A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy
BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (Series 5, n. 9)
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – January 28, 2007
“A Prophet to the Nations I Appointed You”
BIBLE READINGS
Jer 1:4-5, 17-19 // I Cor 12:31-13:13 // Lk 4:21-30
N.B. Series 5 of BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD: A LECTIO DIVINA APPROACH TO THE SUNDAY LITURGY includes a prayerful study of the Sunday liturgy of Year C from the perspective of the First Reading. For another set of reflections on the Sunday liturgy of Year C, please go to the PDDM Web Archives: WWW.PDDM.US and open Series 2.
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
Julio Arambulo was my classmate in high school at U.P. Prep (University of the Philippines Preparatory School). Our classes were held in the third floor of an old U.P. building that is adjacent to the Philippine Supreme Court. One afternoon, while the high school boys were doing some military drills in the schoolyard, there was a shooting at the adjacent parking lot. A henchman pulled the trigger pointblank at a Supreme Court official and murdered him in broad daylight. The 15-year old Julio witnessed the cold-blooded crime and courageously testified to the police and in the court about it. He was in the national news for days and days, and month and months. As the star witness, Julio was given a bodyguard to accompany him wherever he went, but his real strength and protection came from the Lord God. Conscious that the only thing needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing about it, he dared to be a prophet of truth. The henchman was incarcerated on account of Julio’s testimony and prophetic stance. Although the mastermind of the crime, probably a powerful and untouchable “politico” had not been apprehended, the courage of Julio became an inspiration for us on how to be strong witnesses for the truth – on how to be prophets of truth.
This Sunday’s Old Testament reading (Jer 1:4-5, 17-19) presents the vocation of young Jeremiah and how God consecrated and strengthened him for his task as “a prophet to the nations”. The word of the Lord addressed to Jeremiah was couched in a powerful military metaphor to indicate the intense challenge of his prophetic ministry: “But do you gird your loins; stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them … They will fight against you but not prevail over you, for I am with you, says the Lord.” God insisted that Jeremiah should not back off from his prophetic stance for God would strengthen him, making him as strong as a walled city, a pillar of iron or a wall of brass.
The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 2, remark: “When one understands the mission of Jeremiah, one of the greatest prophets, it is not surprising that God should have initially assured him that he would be with him in his trials, making him a fortified city, a pillar of iron, a wall of brass. For he was told to challenge the deepest convictions of his fellow citizens, to stand firm in the face of lies and slander, to upbraid the people for their laxity, in short to go against the whole land: against Judah’s kings and princes, against its priests and people who treated him very harshly. He knew the agonizing loneliness of a man of the Word, and of Gethsemane, having been thrown into a deep hole where he could hardly think about the renewal that it was his mission to proclaim. Hesitant, troubled in the depths of his being, bowed down under an overwhelming responsibility, hounded on all sides, he never stopped speaking with the tenacity of a timid person; he remained an upright man. He learned the cost of being a prophet and, by his suffering, he learned obedience to God. This would not have been possible had he not been firmly assured, throughout, of God’s promise.”
Jeremiah prefigured Jesus Christ. In the light of Jeremiah’s challenging vocation as “prophet to the nations”, we understand more deeply the rejection and anguish that Jesus, the supreme Prophet, experienced in his difficult mission to bring the good news to all and to integrate God’s beloved creation. In his mission to the nations and in his task of universal salvation, Jesus drew his strength from God the Father, the author of the all-embracing saving plan. The assurance of divine power strengthened Jesus for his messianic task as Servant of Yahweh and as Savior of all. Like the prophet Jeremiah, the ultimate prophet, Jesus Christ, would experience intense sufferings and violent resistance, but with the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit would eventually triumph.
Eugene Maly comments: “Jeremiah is like Jesus … The similarities are striking. Both were called to be prophets. Both were to suffer the agony of desolation. Both were to proclaim a message that would be repudiated. And both were to be persecuted. But the Father’s presence would insure the ultimate vindication of both … Now the crunch comes. Would we also be able to say, in the light of our reflections, Jeff and Jesus? Or, Judy and Jesus? Is there something in each one of us that someone could compare favorably with Jesus? An acceptance of suffering and, especially, misunderstanding as part of God’s plan? A special concern for the outcast, the sinner? A genuine love for the poor? We can’t marvel at the similarities between Jeremiah and Jesus in a vacuum. They must have meaning for us. And, unlike Jeremiah, we call ourselves Christians. Our very vocation is to be like Jesus in someway.”
The vocation of the Christian is to be a prophet to the nations. The strength and power of God accompany each Christian disciple for this prophetic task of speaking God’s truths and in honoring others who do. It entails great openness and receptivity to the presence of Jesus, the ultimate Prophet, who, by varied ways and means, works in us. Harold Buetow remarks: “Prophecy is not so much picturing the future as it is challenging us to return to faithful observance of our obligations. We are reminded of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, The Great Stone Face, in which a small town in New England waited for the coming of a prophet and holy man who would look like the features of a stone outcropping in a local hillside. They waited, but no one ever seemed to come, and the village lost hope and spirit. One day an old man of the town died and, as he was laid out, someone noticed that he did look like the face in the hill. He had been with them all the time and they never recognized him until it was too late!”
