Sunday between 28 January and 3 February    

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

First Reading - Jeremiah 1.17-19

A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah. The word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Make yourself ready to stand up and proclaim the whole of the message that I give to you. Do not be afraid, for I will make you strong like a fortified city, like a pillar of iron, like a wall of bronze, to challenge the whole of the land of Judah: to challenge the kings, and the princes, the priests, and the people. They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you, for I am with you, and I will deliver you,’ says the Lord. This is the word of the Lord.

Second Reading - 1 Corinthians 12.31b - 13.13

A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Let me show you now the most excellent gift of all. If I speak in the languages of both earth and heaven, but do not have love, I am only a noisy gong, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the power of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body to martyrdom, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, and kind; not envious, or arrogant, or boastful, or rude. Love does not insist on its own way. Love is not easily angered, or resentful. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing. Love rejoices in the truth. Love has strength, and faith, and confidence, that endure, and never fail. Love never ends. But our voices will fall silent. Our prophecies and our knowledge will come to an end. For they are only partial; and when completion comes, the partial will vanish away. When I was a child, I spoke, and thought, and reasoned, like a child; but when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

In the same way: now, we see partially, as though looking through darkened glass; but then, we shall see face to face. Now, I know only in part; but then, I will know fully, even as I am fully known. And through all this change, these three things endure: faith, and hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love. This is the word of the Lord.

Gospel - Luke 4.21-30

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. In the synagogue at Nazareth, after reading from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus said to them, ‘Today, this scripture is being fulfilled.’ All the people spoke well of him, and of the gracious words that were now being spoken by the son of Joseph. Jesus said to them, ‘I know you will quote to me the proverb that says, “Doctor, cure yourself,” and ask me to do here, in my home town, the things that I did at Capernaum. But no prophet has ever been accepted in their home town. There were many widows in Israel, during the famine, in the time of the prophet Elijah; but Elijah was not sent to any of the widows in Israel, but to a widow in Sarepta, in Lebanon. And there were many people with leprosy, in Israel, in the time of the prophet Elisha; but the only person healed was Naaman, the Syrian.’ When those who were gathered in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with indignation. They rose up together and forced Jesus out of the town, and all the way to the edge of the hill on which the town was built, as if to throw him off. But he passed through the crowd and went on his way. This is the Gospel of the Lord.