2 September 2019 - his native place

 

  

Today's Readings

(Audio)

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

Let us welcome Jesus. Let us accept him in this, the native place of our hearts, where he longs to dwell. We become so used to his presence among us and within us that we forget just how powerful he is. We forget the great mystery of who he truly is and begin thinking of him as no different from ourselves.

They also asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"

Jesus, before all others, is the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rests.

And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (see John 1:32).

This Spirit is the Father's seal of complete approval and acceptance (see John 6:27). Jesus is thereby revealed to be the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. He is in fact the one for whom Israel was waiting. He is still the one, the only one, who can speak to and answer ever desire of our hearts.

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.

We are not yet at liberty. Sin still holds sway, makes us blind, and oppresses us. This is because we don't welcome Jesus as much as we could. We treat him as one among many rather than the alpha and the omega, the first and the last. He is the one in whom all creations holds together (see Colossians 1:17). He is the one in whom we live, and move, and have our being (see Acts 17:28). He is both Son of Man and Son of God. We look to him and see a face we can recognize. But behind those eyes there is a mind and power greater than the entire universe. We see a face we can welcome. But we never fully plumb the depths of his being.

Jesus is the one anointed by the Father to restore all things. He is the Son of the Father who makes all things new.

For the Lord himself, with a word of command,
with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God,
will come down from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Let us avoid a level of familiarity that blocks his power within us. Let us instead delight to get to know him more and more. If we allow him to reveal himself his power will be unleashed more and more until we know it in fullness.

Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words.