he concludes, never ends: eventually, we shall see “face to face”; and that gives us a glimpse of the glorious truth of the love that is our vocation. (Today)

In the gospel, we see the second half of last week’s picture of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth (think: local boy makes good). We are right at the beginning of Luke's account of Jesus’ ministry; and what Jesus is doing is to work out his vocation from the Father. Starts provocatively: “today this Scripture is being fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke: cf. shepherds, Zacchaeus, & the “good thief”) He trails his coat a bit, it must be said, suggesting that they are going to tell him to do miracles here, and stressing that God could be calling him to address the Gentiles. This nearly gets him killed, as indeed will happen later on, of course; but for the moment he passes right through them, and goes his way. This is not a comfortable vocation for Jesus; nor is it very comfortable for us who follow him. Let's pray this week to listen out for the Lord’s invitation. Their reactions run the whole gamut: “all attested to him & they were astonished by the words of grace proceeding from his mouth” all the way down to “all filled w. rage” & attempted murder.

• “Isn’t it Joseph’s son?”, they ask. Yes: but not the whole Truth

• “Doctor, heal yourself”: hostility “let’s have a few miracles, like you did in Capernaum” (local pride). He did stuff for those Gentiles, and not for his own people

• “No prophet acceptable in his own country”. Don’t expect people in Mayfair to admire you for being Xtian. • Example of Elijah (widow of Sarephat) & Elisha (Naaman the Syrian).

• Furious rage at the use of these examples of “Man of God” (like Jesus)

• “they arose and threw him out of the city and led him to the brow of the mountain where the city was built, to throw him down the cliff”. Serious over-reaction, but this is going to be Jesus’ life. eventually they will succeed in killing him, of course, but that is later on.

• for the moment, Jesus effortlessly survives: “he went through the middle of them & journeyed on”.

You? Vocation to be the presence of God & Jesus in the world; not going to be comfortable. At the deepest level, a matter of love; & it will not be defeated. And neither will you, if you answer God’s call. (Today)