The world today is in a crisis similar to, and in some ways even worse than, that of Our Lord’s time. Let us pray that He may remove as soon as possible the envy, hatred, and destructive evil that reign in our days.
Newsroom (25/01/2022 14:15, Gaudium Press) From the beginning of His public life, Jesus indicates to us an essential element of evangelization: the use of the word. “He taught in their synagogues…”
Throughout history, preaching about eternal truths has always been of capital importance for Religion. This need became even more evident at the birth of the Gospel, and it continues to the present day, as we can see from the words of Paul VI in the Encyclical Letter ‘Ecclesiam Suam’, of 6 August 1964. In this document, he refers to “the great importance which Christian preaching retains and today exercises in a special way within the framework of the Catholic apostolate… No means of spreading thought can replace it, not even those endowed with extraordinary technical power, such as the press and the audiovisual media. Apostolate and preaching are in a certain sense equivalent. Preaching is the first apostolate. Ours, venerable brothers, is first of all a ministry of the Word. […] We must return to the study, no longer of human eloquence or vain rhetoric, but of the genuine art of the Sacred Word.”[1]
Wonderful eloquence, atmosphere of blessing
And what should not be the wonderful eloquence employed by the Divine Master in His preaching?
Being the Eternal Wisdom Incarnate, there was nothing that He did not know nor know how to explain. All the events and minutiae of the Scriptures were entirely familiar to Him, and therefore He discoursed on every subject not only with ease,[2] but with art, dignity and perfection.
As a result, “He was acclaimed by all” (Lk 4:15), “all testified on His behalf, and were amazed at the gracious words that proceeded from His mouth” (Lk 4:22). And St. John, in another episode of Jesus’ life, reproduces these words of admiration: “Never has man spoken like this Man” (Jn 7:46).
In strict observance of the precepts, Jesus attended meetings held in the synagogues on Saturdays and took advantage of them to preach. “One of the acts within the synagogue consisted in the reading of biblical passages and their explanation. After reading some passage of the Law, one of the Prophets would be read. The head of the synagogue would designate who should do it. After it was read, the same person, or another, was invited to comment on it. The reading was done standing up, and the passage from the Prophets, at least at that time, could be chosen freely. The reading and explanation was done from an elevated place.”[3]
Jesus is invited to do the reading on that Sabbath, the first after His official return to the city of Nazareth, and then receives the book of Isaiah to comment on a passage. As we know, the books were written on scrolls and kept in a cupboard in a certain order. Jesus, in a simple opening, found a beautiful prophecy concerning the episode that was taking place at that very moment.
Let us try to imagine the scene that Luke describes: They gave Jesus the book of the Prophet Isaiah:
“Opening the book, Jesus found the passage in which it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has consecrated me with the anointing to proclaim good news to the poor; he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to set the oppressed free and to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour‘” (Lk 4:17-19).
One does not need much sensitivity to perceive that an atmosphere of special blessing was created at the moment when God made man, Jesus, son of David, stood up to read a passage from Scripture inspired by Himself centuries ago. St. Luke notes the atmosphere of great tension of the listeners, waiting for the commentary:
“All who were in the synagogue had their eyes fixed on Him” (Lk 4:20).
The Evangelist records only a short sentence of this comment of Jesus:
“Today this passage of Scripture which you have just heard has been fulfilled” (Lk 4:21).
Admiration transformed into envy
This Sunday’s Gospel closes with the above comment. But in the following verses (cf. Lk 1:22-30), the outcome of the episode is narrated. After an initial outburst of admiration, there followed distrust and then deadly hatred: “They were filled with anger. They arose and cast Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the mountain on which the city was built, to cast Him down.”
St. Luke summarizes in a single act the various interventions of Jesus in Nazareth, for reasons of synthesis and even for the effort of maintaining the literary beauty of his work. In reality, in the first phase there was much admiration for Jesus on the part of the inhabitants of that town, and probably even a selfish desire to have Him as a subordinate to the great local figures.
Human nature conceived in Original Sin, if it is not faithful to the grace of God, always reacts in this way. After the first outburst of admiration comes comparison; then comes the desire to profit; then comes envy, from which rise hatred and the desire to destroy.
Let us pray for today’s world
The world today also finds itself in a crisis similar to, and in some ways even worse than, that of antiquity in which Jesus began His public life in a masterly way. Either He frees the captives from the horrors of sin and restores sight to the blind mired in passions and vice, and again proclaims “a year of favour from the Lord”, or we will have reached the end of history.
Now, Mary stated at Fatima: “In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph!” That triumph will take place, and with certainty.
Let us pray that the envy, hatred and destructive zeal of evil may be curbed for centuries to come, so that the Kingdom of Christ may be established on this earth through the Immaculate and wise Heart of Mary!
Extracted with adaptations from:
CLÁ DIAS, João Scognamiglio. New Insights on the Gospels: Commentaries on the Sunday Gospels. Città del Vaticano-São Paulo: LEV-Instituto Lumen Sapientiæ, 2012, v.6, p. 37-47.
[1] PAUL VI. Ecclesiam Suam, n. 51.
[2] From French: facility.
[3] TUYA, OP, Manuel de. Biblia Comentada. Evangelios. Madrid: BAC, 1964, v. V, p. 792.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
