Sermon: Fixed on Him

Monday Wk 22, Josephinum,  Lk 4:16-30 

 

I preached on this gospel last year, and as fate or the liturgist, has directed, 

I’m preaching on it again this year. 

It’s one of my favourite lines in the Bible, because it reminds me of two things: 

First, how people REACTED to the Lord 

 -the awesome power of His personality 

 -I love pondering on how people responded to Him, 

because it teaches me about HIM. 

Second, this phrase sums up how I know I need to still react to His awesomeness today: 

I need to be FIXED on Him. 

Let’s ponder for a moment, the different ways people REACTED to the Lord? 

We might think of: 

The guards who were sent to arrest the Lord, but returned to their superiors empty- 

handed simply saying, 

“No one has every spoken like this man”. 

The crowds, who said of Him, 

“He has done all things well”. 

His preaching manner summed up by the evangelist, saying, 

“He spoke with authority, and not like the scribes and the pharisees.” 

No wonder we get the line in today’s text: 

“All eyes on the synagogue looked intently at Him”. 

(Pause)  

Yet, that awesome power of His person also had others reject Him: 

In this passage, it starts with fascination but ends with them trying to throw Him from the cliff. 

 

What of me and you? 

There is another reaction to Him that I fear: 

Indifference, somehow letting Him pass by. 

Knowing that there is BACON at the PCJ breakfast, in less than an hour, and my mind not being with Him. 

 I want, in contrast, to be “fastened” onto Him in everything I do during the day: 

When I study, 

to study for love of Him, remembering Him, 

because it’s what HE wants of me, 

Even if you’re looking at Greek 

When I chat with guys, 

to do so with a heart that loves them BECAUSE He loves Him, 

Because He loves even better than I do. 

When I eat bacon, 

to rejoice in His presence, 

Because bacon is one of the signs that God is good. 

(Pause) 

But if I’m going to “fixed” on Him in bacon, I need to be fixed on Him where He is MOST particularly:

 The Tabernacle.

As I said last year: 

When I genuflect, especially, I need to know that I am greeting and honouring a PERSON 

I need to utter a little prayer of love HE is here! 

In contrast, a genuflection can LOOK like an empty action; can BE an empty action 

-rather than a pivot around which my daily awareness of His presence moves. 

An action: 

With eyes fixed on Him 

With a heart fixed on Him 

With prayer directed to Him 

With a body posture, a straight back, worthy of an act reverencing Him who the crowds gazed stupefied before.

“The eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at Him”.