The fourth Sunday offers us two second parts: Paul’s hymn to Love which continues the theme of the Church’s unity and diversity, and the second part of Luke’s narration of Jesus’ inauguration of the Year of the Lord’s Favor of Luke 4:14-30. The Pauline selection from 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that in the Christian community, the primary value is that of love — that love by which we respond to the divine love manifested to us on the cross of Christ. Jesus’ ministry was never a bed of roses. This is something that anyone wishing to walk on the roads of evangelization should remember. Like the prophets before him, Jesus too would be rejected; and that rejection will reach its climax on the cross of Calvary.
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Guide to the Reading of Luke 4:21-30
Luke 4:21-30 is actually the second part of the selection read the previous Sunday. The setting is still the synagogue in Nazareth and the audience are still the ones who were described in verse 22 as being amazed at the words proceeding from Jesus’ lips. An outline of the whole section beginning from verse 16 can be outlined thus:
- Part 1 (Read III Sunday C)
- v. 16a Jesus attends a synagogue service “as was his custom”
- v. 16b -19 He reads from the prophet Isaiah 61:1-2
- v. 20-21 Jesus interprets the Scriptures as happening “now”
- Part 2 (Read IV Sunday C)
- v. 22 Reaction of the audience
- v. 23-27 Jesus’ response: Those whom the prophet Elijah helped in his time were non-Israelites
- v. 28-29 Reaction of the audience: violence to the point of attempting to throw him down a cliff
- v. 30 Conclusion: Jesus escapes
Luke’s narration of how Jesus begins his ministry is also paradigmatic of the whole of his ministry. Verses 28-30 anticipate the death and resurrection of Jesus. The change in the reaction of the crowd (from wonderment to hostility and violence) is due to Jesus’ remark — an allussion to who would be receiving the blessings of the Day of the Lord’s Favor announced by himself based on Isaiah 61: the pagans. Thus, the spread of the Gospel from beyond the confines of the Jews’ homeland to the lands of the pagans also find its justification here.
Comparing the Readings
The first reading is taken from the vocation of Jeremiah, the suffering prophet who in his ministry suffered the hostility even of his own clan. Because of his pronouncements against he false sense of security of the Israelites of the Southern Kingdom, he was labelled as a traitor by his own people. In the selection read for the fourth Sunday, Jeremiah is given assurance that despite the hostility, he will stand firm. This has echoes in Jesus’ own ministry. In the gospel reading, the hostility of the townsmen of Nazareth and their violent intention against Jesus was thwarted when Jesus escaped unharmed from their midst.
The second reading from 1 Corinthians 13 is a continuation of the selection from 1 Corinthians 12 read on the third Sunday. The most excellent gift that the Corinthians should strive for should be charity since all prophecy and tongues, even faith and hope will pass away, but charity will remain.
Suggestions for the Lesson
For the fourth Sunday (Year C), one need not look long for a topic to preach on or a catechetical lesson to explore and explain with one’s students. The important thing to remember is not to mix the lessons from the first and Gospel readings with that of the Pauline selection. The first and Gospel readings are about the ministry and what a proclaimer of the Good News is expected to experience in the field: rejection and even sometimes hostility. “If the world hates you, remember it has hated me first”, Jesus would tell his disciples later on. For those who have difficulties in the fields of evangelization deriving from rejection and hostility, the assuring words given to Jeremiah by Yahweh should be enough. Paul later on will be given the assurance “My grace is enough for you.” The theme from 1 Corinthians 13, following as it does the theme of the Church’s unity and diversity (1 Corinthians 12) can become a launch pad for a presentation of the Pope’s encyclical, “Deus caritas est”.
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