CẢM NGHIỆM SỐNG LỜI CHÚA - RELEFCTION LUCA 4, 11-30
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Mo Nguyen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>Feb 3 at 7:21 AM
JESUS' REJECTION AT NAZARETH
REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL (Lk 4: 21-30)
THE CHALLENGE OF CONVERSION
Today’s Gospel gives us the second act, so to speak, of Jesus’ visit to his hometown, Nazareth.
At first, the reaction of his townsfolk is favourable. They are ‘astonished at the gracious words that came from his lips’. But their comment, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’, disturbs him. It shows misunderstanding of his status and mission. He begins to challenge them, citing biblical precedents (the prophetic careers of Elijah and Elisha) for a wide-ranging mission. The scene turns ugly and ends with an unsuccessful attempt to lynch him. Why does it all so suddenly go wrong?
As a gospel writer Luke is very concerned to depict human response to the message of Jesus and to probe the reasons that led so many to reject it. The message requires conversation at depth. When the Nazarenes say, ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’, they are simply putting Jesus back in a box with which they are comfortable and keeping him for themselves. They show no real sense of who he really is (God’s Son) or any grasp of the inclusive scope of the program he has announced. The reason Jesus responds so aggressively is to bring their deepest thoughts to the surface and make them confront their narrowness.
The Gospel illustrates the potential for violence that lies in every human heart when the limits of comfort and convention are challenged. The threat to his life that Jesus experiences in Nazareth will become an actuality later in Jerusalem. But there too, in resurrection and ascension, he will ‘pass through the midst and go on his way’.
Brendan Byrne, SJ