A Reflection for the Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Find today’s readings here.
“There shall be no strange god among you/nor shall you worship any alien god,” the Lord directs us in Psalm 81, and that is easier said than done. We are prone to worshipping strange gods, aren’t we? We especially like to conjure up images of God that fit our needs or preconceptions. “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do,” warns the writer Anne Lamott, quoting her “priest friend Tom.” Our strange gods lead us away from God’s grace. Our alien gods cloud our perception of the God who loves us equally.
We see an example of how we want to make God fit into our limited framework in today’s Gospel, when the folks in Jesus’ hometown cannot fathom that the carpenter’s son might be an instrument of God’s wisdom, let alone the Messiah. They cannot see God right in front of them because of their presumptions. If you’ve ever had a close relative achieve any degree of fame or recognition, you may be familiar with Jesus’ neighbors’ instant reaction of “THIS guy?” It crosses your mind that if those who admire your relative knew what you know, they’d stop with the hero-worship. You kind of get this Gospel. You can see how the very idea that Jesus might be someone special offends the townspeople, although in Luke’s telling, they take it to the extreme of literally trying to throw Jesus off a cliff (Lk 4:29).
I’m fond of this Gospel story because it helps me remember that God often comes to us in unexpected ways, through surprising strangers, by way of unforeseen events, in unfamiliar places. Jesus is exasperated by the lack of faith he encounters “in his native place and in his own house.” His experience reminds us that if we seek God, we must look past the strange and perhaps comfortable gods we have created for ourselves.
The God who calls us gives us some definite instructions in the practice of our faith, as we see in today’s first reading from Leviticus. We follow the rules for the good of our faith community. But we must beware that the rules do not take the place of God, that the rules themselves do not become a strange god. The rules offer structure, but only an alien god can be contained by the cages we build. Our hearts and minds must remain open. Our work and worship must honor the only God.
