Dear People of God,
May the Lord bless you with grace, peace, and health in the Holy Spirit. It is 30th January 2022. We celebrate the fourth Sunday of the ordinary time and reflect on Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19;1 Cor 12:31 – 13:13 and Luke 4:21-30.
Language of love heals the wounds of rejection.
The First Reading of today tells us that Jeremiah’s service to God begins with his receiving the word of God. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came to birth, I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations. They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you.” (Jer.1:4,19)
St. Paul offers Love as an antidote for rejection. “Love is always patient and kind: it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.”
In the Gospel, Jesus is rejected by His people of the town. “No prophet is ever accepted in his own country.”
Prejudices against the messengers of the Word to block our minds in accepting the truth. By baptism we are all called to be prophets and so we need to be prepared to be rejected.
Have you ever felt rejected?
Rejection is nothing but a failure to accept others as they are. It is our stubbornness, and envy that leads us to reject.
Admiration and approvals of a person do not guarantee the unconditional acceptance of the other.
To be a prophet means to see other people with a heart of love, not with the spectacles of faith and hope only.
Once, Diogenes, the Greek philosopher was noticed begging from a statue at the city square. When some people asked him the reason to beg from a lifeless statue. He replied: “I am exercising the art of being rejected.”
There are so many of us who have gone through or still going through rejection due to various reasons. Whenever someone looks down on others, or consider the worth of the person, they
Many reject someone outrightly just because they know a little bit of them. Initially, people wondered, admired, applauded His preaching but they rejected Him as a person and they judged Him associating with His profession, home he belonged and the status as a carpenter’s son.
Jesus was rejected by his own people even after miracles, and soul-stirring preaching. When He explained His purpose and ambience of work beyond the borders of His town, people rejected Him. Jesus exposed the bigger plan of salvation beyond Jewish people and did not want to restrict to His hometown and His people. “God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim.2:4).
When people have a funnelled and petty mindset of thinking about themselves, they spread gossip, demolish the character of the person, and suspect the worthiness of work. Jesus never returned home again after the rejection and mob that intended to get rid of Him.
Love is the paradigm to respond to the rejection of sickly, selfish, and self-centred people.
May the Lord help us to be prophets with the heart of love like our Lord, Jeremiah, and Paul. God bless you.