Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19 / 1 Cor 12:31 – 13:13 / Luke 4:21-30
It is said that knowledge is power. Knowledge has the power to control access to opportunity and advancement.
Knowledge comes from learning. But the more the knowledge, the lesser should be the ego.
Because the more we know, we should also realize that there is much more that we don’t know. Because real knowledge is to know the extent of our ignorance.
It is said that there are two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
And if we think that praying for a miracle is almost nearly impossible then let us listen to this story.
A woman went to see a holy man and asked him to pray to God to take her husband out of this world, because he was always quarrelling with her, and she can’t live with him anymore.
The holy man paused for a moment, and then said to her: Very well, I will pray, but I must warn you that when I begin to pray, God will decide which of you is more guilty. And whoever is more guilty will die immediately! So how? You want me to start praying?
The woman thought for a while, and then said: Err…. Never mind, no need to pray anymore. And she left, hurriedly.
Well, the truth set her free, and it also made her flee.
We may know what the truth is, but it would take a miracle for the truth to set us free.
In the gospel, we heard that Jesus went to His hometown and preached the truth to His people but they despised Him.
To bring home the point, Jesus recalled for them two stories from their history about how God helped outsiders instead of their own people.
One was a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town and the other a leper, Naaman a Syrian.
But instead of believing that miracles can happen to outsiders, they became enraged and they hustled Him out of the town and took Him to the brow of the hill and intended to throw Him down the cliff.
And then something astonishing happened. Jesus slipped through the crowd and walked away.
Another miracle happened before their eyes. The truth had set Jesus free but that same truth left them obstinate and trapped in their anger.
So we may know what the truth is, but for the truth to set us free, it may require a miracle.
And that would depend on how we live our lives. Do we live as though nothing is a miracle? Or do we live as though everything is a miracle.
But for a miracle to happen would require us to put more energy to our faith and beliefs than to our doubts and fears.
Once there was a Christian lady who lived next door to an atheist.
Everyday, when the lady prayed, the atheist guy could hear her.
He thought to himself, "She sure is crazy, praying all the time like that. Doesn't she know there isn't a God?"
Many times while she was praying, he would go to her house and harass her, saying "Lady, why do you pray all the time? Don't you know there is no God?" But she kept on praying.
One day, she ran out of groceries. As usual, she was praying to the Lord explaining her situation and thanking Him for what He was going to do.
As usual, the atheist heard her praying and thought to himself, "Humph. I'll fix her." He went to the grocery store, bought a whole bunch of groceries, took them to her house, dropped them off on the front porch, rang the door bell and then hid in the bushes to see what she would do.
When she opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the Lord with all her heart, jumping, singing and shouting.
The atheist then jumped out of the bushes and told her, "You old crazy lady! God didn't buy you those groceries, I bought those groceries!"
Suddenly the lady shouted and began running down the street, shouting and praising the Lord. The atheist chased after her, and when he finally caught her, he asked what her problem was.
She said, "I knew the Lord would provide me with some groceries, but I didn't know He was going make the devil pay for them!"
So as it goes, for some everything is a miracle; for others nothing is a miracle.
For us who believe in God and that with His love, everything is possible and everything is a miracle.
Yes, God is love and His love is described in the 2nd reading: love is patient and kind, never jealous, never boastful or conceited, never rude or selfish; love does not take offence and is not resentful; love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth.
And as we hear these words, a miracle is also waiting to happen. As much as God is love and His love is described in the words that we have heard, God also wants to recreate us with His love.
The miracle that is waiting to happen is when we can say: I am patient and kind, never jealous, never boastful or conceited, never rude or selfish; I do not take offence and I am not resentful; l take no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth.
May this text be fulfilled even as we listen.