The Rejection of Jesus (4th Sunday Ordinary C)

At a dinner for a cause with a group of prospective benefactors in Manila, I was warmly welcomed by a Doňa who started to show delight in listening to what I do in Mindanao. In the course of our conversation, she asked about the presence of Muslims in Mindanao and expressed her strong aversion to them. Wanting to offer her a new way of seeing and to loosen up her apparent prejudice, I told her about my friendship with some Muslims I know. In short, I told her that in my observation a truly religious Muslim is one that pleases God too.

I thought I was doing just fine until I realized that the rich lady did not like our conversation.  For the rest of the dinner, she gave me the cold shoulder. I realized too what a lousy fundraiser I was!

Jesus, in today’s gospel (Lk 4:21-30), evokes initial delight from his kinsfolk as he announces the fulfillment of the messianic prophecy of Isaiah in his person and ministry. But as he continues to address them, he eventually gets the ire of the people. The gospel reading ends in a violent rejection of Jesus by the people.

Why is Jesus rejected? In Luke’s account two reasons may be gleaned: First, the exclusive mindset of the people of Israel clashes with Jesus’ message of the universal love of God and, second, the prophetic stance of Jesus does not conform to their long-held beliefs.

The universality of God’s love versus the religious exclusivity of Israel. The people of Nazareth, in solidarity with the belief of the whole of Israel, had been made to believe very strongly that God’s promise of salvation is for them—as in exclusively for them! After all, they were the chosen people of God. God’s fidelity was seen as his exclusive love for his chosen people. The pagans, for certain, were excluded. They did not deserve God’s grace.

But in the gospel today, Jesus is radically overturning this belief with his announcement of the universal love of God. He points out to them how the prophet Elijah was sent during a severe famine to a widow not in Israel but in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And during the time of prophet Elisha when there were many lepers in Israel, only Naaman the Syrian was cured (vv. 25-28). The God of Jesus cares for pagans too!

The Nazarenes think that they are exclusively entitled to the wonders that Jesus is said to accomplish. But Jesus announces a universal ministry. Hence, they reject Him as they cannot bear the thought that people outside their own family, clan, or milieu can share in the same grace or privilege.

Sometimes we also think and act this way. We wish every blessing the people in our circle—family, friends, organizations, social class, and religion. But we don’t care for those who are outside. Our calling to love seems to end within the exclusive boundary that we have set. Today’s gospel then is an invitation for us to examine our tendencies to exclusivity and to recognize the universality of God’s grace and the gift of salvation. In simple terms, Jesus is presenting to us God as the loving Father of all peoples. Instead of grumbling, we ought to rejoice at the blessings of others.

Do we praise God when people outside our intimate circle are blessed?

Jesus’ prophetic stance versus the convenience of conformity.  For the Nazarenes in today’s gospel reading, the good news is that which conforms to their expectations, desires, wishes, and long-held beliefs. What contradicts or supersedes their beliefs meets outright rejection. Jesus is rejected because his prophetic stance does not in anyway conform to their wishes.  Jesus is therefore seen as a threat rather than as a bearer of glad tidings.

Christianity today can also tumble into the same pitfall when it becomes too comfortable with what is. When it is too identified with the status quo to see the injustices, Christianity can become un-prophetic. When it is too closed-minded to embrace new perspectives and innovative approaches, it can become stagnant and irrelevant.

Jesus’ consistent prophetic stance reminds us not to settle easily with the convenience of conformity. This is despite the threat of rejection or persecution. We always wish to have a better society, but we find it difficult to achieve it because most of us are contented to ride safely where the current goes; we conform, for instance, with the "standard operating procedures"--our euphemism for systematized under-the-table transactions; we sell our votes because everybody is doing it anyway; we passively allow our natural resources to be plundered and destroyed beyond remedy. At the end of the day, we point our fingers to one another for the ills of our society oblivious of the fact that what we need to do is to be prophetic enough to stand firm on the values of God's kingdom thereby challenging the sinful structures that we ourselves built .

Can we be prophetic enough to challenge beliefs, practices, immoral procedures we observe in our work places? Can we commit to proclaim and work for better structures in society guided by the gospel values despite the risk of being rejected?

