Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Scriptures, we are reminded not to dwell on worldly power and glory, or all the temptations of worldly desires, and not to be tempted by our pride, ego, ambition and arrogance. We must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed by our thinking that we are somehow better and superior than others around us. It is this mistaken sense of pride and superiority over others that often brought us down as we became proud and arrogant, thinking that we cannot be mistaken or wrong in our paths in life. This will likely end up leading us to shut our hearts and minds to the Lord, not being able or willing to listen to Him, or to embrace His truth and love.

In our first reading today, we heard from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Church and the faithful in the region of Corinth in Greece, in which the Apostle spoke of the works which he had done in proclaiming to them the Christ, the Lord Jesus, the crucified Messiah Who has suffered and died for the sake of the whole world. St. Paul also mentioned to the people in Corinth that he did not do them all by his own power, eloquence or abilities, but rather through the guidance and strength of the Lord which He had given to him and the other disciples and missionaries through the Holy Spirit. By the power of God and by His guidance, St. Paul had performed many great things and spoke wonderfully of His truth and love, His Good News and the message of His salvation to the people, many of whom had listened and accepted the Lord to be their Saviour.

Then, in our Gospel passage today, we heard of the reading from the Gospel according to St. John the Evangelist in which the account of the Lord’s time and occasion in His hometown of Nazareth was conveyed to us. At that time, the Lord Jesus returned to His hometown and proclaimed the words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah from the Scriptures, which was also meant to fulfil everything that had been spoken and prophesied about Him by the prophets like Isaiah. However, as we all heard, the Lord’s words and proclamation was met with immediate skepticism and indignation by the people of His own hometown who wondered how this Man Whom they had known from His youth, the apparent Son of the local carpenter, St. Joseph, who was a hardworking and virtuous man, but a carpenter nonetheless.

At that time, carpenters were viewed as those who were doing menial work, and were considered as mostly uneducated and while a labourious and tiring work in its nature, it was seen as a job with low prestige and status. Thus, those people of Nazareth likely would have thought lowly of St. Joseph and his family, as although he was indeed righteous, hardworking and full of virtue, but because of his work and his profession, he and his foster Son, Our Lord Jesus Himself, they were both prejudiced against, as uneducated and poor, unlike those religious and societal elites like the members of the Sadducees, the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. That was why they took offense at the Lord proclaiming that He is the One Whom the prophets like Isaiah were proclaiming and prophesying about.

In essence, what those people were doing was that they were being judgmental and prejudiced against the Lord and His background, pridefully thinking and assuming that they knew it better and that the One Who was speaking to them could not have been anyone but an upstart and liar because of His supposed humble background as a local carpenter’s Son. They proudly and arrogantly thought that their understanding, perception and bias could not have been wrong, and despite what the Lord had told them and performed before them, the miracles which He had done before their very own eyes and the many other signs, miracles and wonders that He had performed in the other towns and places in the region, none of these could have persuaded them and made them to listen to reason.

That is why we heard all of these today, as reminders for us not to be swayed and tempted by the temptations of our pride and ego, and make presumptions and judgments based on our own flawed and imperfect knowledge, understanding and appreciation of things around us. Many among us often fell into exactly this trap when we allowed ourselves to indulge in these thoughts, or indulge in our pride and ego, thinking that our judgments and knowledge are better than anything that can be told or shown to us. If we follow in the same path, we may end up being stubborn and refusing to follow the path that the Lord has shown us, as we close our hearts and minds to the Lord speaking to us, communicating with us in His attempts to reach out to us.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have to realise just how much the Lord wants to lead us all to Himself, calling upon each and every one of us to follow Him. However, in order to do this, we need to be willing to listen to Him calling on us, and turn away from our path of wickedness and evil. We should not allow the many temptations and pleasures of the world from keeping us separated from our most loving God and Father, our Creator and Master. We have to allow Him to lead us in ou path and do not let ourselves be tempted into the wrong path because we sought for worldly pleasures, glory and satisfactions. As Christians, it is imperative that we strive and continue to remind ourselves to put our focus and emphasis always on the Lord, our loving God, so that He is always ever the centre and focus of our whole lives and existence.

May the Lord continue to bless and strengthen us in each and every endeavours, efforts and works we have done and which we will do for His greater glory. May He continue to empower and encourage us to walk through this path that He has shown us, so that we will continue to do what is right, worthy and just, and commit ourselves ever more thoroughly to His cause, at all times. May God be with us all, and may He continue to sow in us, His love and grace, His truth and Good News, now and forevermore. Amen.