The Rejection at Nazareth

Today's Reflections

                                                       

The Rejection at Nazareth 

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Lk 4:24-30

²⁴[Jesus] said [to all in the synagogue at Nazareth], “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. ²⁵Indeed, 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. ²⁶It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. ²⁷Again, 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.” ²⁸When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. ²⁹They 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. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

Today Jesus comes to you.

Will you accept him—even when what he says

or does may not be to your liking?

Reflection:

No prophet is accepted in his own native place. The words in John’s Prologue, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him” (Jn 1:11) are sadly illustrated already by the townspeople of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up. They are angered by his message about God’s benevolence being extended to the Gentiles, and they want to kill him.

This incident prepares us for the rejection of Jesus by members of his own people, which will happen in Jerusalem. The ministry of Jesus is punctuated by many rejections which hurt him very deeply.