Suy Niệm Tin Mừng -Thứ Hai Tuần 22 Thường Niên Luke 4:16-30

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng -Thứ Hai Tuần 22 Thường Niên Luke 4:16-30

Những người tin vào Đức Kitô có niềm hy vọng. Đấy là thông điệp của Thánh Phaolô gởi cho những người Thessalonica. Vâng, Đức Giêsu sẽ đến lần thứ hai. Điều này là đáng khích lệ, bởi vì khi Ngài đến, Ngài sẽ hiệp nhất chúng ta với chính Ngài mãi mãi. Cuộc sống của chúng ta đôi khi có thể có rất nhiều đau khổ, Chúng ta không thể phủ nhận được điều này. Nhưng Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta nên kiên trì và bền đỗ trong sự kiên nhẫn bởi vì có cái một gì đó lớn hơn đang đợi chờ chứng ta ở phía trước. Những gì thật tốt đẹp nhất cho chúng ta nhưng chưa đến. Chúa Giêsu mong muốn rằng chân lý này sẽ ảnh hưởng đến cách chúng ta sống hôm nay.

    Trong Tin Mừng Chúa Giêsu khi trở về quê nhà Nazareth. Ngài công bố một thông điệp hy vọng dành cho những người nghèo khổ, đói khát, đang bị bỏ rơi và những người đau khổ. Đức Giêsu đã tuyên bố phúc lành của Thiên Chúa không phải chỉ dành riêng cho người Do Thái, nhưng còn ban cho những người ngoài Do Thái nữa. Đám đông người Do thái, những người cùng quê cùng làng với Đức Giêsu không thích những lời tuyên bố này và Ho đã trở thành những người thù nghịch với Ngài.

    Mỗi ngày, chúng ta nghe Tin Mừng, chúng ta phải có thể nói như Đức Trinh Nữ Maria: «xin Chúa cứ làm cho tôi như lời sứ thần nói". (Lc 1:38); mà Thiên Chúa sẽ trả lời: «"Hôm nay đã ứng nghiệm lời Kinh Thánh quý vị vừa nghe" . Tuy nhiên, để cho Lời Chúa có hiệu quả trong cuộc sống của chúng ta, chúng ta phải loại bỏ tất cả những định kiến, những sự ghen tương, thù hận trong lòng ​​của chúng ta. Những người đương thời của Chúa Giêsu không hiểu được ý nghĩa lời của Chúa, bởi vì họ đã nhìn Ngài với đôi mắt và lòng ghen tỵ của con người «anh này là ai, chẳng phải anh là con bác thợ mộc thấp kém Joseph?» (Lc 4:22). Họ có thể thấy bản tính con người của Chúa Giêsu Kitô, nhưng họ không thể nhận ra và đánh giá được cái thiên tính của Ngái. Mỗi khi nào chúng ta lắng nghe Lời Chúa, ngoài phong cách văn học của nó, vẻ đẹp của biểu thức của nó hoặc các điểm kỳ dị của tình hình, chúng ta phải nhớ đó là Thiên Chúa, Đấng đang nói với chúng ta.

Mon - 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

People who believe in Christ have hope. This is Paul’s message to the people in Thessalonica. Yes, Jesus will come a second time. This is encouraging, because when he comes, he will unite us to himself forever. Life can sometimes be extremely painful, there is no denying this. Jesus is inviting us to persevere because there is something greater ahead. The best is yet to come. Jesus desires that this truth will affect the way we live today.

    In the Gospel Jesus comes home to Nazareth. He proclaims a message of hope for people who are poor, hungry, outcast or suffering. He announces God's blessing not just for the Jewish people, but for people outside of Israel as well. The crowd does not like this message and they become hostile. Yet, Jesus does not tone down his mission in the face of this threat. He goes on to preach, to feed and to heal…because his eyes are set on something greater. He has the courage to stand with the poor even amidst hostility, because he knows one day he will be with the Father. Have I ever felt Christ calling me to act with courage or persevere? Do I believe that the best is yet to come?

