TODAY
Nehemiah 8: 2-4a, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12: 12-30; Luke 1:1-4, 4: 14-21
Well . . . what did you think of it? What you just heard was Jesus’ first homily. How would you evaluate it? It didn’t start off with a good story. Jesus didn’t tell a joke. And it was short . . . VERY short . . . nine words . . . less than ten seconds. And we don’t know how much went into the collection basket afterwards., so we can’t measure its effectiveness that way. So, what did you think? Oh, you missed it? Here it is again: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus proclaims that he is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. He is announcing good news to the poor and powerless. He is opening the eyes of the blind. He is freeing those caught in the grasp of sin. He is proclaiming that God’s compassion and mercy are present in him. TODAY!
“Today” is an important word in Luke’s Gospel. It’s used at a number of significant points. When the angel appears to the shepherds outside Bethlehem he says “to you is born TODAY a savior who is Christ the Lord”. Later on in the Gospel, Jesus comes across a tax collector, Zaccheus, a man who is despised by his neighbors. He has climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus, but Jesus calls him down and says to him “‘Zacchaeus, I must stay at your house TODAY.” When the crowds start to grumble at this, he turns to them and says, ‘TODAY salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.” And then, almost at the end of the story, the thief who is crucified beside Jesus asks, “remember me when you come into your kingdom”. But Jesus can do better than that; “TODAY you will be with me in Paradise” he promises.
Luke is telling us something with all those “todays”. He’s telling us that God is already at work, already doing the things that need to be done. He’s not waiting for people to be ready, for them get it all together and come up with a plan, set up a structure, recruit a team, and go through a training program. He’s getting on with it himself, in the person of Jesus, and he is doing it TODAY! We can join in or not, but today’s the day we need to choose.
It seems to me, though, that “today” is something many of us struggle with. It can feel so much easier to live in yesterday or tomorrow. When we live in yesterday, we look back nostalgically to a golden age, even if it never really existed. We cling to our souvenirs. We even lug around regrets and old animosities too; they are burdens, but they are familiar burdens, our burdens, and we can’t quite bring ourselves to leave them behind. That’s living in yesterday.
But living in “tomorrow” can be just as problematic. We dream of a time when all will magically be sorted out in our lives. We wait for the perfect moment to do something we’ve been putting off. Living in “tomorrow” can leave us permanently dissatisfied. Whatever we need to make us happy is just around the corner, over the horizon, in the next job, the next relationship, if only we could get there.
Why are we so fond of our yesterdays and tomorrows? Maybe it’s partly because there are so many of them. All of history lies behind us to be recalled and dwelt on; all the future lies in front of us to be imagined and dreamed of. But today is just the small patch of ground under our feet right now, the place where we’re standing for this fleeting moment. We’ve hardly got time to notice it before it is gone.
But another reason why we might also prefer yesterday and tomorrow is that we can’t do anything about them. We can’t change the past and we can’t control the future either. In a sense we are off the hook. Today, though, makes immediate, urgent demands on us, maybe inconvenient or costly ones. It’s the only moment we can act, but do we want to?
That nine word homily preached by Jesus 2,000 years ago is one that he preaches again each time Sunday’s Gospel is proclaimed. “TODAY this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” This is the “today” when the Lord calls us to recognize what He is doing.
He is here TODAY to bring glad tidings to those of you who are poor - poor in spirit and poor in health. To those who are lacking in an abundance of wealth and to those who are lacking in an abundance of love or peace or joy.
He has sent been sent to us TODAY to proclaim liberty to captives - to those of you whose bodies are held captive by disease or old age, addictions or abuse; to those whose minds are held captive by pornography or depression or worry or feelings of a lack of self-worth; and to those whose spirits are held captive by guilt or anger or disappointment.
He is here with us TODAY to bring recovery of sight to the blind - to those of you who are blind to his love and to his mercy, and to those of you who have been blinded by the secularism and relativism of modern society.
He is here TODAY to let the oppressed go free - to free those who are oppressed by others because of their race, religion, nationality, immigration status or past. And to free those who are demeaned, dismissed and deplored because they stand up for Catholic values, for the rights of the unborn, and all those who are excluded or considered “unworthy” by society.
He is here TODAY to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord, a year - a time when the Kingdom of God reigns supreme, when God’s will WILL be done, and the full plan and purpose of God is accomplished.
What was the reaction of the hometown folk to Jesus’ nine word homily? We’ll here about that next week. But some “spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” But they were comfortable with the past, the past glories of God interacting with the heroes of their faith and they didn’t need this Jesus to shake them out of their complacency. Still others dreamed about future days when the messiah would come. But here and now in Jesus? The reality didn’t quite match up to the scenario that they had envisioned, and they didn’t welcome what the challenges that having a messiah in their midst would entail. And so, both those who were content recalling their yesterdays and those who were happy to simply dream of their tomorrows rose up and drove Jesus out of the synagogue, intent on throwing him off a cliff.
What’s our reaction? Is our faith nostalgic and one which treats salvation history as simply that - a “history” - a collection of “once upon a time” stories of how God used to interact with the likes of Abraham and Moses, the Apostles and the Saints but no longer does?
Or do we view God as selective, and his personal interaction in the world is limited to those who are really good or really bad and that most of us fall somewhere in between and so he really doesn’t get personally involved with people like you and me. Or if he does, it’s sporadic and inconsistent– here today, gone tomorrow.
Or are we “Maybe Sometime Catholics” who are so entrenched with the busyness of life, and the “strike it rich, party hardy, live life to the fullest” attitude of modern society, that God, religion and faith are things relegated to the future, things I’ll try out maybe sometime, and God’s presence and action and will for my life is something I’ll concern myself with maybe sometime . . . maybe when I get old and begin to realize that the days to come are fewer than the days that have been. But I’m way too busy trying to get ahead and I’m simply having too good a time to concern myself with right now.
But Jesus proclaims that “TODAY this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” He is not just the God of past glories and future triumphs. He is the God of TODAY. Call upon him/ Rely upon him. Look for him. Discover him.
Funny . . . that first ten second, nine word homily of Jesus really could have been reduced to only one . . . TODAY!
