Daily Readings - Mon Sep 04 2023

¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.¹⁵According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.¹⁶For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.¹⁸Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Luke

Chapter 4

¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,²¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.²³Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"²⁴"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.²⁵I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.²⁷And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."²⁸All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.³⁰But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Sermon

In today's readings, we encounter two profound themes: hope in the face of loss and the challenge of rejection in fulfilling our mission. The first reading from 1 Thessalonians offers comfort to those grieving, reminding them of the hope found in the resurrection. Paul assures the Thessalonians that their deceased loved ones will rise again with Jesus, urging them to find solace in this promise. This passage is set against the backdrop of a community coping with loss, seeking reassurance in their faith. The Gospel from Luke presents Jesus in his hometown synagogue, where he proclaims his mission to serve the marginalized. Initially, the crowd is impressed, but when he challenges their parochialism, they turn hostile. This narrative highlights the reality of rejection that can accompany living out one's faith. Jesus's experience teaches us that following God's call may lead to opposition, yet we must remain steadfast. These readings connect by balancing hope with the challenges of discipleship. While we have the assurance of eternal life, we must also embrace the difficulties of standing up for our beliefs. In our daily lives, we may face sorrow or rejection, but the readings encourage us to hold onto hope and trust in God's plan. The moral lesson here is the endurance of faith amidst adversity, trusting that our efforts to live as disciples will ultimately find fulfillment in God's time.