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Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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According to Luke’s Gospel, Jesus inaugurates his public ministry by returning to his hometown of Nazareth, where he enters the local synagogue, sits down and reads from the prophet Isaiah.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor, liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free.”
Rolling up the scroll, Jesus then claims, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Initially, the crowds are filled with excitement and anticipation. But then the reality of what Jesus said begins sinking in. He is the one whom God has sent. “How could a lowly carpenter – someone whom they knew for years – be the Messiah?” they wonder.
Suddenly, praise morphs into rejection as they drive Jesus to the edge of a hill, hoping to push him off. Somehow, he escapes the madness.
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What happened at the beginning of his public ministry also happens at the end. Just as Jesus was rejected by the crowds in Nazareth, so they will turn on him in Jerusalem.
On Palm Sunday, they cheer Hosanna in the highest! But five days later, they change their tune to Crucify him!
The crowds remind us of the fragility of public opinion, how quick people can be to judge, to draw false conclusions, even to nearly push God off the brow of a hill.
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During this season of Lent, perhaps we can work on toning down the rhetoric – both nationally and in our own social circles. Make the effort to listen before we speak. To seek to understand. To think before we act.
Sometimes people are unfairly rejected or condemned as criminals.
Jesus was, too.
Sadly, the cycle can repeat itself when we fail to see Christ in distressing disguise.
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Image credits: (1) A-Z Quotes (2) Psephizo (3) Craig Greenfield