Sharing Jesus’ vision

Listening to the Spirit

Lord, thank you for the gift of Your Word
so that all your people may know and love You more
and understand You better.

As I go about my day may I not forget
the scriptures you have opened up for me.

Help me to recognize how You want for me
to apply Your Word to my daily life.

Holy Spirit, guided by Your Word,
may You enlighten my mind
and enkindle in my heart
a greater love for You and for others
in my family and in the world.

Amen.

Listening to the Word

Lk 4:21-30

Jesus began speaking in the synagogue, saying: “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, “Isn’t this 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 Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.

Reflection

Jesus comes to us with a proposal, an invitation: to share in his vision of things wherever the love of God is the binding force of our interpersonal relationships. He teaches us how to see, listen to, use words, and what direction to take in our life.

Where Jesus is not welcomed we are left alone. Our ego pushes us to use people for self-consumption; words of deception are traded for truth, paths to self-destruction are being presented as fulfilling goals.

Even in the Gospels, rejection, hostility, misunderstanding, and ingratitude toward the person of Jesus are constantly present. Only one, out of ten lepers, comes back to thank for the healing.

Four thousand are fed and crowds want to make him their regular provider of free meals; Jesus runs away. He teaches his disciple how to follow him on a path of humility but the hearts and minds of his friends are cravings of power and distinctions. The paralytic healed the Pool of Bethesda reported Jesus to the Jewish leaders who from that time on started persecuting him. His fellow villagers in Nazareth are taking him for granted; are expecting Jesus to be at their disposal while incapable of recognizing that his mission is to bring liberation to the captives, eyesight to the blind; their minds and hearts are obscured.

So we are learning:

1) It is not easy to recognize Jesus; we may impose on him our own expectations;
2) Jesus teaches us how to become free. He moves away from the circle of his fellow villagers who have rejected him and his mission; in order to grow one sometimes needs to take distance from an oppressive environment that stunts his/her human growth and vocation.
3) Despite rejection Jesus moves forward; we also are called to go on notwithstanding difficulty opposition and failures.

Grant us, Lord our God, that
we may honor you with all our mind,
and love everyone in truth of the heart.
Amen