Introduction:

When one is invited to a party there is the expectation of a good time to be had: good food, pleasant company, lively conversation, and the presence of the gracious host.

One’s response to the invitation is generally, “Of course, I’ll accept. It will be a joy to be there.”

What a feast we have in today’s readings and what a company of great people to greet, listen to, and be with.

Jeremiah:
Jeremiah is told he has been chosen before he was born to be a prophet, and the Lord who chose him would be with him in all his difficulties.

His generous and trusting response is heard in the refrain of the psalm, “I will sing of your salvation.”

His task was exceedingly difficult, involving great suffering and courage, but this was his song; yet the people couldn’t catch the tune and the heartfelt melody.

St. Paul:
There are many wonderful passages in the Letters of St. Paul but the reading on the qualities of love, as in today’s liturgy, must rank among his most practical, most sublime, and most straight-forward:

Love is always patient and kind, never jealous, never boastful, never rude, sustains, believes, hopes, endures until the end . . . .

It is as though he is stating the obvious that we would all know and agree upon. There is no argument. He is stating the simple, beautiful truth about love – something we all ache for!

What a feast and what nourishment in those few words!

St. Luke:
The gospel reading comes at the conclusion of Jesus’ Sabbath appearance in his own home synagogue of Nazareth. The community gathered there were amazed at his gracious words and ask themselves in consternation and seeming disbelief, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

And therein lies their weakness, their future rejection of him: A prophet is not honoured among his own people.

Conclusion:

In little more than a week’s time, we will enter into the Holy Season of Lent.
Today’s readings lay out for us in profile the challenge that awaits Jesus and us as we follow him on his prophetic way to Jerusalem.

The Alleluia verse proclaims, “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives.”

He will be true to that claim, and at the end of his journey, he will simply reinforce that message with the words, “I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.”

It really is a banquet we are invited to.

What company! What nourishing conversations! How could we possibly resist the invitation and yet . . .?

Let us find strength in the simple response of Jeremiah in the words, “I will sing of your salvation!”

Then, there is the straight-forward wisdom of Paul’s words to encourage us; and finally,

There is assurance that Jesus knows who he is and what he is about!

How could we not accept?

Frank Gerry SVD