Word of God

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Monday (3 September 2018)

Luke 4:16-30

“And he won the approval of all and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.”

As we read today's gospel passage, we can think of the scene at Nazareth when Jesus reads some verses from the prophet Isaiah and then applies them without further ado to himself and his own life: “This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening.” Jesus shows how to read the Scriptures. He reads the Scriptures from his own viewpoint and that of his listeners. He applies it to himself and to his listeners from the moment he talks to them. When we read and try to understand the Bible, like Jesus we need to put our lives into it, we need to apply the words to us. (Though sometimes this may not be easy, we may need some help.)

Today we have started reading the gospel according to St Luke for our weekday masses, after having completed the gospels of St Mark and St Matthew. One way to listen to God is to follow the readings of everyday Mass (even if we haven't the time to attend it), and ask what this text might mean in our lives and in our struggles? God reveals to us continuously; He speaks to us in a special through the word of the Bible. Do we have the time and leisure for the Word of God in our lives? Perhaps many of our troubles and struggles will get a new meaning if only we spend enough time with the Word of God.

As these days I'm taking Bible classes in the Provincial House, I come to know how much of the Bible I don't know, and how much the meaning depends on God's inspiration, and not on my own efforts. When we are able to see God's work in our reading, then we might be able to see God's work in our trying to live out the Word of God. God is not far away from our daily struggles, He is found within them. He is more intimate to us, than we are intimate to ourselves. That is the truth we will learn as we read and reflect and live out the Word of God in our lives.

Eventually we shall know that Jesus alone is the living and dynamic Word, adjusting to the readiness capacity of every age. Written words of the Bible are forever and always metaphors. They need to be applied to our lives in order to understand the real meaning of those words. These words are only fingers pointing to the moon, they are not the moon itself. When we forget that distinction, we soon become idolatrous and eventually policemen, but seldom mystics.

Let us allow the Word of God to change our lives today. Or for what else should we read the Word?