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Lk 4:21-30
By Mike Shaffer
Liturgy Coordinator: Parish of Immaculate Conception
Monrovia, CA – U.S.A.
In this Gospel reading, Jesus has just finished announcing in the synagogue what He was going to do in his public ministry. He was going 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.” Jesus, in essence, mapped out everything he was about to do in his own hometown of Nazareth. By this time, he had already become known for his healings and other miracles he had been performing in Capernaum, a city to the north.
There are two incidents that take place in this Gospel that were un-nerving to me: first, the people who knew Jesus the best and watched Him grow up were the first to reject Him and they did this toward the beginning of His public ministry. How awful that rejection must have been to Jesus; how hurtful. The second incident comes at the very end of this Gospel episode: the people became so angry at what Jesus said that they took Him to the edge of a hill so that they might “hurl Him down headlong.” On top of hurtful rejection, I would be in absolute fear. The Gospel passage is concluded by this line: “But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.”
After thinking and praying about this Gospel reading (and asking some advice), I believe this encounter is a foreshadow to our upcoming Lenten journey that will start in just a few weeks. Rejection by friends or family members or even those I don’t know can be devastating to me and takes much time for me to heal. I tend to not let go of that hurt and shield myself and my heart from being hurt again. I am only now realizing, slowly but surely, that Jesus calls me to give Him these hurts and rejections that I sometimes experience and to walk with Him through times of pain. The other more important point here is that walking with Jesus does not mean he will take away these experiences or numb the pain, but will lovingly guide me. From this Gospel, I know that he understands.
Following our Lord with my life and being obedient to His calling is both very difficult and, at times, very distressing for me. Jesus walks with me, carries me, and leads us through the pain and difficulties of trying to live a Christian life. Many times my life in ministry becomes painful and hard to do: I know more and more that Jesus is always there for me. How then does Jesus call me to go deeper in these experiences? I think Jesus calls me to die to these feelings of hurt and rejection; to surrender them right back to Him and place these things in His loving hands. The pain will still be there for a while, but they are no longer mine but the Lord’s. I know that in every small or big situation where I do this, where I die to these things, at some point I begin to see a glimpse of the Resurrection.
This is that “foreshadowing” of our upcoming Lenten journey: examining how often I do surrender my worries, anxieties, and pain to the Lord; how often am I willing to die to these things and be raised with Him? This Gospel passage ends with Jesus literally passing through this violent crowd untouched. I want to follow Jesus so that He will lead me through these rejections that I encounter as he walked through the crowd, But where does He lead me? Eventually to the Cross, to death and to Resurrection. The question for me, everyday, is this: am I willing to take up my cross and follow Him in everything? What about you …
II. POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
A. Do we consider with interest the vocation of Jeremiah who prefigures Jesus Christ, the ultimate Prophet? Do we remember Jeremiah as the suffering prophet who answered God’s call and tried to draw his people back from the precipice of disaster? How does the divine power and protection at work in the belabored prophet impact us? What is the implication of his vocation and prophetic ministry for us personally?
B. What is our own response to Jesus’ declaration: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in our hearing”? Are we indifferent or resistant to his messianic message of universal salvation? Do we regard Jesus as the true and ultimate Prophet who speaks and incarnates radically the truth about God’s saving love for us? Do we truly open ourselves to the prophetic and saving ministry of Jesus in our lives and in the world today?
C. Would we be able to say, in the light of the prophetic vocation of Jesus, that we are like Jesus? Is there something in each one of us that could be compared favorably with Jesus, for example, an acceptance of suffering, a special concern for the outcast, a genuine love for the poor, etc.?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
Leader: Loving Father,
you sent to us your Son Jesus, the ultimate Prophet
who speaks the Truth and accomplishes your saving love for us.
Strengthen us by the power of your Holy Spirit
so that we may fulfill our vocation and ministry
as Christian prophets in the world today.
May we never fail to recognize the daily coming of Jesus Christ,
the ultimate Prophet sent into our lives
for we hunger for truth
and the revelation of the divine abounding, compassionate love.
May we thus commit ourselves deeply to Jesus,
the Prophet you sent
to proclaim the Good News of salvation to all peoples and nations.
He lives and reigns forever and ever.
Assembly: Amen.
IV. INTERIORIZATION OF THE WORD
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you … I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” (Jer 1:5, 19)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: Pray that the prophets of truth in today’s world may be strengthened for their difficult ministry. Pray that the mass media be rightly used to promote the truth and not to distort the truth. Exercise your prophetic ministry by speaking only those words that could really help in building up the community. Take on a courageous stance against the needless violence and deplorable injustices that assail our modern society.
B. ACTION PLAN: To help us contemplate more deeply the challenge and implications of our prophetic ministry with Jesus Christ, the ultimate Prophet, make an effort to spend an hour in Eucharistic Adoration. Visit the PDDM WEB site (www.pddm.us) for the EUCHARISTIC ADORATION THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (Vol. 3, n. 9): A Weekly Pastoral Tool.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
60 Sunset Ave., Staten Island, NY 10314
Tel. (718) 494-8597 // (718) 761-2323
Website: WWW.PDDM.US