Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
† Sunday 28th January 2001

Theme: Jesus - the teacher

The Prophet Jeremiah 1 : 4 - 5, 17 - 19
Today the reader can, as it were, overhear an intimate conversation between God and the prophet. God has appointed Jeremiah as spokesman. Formed him from the beginning, just as a potter shapes the clay when making a jug. The Lord God chose Jeremiah, and knows him before even his birth., “ I knew you before you came to birth…”, says the Lord, “I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.” But there is a darker consequence, a testing time to come for the servant who preaches the Word of God, “brace yourself for action. Stand up and tell them all I command,” says the Lord, “…they will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you - it is the Lord who speaks.” This reading prepares us to better understand the gospel of today.

First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 12 : 31 - 13 : 13
In the previous passage, used last week, Paul listed the many gifts of the Spirit, and reminded the Christian community of Corinth of the great variety of these gifts, all to be used in the service of the one Lord. Now Paul, in what might be described as a great ‘hymn to love’, lists the practical ways in which true love may be shown. While such gifts, as prophecy, knowledge, the gift of language will eventually pass away, “Love does not come to an end.” For this higher gift we should be ambitious, “In short,” he says, “there are three things that last: faith, hope and love; and the greatest of these is love.”

Gospel according to Luke 4 : 21 - 30
These words of Jesus, “This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen” have a resonance throughout the gospel. Not just in the synagogue that day, but even now, the Word of God is speaking to us. For the people in the synagogue, there was some puzzlement, for they knew the young man Jesus, “this is Joseph’s son, surely?” Yet despite this, Jesus, “won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.” But then Jesus admonishes them; for history had shown that the People of Israel were unfaithful to the Covenant, the people had lacked confidence in the promises made by God, and they had stopped their ears to God’s word, forcing the prophets to go to other peoples. “When they heard this everyone was enraged. They sprang to their feet and…and took him to the brow of the hill…intending to throw him down the cliff.” Is Luke warning us not to make the same mistake of persecuting the messenger sent by God, of rejecting the word of Jesus the teacher?