In today’s Gospel, Luke 4: 14-22a, Jesus is attending a service in the
synagogue. He is handed a scroll which he unrolls and reads a passage from the
prophet Isaiah: “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he
(His Father and our Father, His God and our God) has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to
the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to
the Lord.” He then tells the people that this passage is
being fulfilled in their midst. At the
end of this passage, we are told that the people “were amazed at the gracious
words that came from his mouth.”
Throughout the Gospels, we witness Jesus’ use of words, that
is, his graciousness, for instance, to:
·
The Samaritan woman at the well
·
The woman caught in adultery
·
The two apostles, James and John, vying for a
position of honor in His Kingdom
·
The apostles not wanting the little children to
come to Him
·
Bartimaeus, the blind man on the side of the
road yelling for help and the crowd trying to quiet him
·
The demoniac in the Geresene hills
·
The blind and deaf, the crippled and lame, the
sick and infirm, persons of every kind of disease
·
The deaf and dumb
·
The lepers, outcasts of society
·
The centurion begging that his servant be healed
·
The widow of Naim
·
The crowds of people lost without a shepherd
·
His executioners and those who came to the
Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Him
·
Judas in his betrayal and Peter in his denials
·
Herod and Pilate
·
Those who mock Him, scourge Him, and crown Him
with thorns
·
The women who are weeping for Him on His way to
Calvary
·
The thief on the cross asking for mercy
·
Mary and John beneath the cross
How gracious would my words be in some of those situations?
How gracious am I in the presence of those who betray me, persecute me,
confront me with violent words, reject me and put me to scorn? How gracious am
I toward the deaf and dumb, the disfigured, the diseased (spiritually,
physically, mentally; persons awkward
socially), the “lepers” of my society, those oppressed and poor? Kind words, grateful words, loving words give
life. Harsh words can cripple people for life. Which do I choose to speak and
to whom? To whom do I refuse to be
gracious?
