1 Corinthians 2:1-5 / Luke 4:16-30
One of the primary tasks of the priest is to preach the Word of God. Preaching the homily at Mass is his duty and he is obligated to prepare for it.
Yet the task of preaching is indeed challenging because the people of God thirst for the Word to be made flesh in their lives. They yearn to experience scriptural teachings translating in their everyday life.
So priests and preachers will understand what St. Paul meant when he said : I came among you in great fear and trembling in the speeches and sermons that I gave.
But he also quickly added that none of his preaching belonged to philosophy.
Rather it is a demonstration of the power of the Spirit.
It was with the power of the Spirit that Jesus went back to Nazareth, and at the synagogue, He read the passage from the prophet Isaiah.
And the people were astonished by the gracious words that came from His lips.
But it is so easy to let human thinking as well as criticism come into the way of the Word of God.
As we could see it from the gospel, the people started to make a judgment about Him and subsequently rejected Him.
Human beings may be endowed with knowledge and intelligence, but we must also remember that God's ways are not man's ways.
The book of the prophet Isaiah has this passage (Isa 55:8-9) : My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
May our minds and hearts be opened to God's revelation as He speaks to us through His Word.
May our faith be not dependent on human philosophy but on the power of God.