Bible Diary

Daily Reading

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time

LECTIONARY
431

FIRST READING

1 COR 2:1-5

When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.

PSALM

119:97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102

Response:

How I love your law, O LORD!
It is my meditation all the day.

Your command has made me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.

I have more understanding than all my teachers
when your decrees are my meditation.

I have more discernment than the elders,
because I observe your precepts.

From every evil way I withhold my feet,
that I may keep your words.

From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.

GOSPEL

LK 4:16-30

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll,
he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,
‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”
And he said,
“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

Daily Reflection

Smart leaders prepare a new manifesto, make passionate speeches and do anything to win the acclaim of people. Jesus did the opposite. He quoted an old Isaiah manifesto, made a simple speech and never watered down anything to fit the mould of people. Clearly, Jesus’ focus was on being a good leader never an ambitious one.

Yet, His goodness was often sidelined, especially by His own people. In the Gospel of today, we see the fickleness of the human heart. As long as the Nazarenes heard a message and saw signs that enamoured them, they were ‘astonished by Jesus’ graciousness’. But the moment Jesus refused to give in to their demand for more flamboyance — in an attempt to further their quest for God — their astonishment turned into rage, almost instantly.

Jesus came, as St. Paul says, to preach of the power of the Cross. Miracles are merely a gateway to the power of God — a power that moves away from wonder-working to the wonder of redemption?

Where do we push our journey with Jesus towards — the cliff or the Cross?

Do we go with Jesus to the Cross, or with those who would rid themselves of Him at the edge of a cliff?