Today’s gospel then invites us to do two things: to rejoice when others are blessed and to be prophetic amid the ills of our society.

Glad Tidings to the Poor (3rd Sunday Ordinary C)

“I am such a miserable man!” blurted out Jean Valjean, the main protagonist of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece, Les Misérables, upon realizing the depth of his wretchedness wrought by the cruelty of society and its oppressive laws and customs. He has become bitter and hateful, his heart hardened by nineteen years of imprisonment, all because of stealing a loaf of bread to feed her starving sister and her children! Yet this realization is now the turning point of his life. He has to change. The kindly Bishop Myriel, from whom he has stolen some precious silverware, has just treated him as a person with dignity, with a soul worthy of redemption. The bishop’s compassion and mercy, a stark contrast to the condemnation he is used to receive, gives him hope, invites him to transform himself into an honest man. Indeed, in the story, Jean Valjean changes from a miserable thief to a man with vision, a compassionate philanthropist who helps transform a town and significantly the lives of two other miserable ones: the unwed mother turned-prostitute, Fantine, and her abused child, Cosette.

The musical adaptation of this great 19th century masterpiece allows more people of today both to enjoy the arts and, more significantly, to be scandalized by society’s cruelty on those who are weak and powerless. As Victor Hugo would have it as the purpose of his work: “So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth..., so long as the three great problems of the century—the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light—are unsolved... books of the nature of Les Misérables cannot fail to be of use.”

Today millions are still in the misery of poverty, oppression, and powerlessness because those who are in power and control of resources find it politically and economically expedient to keep them that way.

Election in the Philippines is forthcoming. I bet people will hear the same tune of promises from political candidates, assuring the people of redemption from their misery. But election times, as we know all too well, have never failed to come up with great promises and have consistently toyed with the flickering hope of the poor. What we want to see is the fidelity of a leader to his/her words of promises and the genuine compassion for the miserable ones. Without fidelity, promises however great they may be are empty. Without genuine compassion, identification with the poor is but a show and a veiled exploitation.

Today’s gospel reading (Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21) features Jesus’ inauguration of his messianic ministry. Facing the people of Nazareth in the synagogue, Jesus reads the messianic prophecy from the scroll of Isaiah. He proclaims thus: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… He has anointed me… to bring glad tidings to the poor… to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free… to announce a year of favor from the Lord” (v. 18-19).

And while all eyes are intently fixed on him as he hands back the scroll, he boldly proclaims the inauguration of the messianic time: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (v. 21). This is like saying: “Today I come as the fulfilment of this promise. Today I inaugurate the messianic task of bringing the good news to the poor, to the captives, to the blind, to the oppressed.”

Allow me to highlights two things: First, the fidelity of God to his words and promise; second, Jesus’ identification of his mission with the poor.

God’s Fidelity to his Promise. In the person and mission of Jesus, God has fulfilled his promise of long ago to save his people from all forms of misery rooted in sin. Jesus is the fulfilment of the messianic prophecy (v. 21). Jesus, the Messiah, has ushered in the Kingdom of God where the poor celebrate the bounty of God, the captives enjoy a life of freedom, the blind rejoice in seeing the beauty that surrounds them, the oppressed cherish their dignity.

When God promises, God makes good of that. We are never left empty. How has God been faithful to his promise to me? How has he been liberating me from the clout of sin that oppresses me?

As Christians we continue the mission of Christ. We are asked to be faithful to the gospel we preach. The miserable ones of our society are yearning for such fidelity. Have we not left our words and promises empty? As a Church, have we not paid a lip-service to our commitment to the poor?

Jesus’ Identification with the Poor. The first and privileged recipients of the Messiah’s mission are the socially and physically deprived, the economically poor, and the politically oppressed. The gospel of Luke brings this out in Jesus’ personal dealings and his teaching. In this inaugural proclamation, Jesus pronounces that his prophetic ‘anointing’ is to identify him with the lowliest and the most forgotten.

Today, as in the context of Les Misérables, the poor continue to be exploited, women and children to be abused. Am I part of those who are taking advantage of the helplessness of these miserable ones? The gospel today invites us to be identified with the helpless as Jesus was. This means cultivating genuine compassion and love for the least of our brothers and sisters and spending time, treasure, and talent to bring the glad tidings of change to their miserable lives.

