4TH SUNDAY YEAR C.....BISHOP JOHN I. OKOYE,

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Jeremiah 1,4-5.17-19;  1 Cor 12,31-13,13; Luke 4,21-30: 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C)     The gospel episode narrating the preaching Jesus delivered in his town tends to show that he was a sign of contradiction as was prophesied by Simeon on the day of his presentation in the temple (Luke 2,34). There were two reactions to his preaching. On one hand, there was the admiration and enthusiasm for the content of his message and for the authority with which he delivered them. On the other hand, there was reaction of hatred against him and rejection of his message, to the extent of planning to kill him. Why? His people were not happy that Jesus did not satisfy their desire and interest, for he did not work many miracles among them as they heard he did elsewhere. Another reason was that Jesus dared to assert that God was not limited by territory and was free to work miracles even outside Israel and in favour of non Israelites, like Naaman, the Syrian and the widow of Zerepath.  Jesus was able to escape their murderous intent. The episode leaves us with a lot of lessons. It is not God who will change his plans to suit ours. It is rather ours that should yield to his. We pray in the Our Father: Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The implication of this request is that just as God’s will sways absolutely in heaven, so should it be on earth. What it boils down to, is that in presenting my request to God in prayer, I should be telling God to give me the grace to accept his design, plan and decision on the issue and that I should not be expecting God to change his plans in order to accommodate my request. Another lesson from the episode is that we should not construct the image of Christ according to our own human schemes and preferences but to accept the Messiah as God the Father has presented him to us.  We should also not be his followers only when things go well with us and show him our back when we have difficulties. Our adherence to Christ should not be motivated by desire and quest of physical miracles (We Nigerian Catholics are very guilty of this particular fault) but rather by the content of the message of salvation he came to preach.

The connection between the gospel and the first reading can be seen in the common fate of the two prophets, Jeremiah and Jesus who are the protagonists of the two passages respectively. They suffered from the hands of their very people. The treatment given to Jesus in today’s gospel made him declare: I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. Their unsuccessful attempt to throw him down the cliff was only a prelude to what eventually happened at Calvary, where he could not escape and had to pay the bitter price of having been the mouthpiece/prophet of God. Jeremiah, though consecrated in the mother’s womb in view of the work of a prophet, did not find it easy as God’s spokesman. His messages from God were often refuted and rejected. He suffered even physically from his adversaries. What sustained Jeremiah in his difficult mission was the consciousness that it was God who sent him on mission and who would sustain him with his divine presence. God assured him: They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you. By virtue of our baptism and our spiritual unction from the Sacrament of Confirmation we share in the prophetic mission of Christ and God sends us into the world as prophets to perform the following: to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom of God through Christ; to be spokesmen/spokeswomen of God and his message of salvation and to be the executors of God’s design of love. In playing our prophetic role, which is a participation in that of Christ, we Christians should be aware that the lot of Christ and that of the prophets will be ours also. We are bound to meet opposition, rejection and persecution. This is because the way of God, that inspires our actions, is diverse from that of the world, indeed oftentimes opposed to it. It means that if we are faithful to our mission as prophets we may not be expecting praises and adulation but misunderstanding and hostility, from the part of the world. But, unfortunately, our life as Christians do not challenge our neighbours because we are too accommodating and our manner of living does not show anything new as we drift on as baptized but not converted Christians.  Our reflection on the prophetic mission of the Christian brings us now to consider charity/love, the queen of all virtues. Charity is an infused supernatural virtue through which we have the capacity to love God as he is and to love ourselves and our neighbours in God and for God. It is a divine, gratuitous gift as Paul so attests: Charity is poured into our souls through the Holy Spirit that is given to us (Romans 5,5). Charity or the capacity to love in the supernatural and divine way does not nullify but rather presupposes the natural capacity to love, from where it has its roots. Therefore, Christian love is a natural and supernatural one, human and divine, just as the love of Christ is. St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (the second reading of today) has more to say about this queen-virtue, charity. We recommend a reflective and meditative reading of it, using it as an examination of conscience to verify the consistency and coherence of our being authentic Christians. Perhaps, we will be able to remove the illusion from our eyes to realize that our little or great acts of selfishness keep us still too far from practicing charity as Paul presents it to us and as Christ manifested through his teachings and the example of his life. Love of God and neighbour is a sine qua non for any prophet who continues to proclaim the salvific mission of Jesus Christ in the world of today.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye