2 September 2013 - definitive

2 September 2013 - definitive

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?”

In the passage above we hear one of the common interpretations that secular society gives to Jesus.  They are impressed with a lot of what he says but still want to keep him on the natural level.

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

This is where they start having trouble with him.  They like the passage he reads.  But once he starts talking about fulfilling it in a definitive (and therefore supernatural) way they begin to squirm.  Once they realize that is placing himself at the center of this fulfillment in an exclusive way they cannot bear it.

It is precisely because of who Jesus is that he can bring fulfillment to this passage.  His life is as definitive as it is divisive.  It is from it that we draw our hope.  It without it that the world languishes.

so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

Only in the resurrection do we see the ultimate fulfillment of the words of Isaiah.

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.

The poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed are only truly and permanently restored at the resurrection.  Let us accept Jesus on his own terms.

Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place

Even if we've grown up in his the Church, "native place", we must not thereby lessen our expectant faith. If we cannot bring ourselves to trust in the fullness of his promise he will make it present elsewhere in order to increase our longing for it.

Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;

He wants to cleanse us all.  But we can't limit our expectations to a those fitting of a mere "son of Joseph."  He comes again, both today and at the end of time, with supernatural as well as natural healing and fulfillment.  Let us rejoice in this and thereby place all our hope in him.

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
Before the LORD, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.