1
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (year C), January 31, 2016
Jer. 1:4-5, 17-19; Ps. 71; 1 Cor. 12:31-13:13; Lk. 4:21-30
Break down the walls
In reflecting on today’s gospel I was reminded of the words of Pope Francis in the
Philadelphia Cathedral during his visit to the United States last fall. I am from
Philadelphia and have been to the Cathedral there quite a few times. It is a
beautiful building. But the windows are way at the top of its walls. The walls are
high because the Cathedral was built when anti-Catholicism threatened the church.
But Pope Francis began his sermon in these words: This morning I learned
something about the history of this beautiful Cathedral: the story behind its high
walls and windows. I would like to think, though, that the history of the Church in
this city . . . is really a story not about building walls, but about breaking them
down . . . about committed Catholics going out to the peripheries, and building
communities of worship, education, charity and service to the larger society.
Pope Francis’s desire to break down the walls and to open up the church so
it can bring worship, charity and service to the larger society is a real echo of
today’s gospel. The gospel continues Luke’s account of Jesus’s very first sermon
in his home town of Nazareth. We heard some of that sermon last week. Do you
remember? Jesus opened the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and read these words:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, to let the oppressed go free.” And Jesus
2
concludes with a really amazing statement “Today this Scripture passage is
fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus is telling his hearers: my mission, our mission, is
to free the oppressed and bring blessing the poor.
At first Jesus’ congregation responds positively. But quickly the mood
changes. Why? First, they seem suspicious that a local boy could make such
extraordinary claims. They grumble: Isn’t this the son of Joseph, who we know is
just a carpenter? But the issue goes deeper. They are afraid that Jesus’s message
of good news is not just for themselves, but to people they regard as enemies, like
the gentiles to the north of Israel in places like Sidon in present day Lebanon or in
Syria. Fear that Jesus’s mission extends to these foreigners explains what Jesus
says next. He tells them that when there was a famine the prophet Elijah’s
miraculous gift of food was to a widow from Sidon not to the people of Israel, and
that Elijah’s disciple Elisha healed a Syrian leper, not a Jewish one. Jesus’s good
news to the poor, the sick and the oppressed is not just for Jews, it is for
everybody—Jews and non-Jews alike. This is entirely too much for the people in
Nazareth. When Jesus tells the stories of Elijah and Elisha, the people are filled
with fury and want to kill him by throwing him off a cliff.
The Lutheran pastor David Lose suggests that a single statement can sum up
Jesus’s message in today’s gospel: God came to redeem everyone. This is really
good news when we hear it addressed personally to us in our brokenness and need.
3
But it can be terrifying when we realize it is addressed not just to us but also to
those who have done us wrong, or who frighten us, or who are different. Fear of
people who are different can lead us to build bigger and better walls to protect
ourselves. One of today’s candidates for president promises to build a huge wall
between this country and our neighbor to the south and to exclude refugees from
Syria. When Jesus disagreed with attitudes like that, it got him in trouble.
Following today’s gospel might get us in trouble too.
Both Jesus and Pope Francis are calling us to tear down the walls that our
fear leads us to build. Walls and borders might sometimes be needed in our
dangerous world. But isn’t it true that deep insecurity often leads us to
overestimate risk and to fear those we don’t know instead of welcoming them?
The single best remedy for this fear is awareness of how deeply we are loved by
God. God’s love means we don’t finally need walls to protect us. That is what
Jesus was telling the people of Nazareth in his first sermon: God’s love reaches to
everybody. So let go of the fears that lead you to build higher and thicker walls.
You don’t need those walls. Your mission is to bring the good news of God’s love
to everyone. And Jesus will be with you as you take the risks that can be a part of
doing this.
David Hollenbach, S.J.
St. Ignatius Church
January 31, 2016