Luke 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.
"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.
Homily
Today's Gospel
is the continuation of last week’s Gospel. Remember it is Jesus’ inaugural
address his first preaching in his hometown of Nazareth. Jesus
announced good news to the poor, healing for the sick, freedom to captives and
blessings for all. As the Gospel say they were Amazed and very pleased with his
preaching.
Nazareth was his hometown so we can imagine that he was talking with his
people, with his mother, his cousins, neighbors. Everyone was pleased with
Jesus and we can imagine proud of him. I can hear them saying things like
"I remember when he was a child and he came to my store." "My
son went to school with him." "His parents must be so proud.”
Everything was very great, until Jesus began to talk about
who his mission was for. Jesus did not say that he would not heal the sick of
his people, nor free the captives of his town. But Jesus said that his mission
was for everyone. Using the examples of Sidon and Syria. Now, where are Sidon
and Syria? They are foreign countries. Jesus is clearly saying that his mission
is not only for his people, the people of his religion, language and customs,
but for all. Jesus said that his mission was for the whole world. Who was
excluded from the kingdom of God? Well nobody!
Amazing! People not only do not want Jesus to help
foreigners, but they want to kill him, they took him to the mountain to throw
him off it. Something I find hard to believe. Could you imagine a country that
does not want foreigners? That would like to keep them out by building walls?
That they are annoyed just when you mention them, when you talk about them as
if they were human beings with rights?
(I am preaching in Spanish this weekend, not
English) I am sorry to say this, but unfortunately, many of my own
people think so. When we talk about the rights of immigrants, when we say that
we have to welcome them because they are children of God. They criticize us.
They have not yet said they want to kill us, but they have said that they are
going to leave the parish, that they are going to San Raphael or another church
where they do not have to hear this message.
I am not preaching in English this Sunday, I am not talking
to my own folks, this Sunday I only am preaching in Spanish. If I was preaching
with my people my words would be, "excluding the immigrant we are
excluding Jesus, we are denying our faith." So this is not your message.
You have to hear another message, because the gospel always has to challenge
us, it has to call us to live and think differently.
So who are the people we think least of? Who are the people
that we think have less rights from us? Who are the people we think should
never hear the word of God? You have to decide this for yourself but I would
like to give some examples.
The blacks, or the Africans Americans. Many of us think less
of them. We think they are bad. We judge them only by the color of their skin.
We do not want to associate with them, it would be the end of the world if your
daughter married a black man. God forbid!
Homosexuals We think poorly of them because of who they are.
We tell jokes about them. We say things like, "Thank God that my son is
not like that."
People of another religion We are immigrants but perhaps we
agree with President Trump's Muslim ban. We think they are terrorists, violent
people. Maybe we think badly of the evangelicals, the Mormons.
The thing is the kingdom of God is for all without
conditions. There is no one excluded from the kingdom of God, God offers his
love to all, he preaches his word to all, he heals all the sick, and frees all
captives.
There are many Christians in the world. There are many who
say that they love the Lord to proclaim that they have a relationship with him,
but there is something important and perhaps more difficult. To really accept, if
you want to be a true Christian, you have to be ready to accept everyone. You
cannot say that you are of Christ if there is someone outside of your heart.
This is difficult, it is easy to love Christ, put his cross
on our chest. But it is not easy to accept people who are different. We come
here to celebrate the Eucharist, not as individuals but as a community, with
people very different from us. But the good news is that the celebration of the
Eucharist should help us to accept everyone. As the bread is transformed we are
transformed.
Jesus was not a priest, he was a prophet, prophets announce,
renounce, and denounce. It is difficult to accept them because they invite us
to conversion.
Who are the prophets in my life? I'm a prophet?
Prophets
Prophets of joy, bringing joy.
Prophets of tenderness, enveloping us in tenderness.
Prophets of the Word, announcing.
Prophets of joy, cheering.
Prophets of the Gospel, evangelizing.
Prophets of the Kingdom, transforming
Always walking, going.
On time and at the wrong time.
Never still, never paralyzed.
Even if they try to derail.
They know, Jesus.
They cannot shut up us anymore.
IV
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