"Nếu ai nói:'Tôi yêu mến Thiên Chúa", nhưng lại ghét anh em mình, thì người ấy là kẻ nói dối." Thánh Gioan lập lại giáo huấn của Chúa Giêsu dựa vào Cựu Ước, vì Thiên Chúa có nói rõ: "Ngươi không được trả thù, không được oán hận những người thuộc về dân ngươi. Ngươi phải yêu đồng loại như chính mình. Ta là Ðức Chúa."(Leviticus 19:18). Nhưng Chúa Giêsu đã đưa cái điều luật này lên cao và quan trọng hơn hết: "Anh em phải yêu thương nhau như Thầy đã yêu thương anh em". (Ga 13,34) Như vậy, tất cả các mối quan hệ giữa con người và những quan hệ trong xã hội đươc đặt dưới sự bảo vệ và hướng dẫn bởi Luật của Thiên Chúa. Tình yêu, tất nhiên, được thúc đẩy và hướng dẫn bởi sự tự do mà là một phần nội tại của sự tồn tại của con người.
Trong bài đọc thứ nhất, thánh Gioan sử dụng chữ "người anh em" mà Cựu Ước thì sử dụng "hàng xóm, láng giềng". Một cái nhìn kỹ càng, cặn kẽ cho thấy "người hàng xóm, láng giềng" chỉ đơn thuần là bất cứ ai là người nào “đáng yêu” và cũng đúng và đồng nghĩa với chữ "người anh em" hay "chị em" trong ý nghĩa Kitô giáo.
Tội lỗi nằm trong sự phân đôi, là ranh giới giữa tình yêu của Thiên Chúa và sự tuyên xưng tình yêu cho Thiên Chúa và cũng là hành vi thường ngày của con người chúng ta. Chúng ta hãy cầu xin với Thiên Chúa, ban cho chúng ta có đươc ơn yêu mến Chúa bằng với tất cả trái tim và lòng trí của chúng ta để chúng ta biết yêu thương anh chị em chúng ta như Chúa Giêsu yêu thương chúng ta.
Reflection: (SG)
“If anyone says he loves God but hates his brother, he is a liar.” John’s doctrine is founded in the teaching of Jesus, which is founded on the Old Testament, since God says clearly: “You must love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh” (Leviticus 19:18). Jesus raises this to a higher level: “You must love each other as I have loved you”. Thus, all human relationships and social intercourse is under the protection and guidance of God’s Law. Love, of course, is motivated and guided by that freedom which is an intrinsic part of human existence. Nevertheless, though it seems a paradox, love can be commanded. Still, even when commanded, love is not merely a matter of obeying a law or a commandment but is ultimately a disposition of life. Love ultimately demands a moral direction of life which transcends the directions which the law gives.
John uses “brother” where the Old Testament uses “neighbor”. A close examination shows that “neighbor” is simply anyone who deserves love and the same is true of “brother” or “sister” in the Christian sense. Sin lies in the dichotomy of one’s professed love for God and one's daily human behavior.
Grant us, Lord, the grace to love You with all our heart and to love our brothers and sisters as Jesus loved us.
Opening Prayer:
Lord Jesus, open my heart to your Spirit in this time of prayer. I wish to be with you, to hear what you would like to say. You know better than I how much I need you. Here are my distractions, my worries, and my concerns. I open this space in my heart to you, that you may fill me with yourself. I believe in you; bolster my faith. I put all my hope in your unfailing goodness. And I love you. Enter the synagogue of my heart now, as you entered that synagogue of Nazareth. May I receive the word you want to share with me today.
Encountering Christ:
1. Returning to Galilee: In this passage, Jesus “returned” to Galilee. His public ministry had started, he was forming his followers, and he had even begun to perform his first miracles. Imagine him entering his hometown synagogue: people started to recognize him; there was a growing anticipation in the air. Some noticed the familiar sound of his footsteps; another recognized his hands, calloused and strong. Others whispered the local gossip: hearsay that these carpenter’s hands had become a miracle worker’s hands—but that couldn’t be. Perhaps he would clear up their doubts and set things straight. As Jesus got up to read, the anticipation grew. There was anticipation in Christ's heart, too. For years he had carried out his Father’s will silently and humbly among his neighbors and family in Nazareth. Now that plan was to take a new shape. He once built tables and chairs; now he was building his Father's kingdom. Would they listen? Would they receive his word? Would this homecoming be a coming home, after all? But no—the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. This same Jesus comes to my heart in this prayer and throughout my day. There is this same anticipation in his heart for us. What will he find as he speaks to my heart?
