Friends,
in our Gospel for today Jesus reads from Isaiah a prophecy dealing with
the Messianic transformation of the world. And then he declares it
fulfilled, precisely in him. The audience initially is positive. And
then we see why they are so favorable: “They also asked, ‘Isn’t this the
son of Joseph?’” Undoubtedly, they are
thinking: well, if this man is the Messiah, and he’s a local boy, we
will benefit enormously! As Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.”
But
Jesus commences to throw them for a loop. He invokes two uneasy stories
from the Old Testament tradition, the first dealing with Elijah. During
a drought Elijah is sent, not to an Israelite, but to a widow from
Sidon, a foreigner. And the second deals with Elisha, who cleanses from
leprosy, not an Israelite, but Naaman the Syrian.
At
these key moments in its history, God attends to the needs of the other
nations and not the needs of Israel. He is reminding them that Israel
existed for the sake of the other nations.
Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 431
When I came to you, brothers and sisters,
proclaiming the mystery of God,
I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you
except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
and my message and my proclamation
were not with persuasive words of wisdom,
but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom
but on the power of God.
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.
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