    Everyday, we listen to the Gospel, we must be able to say, along with the Virgin Mary: «May it be done to me according to your word» (Lk 1:38); to which God will reply: «Today these prophetic words come true even as you listen». However, for the Word to be effective in our lives, we must get rid of all our prejudices. Jesus' contemporaries did not understand it, because they were looking at him with human eyes only: «Who is this but Joseph's son?» (Lk 4:22). They could see Jesus Christ's humanity, but they could not appreciate his divinity. Whenever we listen to the Word of God, beyond its literary style, the beauty of its expressions or the singularity of the situation, we must remember it is God who is speaking to us.

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I come before you in prayer. I need your grace. Please help me to be open and docile to your message to me today. Increase my faith, that I may discover you in all things. Increase my hope, that I may believe in your fidelity even when you seem silent. Increase my love, that I may embrace you in all circumstances.

Encountering Christ:

· Bringing Glad Tidings to the Poor: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because 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, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah, which pointed to a messianic promise. This promise was not one of kingly power and might where the enemies of Israel were conquered, but rather a reference to the jubilee year that brought about the remission of debt, itself an image for Jesus’s coming for the remission of sin (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament). This promise taps into man’s keen awareness that something is wrong; he knows himself to be poor, captive, blind, and oppressed. Man senses that humanity suffered from a kind of primordial shipwreck (Chesterton, Orthodoxy, loc. 875-880). Man knows he needs a savior.

· What Good Did Jesus Bring?: As we look around at this broken world, a world that still contains the poor, the captive, and the blind, we can wonder what good Our Lord’s sacrifice has brought. Pope Benedict XVI asked precisely this question in his book, Jesus of Nazareth. The answer he gave was that thanks to Jesus we now know God’s face and can call upon him (p. 33). By calling upon Jesus and opening ourselves to his grace, we may enter into a friendship with him meant to be everlasting. Jesus’s work has not eradicated evil and death in this world, but they no longer have the last word—his Resurrection and life do.

· Who Does Jesus Think He Is?: Our Lord’s listeners marveled at the wisdom coming from his mouth, and yet they rejected him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” Jesus always gives us enough information to follow him if we choose, and just enough space to avoid or deny him, again, if we choose. Pope Benedict XVI said, “Since faith demands our whole existence, our will, our love, since it requires letting go of ourselves, it necessarily always goes beyond a mere knowledge… And because that is so, then I can always turn my life away from faith and find arguments that seem to refute it” (God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald, p. 33). To meet Jesus is to face a choice. Our response to Jesus tells us more about our disposition than about him. Thankfully, Our Lord is both patient and persistent.

Conversing with Christ: Dear Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for bringing me–a poor and needy sinner–your mercy, grace, and love. May I be always receptive to your message. I realize that you will always challenge me to learn and live according to your criteria, not mine. Help me to be your instrument of grace to those around me, so they too may discover your mercy and your grace.

Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will share a simple word of encouragement with someone, gently reminding them of your grace and fidelity.

Reflection

They were all well impressed with him and marveled at the eloquent words that he spoke...(Luke 4:22) The original Greek translation of Luke 4:22 reads "and all bore witness about him and were astonished at the works of grace..." When Jesus read the Scriptures in Nazareth, people were already watching him. What he said disturbed them and made them react so violently toward him.

One thing we could say about Jesus is that he is very purposeful. One would find that he does things for a reason. Here, he does not beat around the bush. He tells them what is happening. He told them the truth; that they did not really welcome him. This made them malevolent to the point of pushing him off the cliff. Jesus knew this would happen but he did not retract. He said what he said and bravely faced the crowd.

"Our own Catholic faith is tremendously challenging and stretching. It is continually reminding us that God is bigger than the little world we inhabit. Are we able to rise to the challenge?" - John Hemer, Jesus' Rejection at Nazareth