Jesus came to save all & dealing with difficult people who don't want to hear this

Homily: Fourth Sunday of Ordinary time, Cycle C

Some friends of mine from South Carolina gave me a book that I thought that was appropriate for today’s Gospel.   It’s called “Elf-help for Dealing with Difficult People”.  Has anyone heard of the Elf-help series? It published by Abbey Press in St. Meinrad, IN.  It’s short book with short reflections and an elf that offers insights on life’s struggles. Let me share a short passage from this:

Some people are just plain difficult – or, at least, we have difficulty dealing with them.  They get on our nerves and bring out our worst.  We spend inordinate amounts of time and energy wrestling with anger they arouse in us. Enter the little elves in this book. Follow their footsteps to learn what works and what doesn’t work in dealing with the villains in your life.   I’ll return to the elves a little later.

In Today’s Gospel we hear the continuation of the story from last week. Let me refresh your memory.   Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and attends services in the synagogue. He is asked to read and interpret from the scripture of the prophet Isaiah. The passage is prophetic; proclaiming liberty to captives, sight to the blind, and glad tidings to the poor.  Upon finishing the people looked intently at Jesus and he proclaims, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing”.   Some of the people were probably thinking upon hearing this: is Jesus the Messiah who the Israel people were anticipating to free them from oppression of Roman rule? They were probably ecstatic and overjoyed at this proclamation, but there’s more to this story. 

The Gospel says, “All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth”.   But things turned rather quickly against Jesus.  It says that the people were so upset at him that they took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built to cast him over.  They wanted to kill him! Why would people of Jesus own, both family and friends do this?   

First of all it was Jesus’ claim that he was a prophet by stating, ”A prophet is not accepted in his native place” and also citing the stories about the prophets Elisha & Elijah. This was contrary to ways of the Mediterranean culture at the time to improve upon your social status. If your father was a carpenter, as Joseph was, you were also a carpenter.  The people of Nazareth thought it absurd for Jesus to claim he was a prophet. Secondly, in this culture you were expected to take care of your friends and family, quite often at the expense of others. Rumors of Jesus’ healings in Capernaum, rather than taking care of his own people at home, got the people angry.   To add more fuel to the fire, Jesus references the prophets Elisha and Elijah, performing great deeds for the widow in Zarephath of Sidon and the leper Naman the Syrian, both of whom were Gentiles.  The prophet Isaiah was proclaiming restoration to the people of Israel, with the return to their own land, resuming their own rule, and being freed of oppressors.  If Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy it was upsetting to the people of Nazareth that he inferred that Gentiles were also to be taken care of.   The people of Israel were God’s chosen people and only they would be taken care of.   At the very start of Jesus’ public ministry people were already rejecting and wanting to kill him, a foreshadow of what would eventually happen to him on Calvary.

Today when the Gospel message and teachings of the Church are proclaimed in our world it is met with similar rejection.    This past week over 500,000 people gathered in Washington, DC for the March for Life to witness to the importance of all life from conception to natural death, yet it went virtually unnoticed in the secular media.  I heard only 17 seconds of news coverage was given to the March for Life by the major secular media, yet the Manti Te’o Internet hoax was given over 500 minutes. Sadly over 51 millions lives have been lost due to legalized abortion in the past 40 years, but a tabloid hoax gets much more attention. This is a rejection to the value of life. Just last month there was also a petition launched on the White House web site, “We the People”, trying the get the Catholic Church designated as a “hate group”.  The was due to the Church’s teachings on marriage as solely between a man and woman and that the true structure of the family is made up of father, mother, and children.  This petition was eventually removed because the government does not designate hate groups, it prosecutes the, but this is another example of rejection of the truths of Church’s teaching.

The good news we hear in the Gospel is that Jesus came to save all people, both Gentiles and Jews, but the Israelites of Nazareth weren’t quite ready to hear it yet. Their reaction of hostility to Jesus was quite typical for people of the time.  Jesus could have responded in a like manner, but he chose a “more excellent way” as St. Paul put it in his letter to the Corinthians.  Jesus response was to pass through the midst of them and walk away.  He didn’t choose to confront them in conflict.  He chose another path, the path of love.  He had more work to do in showing love through his ministry of healing and teaching to live by loving God and neighbor, and he patiently walked away from a tense situation.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians we read about what love is and what it’s not in the 2^nd reading, which was written in response to his painful experiences with believers in Corinth, similar to Jesus’ experience in Nazareth.  In my preparation of the homily it was suggested to replace the word “love” in St. Paul’s letter with the name of Jesus.  I’ve paraphrased a portion of this passage as an example:

Jesus is patient. Jesus is kind.  Jesus is not jealous, nor is he pompous, inflated, or rude.  Jesus does not seek his own interests, he is not quick-tempered, nor broods over injury. Jesus does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Jesus never fails.

Since Jesus is God, and God is Love, this is a good example to remember in helping us act as Jesus did, with love.

 In this year of faith we are called to grow in our understanding of Catholic Faith.  This gives us a good foundation to be able to share our faith with others so we can help Christ proclaim the good news to all nations to bring liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, and glad tidings to the poor.  When we share our faith, we need to do so with love, and also prepare to be rejected.  We need to be patient and realize that sometimes others won’t be ready to receive our message.  We may need to walk away, but we can come back again, especially when people need healing, as Jesus did.  Sometimes the healing can be as simple as a loving listening ear or just the presence of being there. In my ministry as a Deacon I have an opportunity to do this in ministering to those in jails.  Maybe you have an opportunity to do so by visiting some who is sick or shut in.  Or it could be by befriending or just saying a kind word to someone who’s been distant or unfriendly at work or school.   

Referring back to “Elf-help”, some words of advice:

“Difficult” people may be God’s way of teaching us patience, tolerance, and loving assertiveness.  Stretch your heart and grow.

And also:

God knows it’s hard to deal with some people. Yet God is with us in our struggles, giving us the courage to work toward change and the serenity to accept the outcome.

By keeping in mind the actions of Jesus, and the words of Saint Paul, in being patient, kind, & loving to those we share our faith with we can help bring Christ’s salvation to all nations one person at a time.   May God bless you.