Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time, August 31, 2026

Gospel

Luke 4:16-30

Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,

and went according to his custom

into the synagogue on the sabbath day.

He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.

He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll,

he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,

and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.

He said to them,

“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

And all spoke highly of him

and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

They also asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”

He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb,

‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place

the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”

And he said,

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.

Indeed, I tell you,

there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah

when the sky was closed for three and a half years

and a severe famine spread over the entire land.

It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,

but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.

Again, there were many lepers in Israel

during the time of Elisha the prophet;

yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When the people in the synagogue heard this,

they were all filled with fury.

They rose up, drove him out of the town,

and led him to the brow of the hill

on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong.

But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

Reflection

In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to Nazareth, the place where He grew up. This line in particular stood out to me, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place”. I find there is something interesting about the fact that Jesus is rejected by the very people who watched Him grow up. Perhaps their familiarity with Him made it difficult to recognize who He truly was. They thought they already knew Him, and were confused. To them, He was the son of Joseph, the son of a humble carpenter. How could someone they knew so well possibly have divine authority? How could He be the long awaited Messiah? The people of Nazareth were also confronted with a difficult truth. Jesus reminded them of how God had worked through Elijah and Elisha to help people outside of Israel. His message challenged their belief that God’s favor and salvation belonged exclusively to them. This truth hurt, because it exposed their pride and they responded with anger and hostility.

At first, it may seem as though Jesus intentionally pushed their buttons, knowing exactly how they would react. But perhaps He was giving them an opportunity to confront what was keeping them from accepting the truth. Jesus challenged their pride so that they could recognize it, and become willing to receive what He was offering them.

This Gospel challenges us to consider how we respond when confronted with a truth we do not want to hear. Are we willing to admit when our pride, or assumptions might be getting in the way? Or do we become defensive and reject the person delivering the message?