4th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Luke 4:21-30
This week's gospel reading continues the story of Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth where he had grown up. At first he is universally accepted: the townspeople marvel at the 'gracious' words he utters. By the end of the story, however, these same people actually try to kill him. So, what happens in between to cause such a dramatic change of heart? Just a little implicit criticism, it would seem. These are religious people, not just an unruly street mob. They are friends of the family. They attend the synagogue, the Jewish place of gathering. They are familiar with their sacred texts and traditions and presumably want to understand them more fully. In fact, they are very like most of us who take time out on a weekly basis to come together in worship and prayer with those who share our faith.
One of the problems is that the people of Nazareth seem to be carrying a sense of exclusive entitlement to God's favour, as well as some deeply entrenched prejudices against the neighbouring Syrians and Phoenicians. Their history is largely one of conflict with neighbours, of struggle for survival, and some are more than willing to hang on to their unhealed local and national grievances. When Jesus suggests that God's prophetic and healing power is accessible to and may even be more readily received among foreigners than within Israel, their anger knows no bounds: it spills over into violence.
This story is a microcosm of the gospel as a whole. When the message is comforting, the messenger is well received. When it is less palatable, the messenger is in danger of being crucified, more often than not at the hands of people who are basically good, people like us. Unchecked assumptions, deep-seated biases, and uncontrolled emotions function to bring the anointed prophet of the God of Israel to a violent death. While the grace of God is ultimately more powerful than human limitations, we might nonetheless check our assumptions and our biases lest we turn to physical, verbal, or emotional violence in the face of prophetic challenge.
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