2. ...Because He Has Anointed Me: Christ deliberately chose this passage. Nothing he did was pointless or thoughtless. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Every other time these words had been read, it had been a prophecy. Today, the one about whom they prophesied spoke to them, and these words too became flesh in the Word become Flesh. He spoke not just as the Jesus of Nazareth his neighbors knew, but as the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sins of the world. He brought glad tidings to the poor by entering the greatest human poverty. Not even the poorest can say he is alone, for no poverty has been untouched by Christ. He came to let the oppressed go free by taking the crossbeams of all oppression upon his back, and so he won for us a redemption which cannot be unmade. This is why he came into the world. This is why he comes into my world. And what does he find in my interior? To what poverty, scarcity, or even emptiness inside me does he wish to bring glad tidings? What oppression in my own life does he wish to lift from my shoulders to place on his own? What space in my interior is held captive that he wishes to liberate? What blindness does he want to return to sight, if only I open it to him and humbly welcome him? This is why he comes to me today. This is why he wishes to reach others through me today, too. And still, he waits in anticipation for an answer.
3. Anticipation and Receptivity: All eyes in the synagogue looked upon him. He did not ask if they wanted to hear; he did not even ask if they understood. He simply spoke. And he speaks now, to me: “Today, I wish to bring you joy, freedom, sight, redemption.” The gift is offered, but will it be received? He can work many miracles and offer eternal life, but he does not control the response. Respectfully, he waits to hear our answer.
Conversing with Christ:
You speak these words to me, Jesus. Will I simply marvel at the gracious son of Joseph, or can I open my heart to recognize you as God of my life and my world today, to accept the great love you offer me and wish to give to others through me? Perhaps you see the hesitation in my heart, Jesus. I know acutely that I am not worthy, that I will fall behind again. Maybe it’s easier just to keep the door altogether shut than to let you see the mess I’m afraid you will find. Speak to my hesitation, speak to my resistance. You remind me, Jesus, that you have never waited for me to be worthy of your love. You wait for me to be receptive. In spite of my difficulties, Lord, I tell you today: “I wish to receive you into my heart.” Come with your freedom, your glad tidings, and sight. Enter my life and claim it as your home.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will strive to open my heart to your action and invitation and will ask myself at the end of the day, “When was I able to do so?”
Meditation: Luke 4:14-22
Many terrible things are done in our world by those claiming to love God. John makes it very clear, however, that loving God and loving our brothers and sisters go together. One is not possible without the other. In fact, one who claims to love God but hates their brother or sister is a liar — pure and simple. We have never seen God, but our brothers and sisters we can see, for they are with us daily. Loving them and showing them kindness is the highest form of worship that we can offer. Our everyday actions form a sort of liturgy when done with kindness and awareness.
Jesus was filled with the Spirit, and the Spirit led him to proclaim the fulfillment of an ancient prophetic promise from Isaiah to the crowd in the synagogue. It was about the good news of God’s visitation. Sight to the blind, liberty to captives, good news to the poor, and healing for all were all on the agenda. At first, the proclamation was well-received, but the crowd then turned hostile. God’s gracious gifts upset the status quo; they challenge power structures, customs, traditions, and human opinions. That is exactly why we should continue this proclamation in word and deed. The world needs it, and will resist it, but it is the will of God. Lord, may I always proclaim the Good News in word and deed.
Reflection:
Jesus' religious life revolved around the Word of God. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Joseph must have brought him to the synagogue aside from talking to him daily about the God of the Old Testament. He learned the Scriptures by heart as evidenced in the numerous times he quoted the Scriptures. In the Gospel, he is invited by the director of the synagogue to read a passage from the book of Isaiah and to expound on it. This he does gracefully and effortlessly, thereby gaining the approval of his listeners.
Why did Jesus find it easy to expound on the Word of God? Because all his life he was told about the Father by his parents Joseph and Mary. For them, to transmit their faith in Yahweh God to Jesus was of utmost importance. Most parents nowadays do the opposite. They hardly mention the name of God and instead talk to their children about work, money, success, practicality, etc. They even transmit beliefs that are contrary to the Gospel. Some of them live immoral lives thereby providing bad examples to their children. No wonder a culture of death – abortion, corruption, cheating, immorality, etc. – pervades our society right now. If the parents have no faith, what will happen to their children?
We are called to be like Jesus and proclaim the Word of God. But we must first study it from our youth and truly make it our priority in life. In the first reading, St. John says that in order to overcome the world with all its temptations and deceptions, we must have faith and love. And the best way to attain them is by reading and listening to God's Word.
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