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Sts. Joseph & Paul Catholic Church |
Homily Archives | |
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Labor Day
In a culture of sounds bites and a media driven to sensationalize a story
to garner ratings, it is relatively simple for one’s Jesus, too, was misunderstood. In this Gospel, we hear Jesus deliver his first homily in the synagogue at Nazareth. Jesus was a great scholar of scripture, and, in this homily, he used the words of Isaiah to point to what he had come to do: to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. From the Old Testament, the people knew that a Messiah would come and deliver them and bring them to the joy of the Kingdom. Yet the Messiah they expected was not one of meager earthly means, but one of earthly power and wealth. Those who heard Jesus’ first homily knew him. They knew that he was from Nazareth and the son of Joseph, a carpenter, and here the misunderstanding begins. Jesus tried to explain his position by using an example from the Old Testament, of Naaman, once a leper, who was washed clean by Elisha the Prophet because he had been open to God’s word. But this only increased the misunderstanding between Jesus and the people, and they threw him out of the synagogue. Salvation history records that the misunderstandings Jesus encountered continued and, ultimately, led to his death. We can quickly give up on people when they misunderstand what we have said or done. But Jesus never gave up. Throughout his ministry, he continued striving to help those who would listen understand that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that, if they listened, they would find the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words. In living together as family, church and community, misunderstandings can easily happen. As we commemorate this Labor Day, may we remain committed to resolving our misunderstandings and use the Christian values of unity, peace and forgiveness to bind us to one another. May we remember as well, that the extra effort we put into our struggles to resolve our differences can strengthen us and build us into a stronger people.
sdrose@bellsouth.net |
comments to be taken out of context and misunderstood. Not only the
media, but the general public can pick and choose what it wants to hear
from a conversation with another and bend the words in a way unfavorable
to the person who has shared the information, and a misunderstanding
begins. And how often have we simply failed to explain ourselves
correctly or put the words to a loved one in the way that we wanted, and
we were misunderstood. Misunderstandings between people happen everyday.
Sometimes the misunderstanding can be easily resolved; in other
situations, it can take longer to resolve a misunderstanding; sometimes a
misunderstanding goes unresolved for years.