Kingdom of Grace

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

Luke 4: 21-30

21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 23He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ 24And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.


One of my favorite words of all time is “gracious” and one of my favorite images of Jesus is one of a gracious man and a gracious God. In this Gospel, everyone was ‘amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth’. One would wonder what kinds of words the people were used to hearing. Condemnation? Judgment? Words that belittled them? Words that evoked fear, anxiety and guilt? Because they weren’t used to thinking of God as a gracious and loving God, Jesus’ gracious words shocked them and made them uncomfortable. And uncomfortable people become defensive and vindictive. How sad, to be uncomfortable with gracious love.

There are two aspects to this gospel I want to look at. The first is the human inclination to be suspicious of and uncomfortable with the idea of a gracious God and with the fact that God can sometimes choose certain people whom we would never choose to be his ‘Christophers’ (Christ-bearers). The Jews in this reading had known Jesus from birth and were feeling threatened by rumors of Jesus’ miracles in other towns so they went on the attack by reminding Jesus of his low social status. Jesus knew what was in their minds and what they were whispering to each other. They were thinking that if he was so great and was performing miracles elsewhere, why didn’t he cure his own poverty and social standing. Remember, Jews believed that wealth indicated God’s favor.

Jesus then reminded them of how the prophets Elijah and Elisha, at two different times in Jewish history, were only able to perform miracles for foreigners, even though there were Israelites who were also suffering. This was a pointed statement about the people’s lack of openness to receive God’s grace and favor. Even if Jesus did perform some miracles for them, he knew they wouldn’t be changed by the miracles. They were too hung up on their own perceptions, too busy feeling threatened and too proud – or scared - to accept the profound simplicity of grace and love.  We, too, need to constantly revisit our faith to see if we are too proud or too scared to accept that our God is a gracious and loving God.

The second aspect of this Gospel has to do with graciousness as well - our own graciousness. If we accept that each one of us has been anointed and sent, then no matter what our life situation is at the moment, we all need to ponder the power of graciousness and the call to be a gracious people like Jesus was gracious and like Mary was Full of Grace. We need to ask what it means to be Full of Grace and what it means to speak gracious words and to act in a gracious manner.

To me, a gracious woman is someone who is deeply aware of other people, but not because she is so lacking in self esteem or self confidence that she is always scrambling to please others in order to make them think well of her or so she won’t be blamed if something goes wrong. To me, a truly gracious woman is a woman who knows so well her own value and how much she is loved that she is able to stop thinking of her own needs and agendas and is able to completely appreciate the people she encounters. She does not require recognition from others to tell her how valuable she is so she is able to fully value others. She is a listener. She builds others up. She makes others the center of her attention.

Again, I want to emphasize that graciousness is not just a kind of outward action, though it encompasses that. It is action built on an inner conviction of being loved, on believing in one’s priesthood, and on knowing one has been called, anointed and sent. I’m writing for women so I used the words ‘woman’ and ‘she/her’ but the very same definition applies to a man. All of us at some point in our lives have run into someone, man or woman, who is truly gracious. They make an impression. They leave us wanting to be in their presence more. Somehow, they exude a peace and a sureness we would love to have in our lives.

I will never forget a young woman (student) who occasionally served as a Eucharistic minister at the student Mass when we were chaplains in Victoria. I was always struck by her stance as she stood up on the altar. Her whole being quietly proclaimed, “I belong in this place,” but the way she stood, the way she held her hands and the way she followed the proceedings were completely unself-conscious. The only way I could describe it at the time was graciousness. She did not seem to be in any way nervous about her role or concerned about people looking at her but what really came across was that she had a subconscious understanding of the authority of grace and a desire to share the body and blood of Christ with her brothers and sisters. I never told her what I saw because I didn’t want to make her self conscious and perhaps lose that natural inner grace. The grace I saw always reminded me of Jesus. 

Jesus was a gracious man and Mary was a gracious woman. Both Jesus and Mary knew who they were and who they were called to be. They were convinced of the Father’s love for them and convinced that the Father’s love was for all. They were far less anxious about their own needs than about the needs of those around them. This made them extremely attractive people. It made them fulfilling people to be around.

In the gospel, the Jews were demanding miracles and, as I mentioned before, Jesus knew that miracles would not make a difference to them. Why? Because they could not even respond to his graciousness – they certainly weren’t going to respond to miracles. Being connected to a gracious God means being in relationship with him not just his power and it is this gracious relationship that changes us, not miracles.

Miracles are wonderful things and I love it when the Lord displays his power. Miracles are like precious reminders of his presence and love. But they are not what fill you up or heal you inside. The only thing that will fill you and heal you is looking in his eyes, seeing boundless grace and love (Grace Without Borders?) and completely accepting that it’s meant for you, as you are where you stand. That’s what grace is. A truly gracious person does not require another person to shape up or change radically in order to become worthy of the gracious person’s attention, approval and love. Grace is unconditional. Grace is the display of love’s beauty. 

It seems very appropriate to end with Paul’s blessing from 2 Corinthians 13:14.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Amen!