Reflection on Today’s Gospel - (Lk 4:31-37)
“Jesus of Nazareth (…) I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”Could there be a more accurate acclamation?
Could there be a most truer opinion?
Could there be a more theologically correct statement?
"Holy One of God." Nobody has called him that way yet. No one has yet seen in Him Someone extraordinary.
In his hometown of Nazareth (this is the previous pericope in Luke's Gospel) his closest people were scandalized by his ordinariness: "Isn't he the son of Joseph?" (cf. Luke 4:22).
But here, at last, a firm discernment, made public - in the synagogue, in the prayer gathering of the People of God: "Holy One of God".
AND...
... forbade him to say: “Be quiet!”
It is the Gospel that shows what a privilege it is to speak of Christ! What a gift is the right to proclaim the Word! How happy we are when God gives us the Word ("puts it in our mouth") - when He does not take it from us - when He does not forbid us to preach! What recognition is in this gift! And what a clear criterion for discerning spirits! Living within us the charism of the Word - the vocation and the ability to proclaim it - we touch in us the Spirit, through whose inspiration we can speak (cf. Acts 6:10).
But then, when the Word seems to be taken from us, closed and inaccessible - we have the right to be afraid; we have a strong and painful sign to think: are we wasting energy in pursuit of other spirits - an unclean spirit? It is not Our inner emptiness is the result of a lack of prayer? Meditation? Adoration? Reading the Scripture? Then we also have a duty to ask to what extent the Word that we could ultimately utter (because we preached it many times) would be a reflection of our inner truth at this point, and to what extent it would be full of internal contradiction - as in the mouth of Satan, who on the one hand recognizes God in Jesus, and on the other, protests against his presence: "Have you come to destroy us?"
"Be quiet!” He has no right to speak because he has an unclean spirit in him. Although, in theory, he knows everything. He knows the truth. He knows something that no one in this synagogue knows except him. But he is not allowed to speak. Does Christ not want to tell us that the preaching of the Word is about something more than just the transmission of "truth", about openness to a kind of knowledge, about a world view that takes into account religious hypotheses? It's about bringing the SPIRIT into reality! For the experience of not only His wisdom, but also POWER! The word of the possessed person is a word that does not lead to anything. On the contrary, it is a word of escape from the Reality that it talks about and which - theoretically - recognizes: "what do you want from us ?!". So: " Be quiet!”
We accept this word of Jesus among the disciples - called not only to proclaim the Word, but also to prepare others for this service in the Church. We accept them gratefully. We know that it is a word that is born, like every word of Jesus, out of love. This Word exorcises us - sets us free: just as then, in the synagogue in Capernaum, it set the possessed man free. We too recognize and experience the power of Jesus' word: "What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out”
Where does this strength come from? Where does this extraordinary power come from? What aroused the admiration of the audience gathered in the synagogue? What is striking about Luke's account is that this experience of the power of Jesus' word was their first reaction. It was not born since the sight of a miracle. It was with them from the very beginning: " they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority." Intriguingly, Luke did not write what Jesus said. Apparently, the power did not come from the fact that he spoke interestingly and neatly, or even because he spoke about important "things."
It came from WHO HE WAS!
In the whole truth of his person: in the profound unity of what is divine with what is human; in relation to the Father and to the Holy Spirit, in a loving relationship with our neighbors - also those possessed by evil.
From who am I, not only does the shape of social life depend on it, but also the quality of our communities in the Church.
Above all - as the Gospel so strongly reminds us today - the POWER of the WORD we proclaim in the Church depends on me – WHO AM I.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george