Today's Bible readings might not quite seem connected at first glance. In the Old Testament reading, we see God telling the people how to live a life that includes days of resting on the Sabbath, as well as other important feast days, like the Passover. In the gospel reading, we see Jesus visiting his hometown of Nazareth. Instead of greeting Jesus with joy, his longtime friends and acquaintances wonder how it is that he - a carpenter's son, no less - could have such wisdom of God. In fact, the peoples' lack of faith means that Jesus is unable to do many works of wisdom and might.

The peoples' lack of response actually provides a connection between the two scriptures. God's commandments about the holidays in Leviticus are meant to help give people a way to respond to God's saving love. God brought the people out of slavery in Egypt, to the promised land. That amazing action of God's requires the peoples' response - for example, to celebrate the Passover so that we can remember, year in and year out, that it is God who saves.

 

 In fact, God longs for the people to participate most fully in God's own life. Recall that the sabbath is linked to the creation story in Genesis: on the seventh day God looks over his whole creation and enjoys it, on a day of rest. The sabbath is meant to remind us of who, and whose, we are: we are the people of God, who can delight in God and God's creation.

 

In the Gospel reading, the people do not respond to Jesus, Son of God, with enjoyment and participation. In fact, they want nothing to do with Jesus. So Jesus - who is God - is not able to offer his life to them, his miracles and his saving works.

 

Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Vianney. St. John Vianney lived through the French Revolution, a time in France's history when many people turned away from the church and began to disbelieve in God and in God's feasts and celebrations. In the aftermath of the French Revolution St. John Vianney persistently told people around him about God's great love and invited them back to church, back to the sacraments, back to the life God has given us.

 

God loves us abundantly. God invites us to respond to that love. Today let us reflect on our own response to God's love, perhaps especially with these words that St. John Vianney offers as a prayer: "I love you, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life. I love you, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You than live without loving You. I love you, Lord, and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally."

 

- Jana M. Bennett