Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury.
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 3, 2019
Luke 4:21-30
We are, in a sense, sitting in the synagogue again just like last week. He is still among us, and he has taken up the scroll of the Prophet. He looks us square in the eye and raises the question he raised once before. It’s a simple one, but it’s a tough one. Can you and will you do good things when you don’t get anything out of it? Only those who have faced the responsibility and truth of what it means to be chosen can say “Yes” to this question. Only those who look at everything they have and realize that it’s not about them nor do they have it all because of anything they have done can say “Yes.” These are people who feel no resentment when others get ahead. These are people who are willing to stand back and let someone else go first. These are people who realize that being number one is not as good as being best. So, he holds up Naaman a Syrian and a widow at Zarephath is Sidon, and wonders can we rejoice that these people who have no privilege like us, who have no “rights” to these opportunities get ahead? If we can rejoice in the well-being and progress of those judged as undeserving, then the Good News and the Promise of this Gospel is being fulfilled in our own hearing. The message here is: this stuff we have is not for us or because we deserve it, but because God expects us to do something with it for someone else.
Fr. Tom Boyer