Whether you’re in college or are an adult living your adult life, we all know that eerily peaceful feeling of going back home. You go for a weekend to celebrate someone’s birthday or you go home for the holidays.
This weird mix of feelings wash over you of happiness at being home in familiar territory, and sadness at how much has changed since it was considered “home” and the oddly conflicting feelings at the end of wishing the trip wasn’t over.
Yet it is exciting to go back to the new “home” you’ve created somewhere else.The first few times you go home you don’t really notice this, but that first trip back home can leave you feeling somewhat sad and confused.
This is what St. Luke is getting at in today’s Gospel as Jesus returns to his home town from which he had been gone for some time (Like 1:1-4; 4:14-21).
Some people remember him as a little boy. Some are curious to see what he turned out to be. Jesus is not just any hometown boy coming home. His reputation has preceded him. So he is a curiosity, if not a celebrity.
So Jesus goes to his hometown synagogue where he sat as a boy. As a visiting rabbi, they hand him the scroll of Isaiah. He opens the scroll and comes to the famous lines: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good tidings to the poor, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” Jesus then said to them:
“TODAY this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
The word that startled everyone was TODAY! The people who were listening were all trained to look to the future, someday in the future. Like the song in Snow White: “SOMEDAY my Prince will come!”
Jesus is saying: “The Prince has already come. He is here TODAY!” Jesus claims the power to transform the present, to transform TODAY. There are no better times coming. They are here now. “The Kingdom of God is among you,” Jesus declares. Did you know that 80% of all of Jesus’ sayings talk about the here and now?
God is breaking into your life TODAY! TODAY God is revealing himself behind every episode of your life.
You have been given TODAY to use as you will. You can waste it or use it to do good for someone. What you do TODAY is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever. In its place is something that you have left behind. Let it be something good and of value to others.
We give a bright toy to a child to hold and manipulate and cuddle and use. But time passes and the toy is put on the shelf, put in a box, or thrown out.
And then it’s bright clothes, the exciting date, the fast car, the latest pop singer, and school. But time passes, and school is over, the date becomes a marriage, and there is a home and work to be done.
It’s the economic struggle, the security battle, the social circle, responsibility and deadlines. But time passes and the work is finished.
Old friends, one by one, slip away, and the world looks strange, and it’s a struggle to keep occupied, to maintain identity, and to stay alive. But time passes, and strength wanes, eyesight weakens, footsteps falter, breath shortens, the heart flutters, familiar objects grow dim and seem to float away…..and the river overflows.
One by one, greatly important other days dwindle into insignificance. All that is left for each one of us is TODAY.
Jesus used the word TODAY as he began his public ministry:
“TODAY this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus used the word TODAY as he took his last breath on the cross:
“TODAY you will be with me in Paradise.”
What do YOU need to do for YOU and YOUR SOUL that needs to be done TODAY?
JESUS IS WORTH EVERYTHING THAT YOU’RE AFRAID OF LOSING TODAY!
