Gospel
LK 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
This quote, "Amen I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place", stood out to me in this Gospel. The initial reaction to Jesus being back in his hometown was amazement and it is said that they all spoke highly of Him. So I had to wonder, what changed? It was after Jesus made this comment and began to challenge their expectations. I don't think the townspeople of Nazareth were able to move beyond their preconceived notions of Jesus as just the son of Mary and Joseph, and were therefore unable to recognize Him as the Messiah. I believe Jesus was warning them this in this passage and they did not take it well becoming enraged to the point of trying to throw Him off a cliff. This made me think of today and how it can be hard to see the truth under misconceptions and strong emotions like hatred and anger. It also made me realize just how difficult it must have been for Jesus, knowing His hometown was likely to reject Him, but loving them enough to still be willing to tell them the truth and courageously face their responses. Overall, I think this passage invites us to reflect on our willingness in our own lives to speak the truth despite the discomfort we might face.
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