In Les Misérables, Bishop Myriel’s silver candlesticks are the most prominent symbol of compassion as they shed the light of love and hope. The bishop’s gesture of giving Valjean the silver candlesticks is a haunting invitation for Valjean to rise from his misery and to pass on the same redemptive compassion to those who need it. Our baptismal candle too reminds us of Jesus’ mission being passed unto us, his disciples, to make a difference in society as we bring the glad tidings of God’s compassion and love to the miserable ones.

Christmas and Families (Feast of the Holy Family)

You’ll agree with me when I say that the most ideal celebration of Christmas for Filipinos, and perhaps for other cultures too, is to be with our families on this great festivity. I bet many have shed tears on Christmas day because they are away from their beloved families. “Many” could mean millions of Filipinos… those working abroad, for instance.

A friend’s post on her facebook account made me realize this most remarkably. She said something like this: “This Christmas is gonna be all work for me here in this foreign land. I miss home. I miss watching everyone decorate the house… with Christmas tree… with lanterns… with mistletoes… I miss cooking for noche buena. I miss my palangga. I miss papa and mama. I miss friends dropping by and share the spirit of Christmas. I miss the carolers that come one after the other. I miss home. Terribly. But this Christmas is gonna be all work for me.”

There is indeed a profound link between Christmas and family. After all, the first Christmas is a family affair—the birth of God into a human family. The holy family has an indispensable role in the fulfillment of the prophetic promise that God is going to be among us, God-with-us, even if the world turns a cold shoulder to God’s initiative.

The “Panunuluyan” or “Posadas” reenacts the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the census decreed by the King. In this reenactment, one is easily led to see how the holy family ended up in a manger. The world has been too preoccupied with other concerns to have room for the child to be born. This prefigures the world’s rejection of Jesus and all that he stands for.

Here’s then the central role of the holy family: even if the world rejects God, the family of Joseph and Mary guarantees the provision of the warmth which the chilling baby Jesus needs to survive. The holy family is Jesus’ security. The Holy family ensures the fulfillment of God’s promise in Jesus. The Holy Family accepts, nurtures, and supports Jesus’ vocation and mission in contradistinction to the mockery and derision that Jesus receives from the faithless world.

Today’s gospel (Lk 2:41-52), which is the account of the losing and finding of Jesus in the temple, dramatizes the supporting role of the family of Jesus in relation to his calling. Jesus stayed in the temple listening and asking question, and maybe, even discussing among the teachers; while his parents were worried searching for him for three days! When finally his parents found him and slightly chided him, he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Another translation puts it this way: “Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s business?” This means that Jesus was beginning to be aware of his identity and calling. He has to be about what the Father has sent him for. While Joseph and Mary did not understand Jesus’ remark, they nevertheless continued to support Jesus as he grew in wisdom and age.

The holy family is indispensable for the birth, the growth, and vocation and mission of Jesus who became one of us. This holds true then to the role of our families in our lives. We need our families in order to survive and to become persons with meaningful purpose in life. Without a sound family to support us, we can hardly realize our potentials and fulfill our calling.

On this Feast of the Holy Family then, it is fitting to assess our own families. How have our families measured up to their task of forming us into becoming responsible persons? Our families are surely imperfect. But what can still be done to make our families work as the “cradle of life and love” and as the community within which we grow in wisdom and understanding of who we are and what God wants us to do in life?

Our families today are undeniable facing crisis and innumerable threats: To name just a few: High rate of divorce in many nations, stronger assertion of independence of spouses, single-parenting, weakening of parents’ authority, step-parenting, non-marital unions, and particularly for us Filipinos, the breaking of our families because of financial necessity that forces parents to work abroad leaving their growing children to guardians.

There is no one answer to these problems and it is not my purpose to offer one. Maybe the gospel today is a wake up call. It raises the question. It reminds us of the irreplaceable role of our families and therefore challenges us, each of our families and our family ministry, to look seriously into these situations which undermine the health of our families.

When the world rejected Jesus, it is his human family who accepted him, nurtured him, and supported him in what he was called to do. The world continues to be cruel especially for us today and for our children. This is the question we have to face: Where should our children run to for shelter, for understanding, for strength, and for direction if we have allowed our families to disintegrate?