THE WORD
2 Kgs 5,1-15 / Lk 4,24-30
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 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 he passed through the midst of them and went away.
IN OTHER WORDS
In Luke 4:24, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” Jesus uttered these words in response to the people’s reaction to his authoritative way of reading a part of the book of the prophet Isaiah which says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce the year of favor from the Lord and a day of vindication by our God, to comfort all who mourn….” (Is 61:1-2, Lk 4:18-19). At the beginning, the people were amazed and they admired him for his eloquence but they started to question his authority when they realized that he was just Jesus, the Son of Mary and Joseph. As the Gospel according to Luke said, “All who were present spoke favorably of him; they marveled at the appealing discourse which came from his lips. They also ask, is not this Joseph’s son?” (Lk 4:22). It was at this point that Jesus sensed that they were questioning his authority because of his humble beginning. And he said “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place”.
If one applies for a job, one is required to submit his/her resumé, curriculum vitae and undergo a series of interviews to find out whether one is qualified for the job. And often times one has to give three persons as character references, which sometimes are more important than the curriculum vitae. As some people would say “whom you know is better than what you know”. It is here where Jesus fell short which caused his rejection by his own town mates. He was rejected because he was nobody in the society. The peoples’ appreciation of his wisdom and power was waylaid by their prejudice about him whose father was Joseph a carpenter and who did not have political, social and religious influence. Jesus’ pedigree was just too lowly for the people to accept him and listen to his teachings. Another thing which caused his town mates to reject him was envy. In the account of St Mark, the people asked, “Where did he get all these? What kind of wisdom is He endowed with?
How is it that the miraculous deeds are accomplished by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary. . . . ?” (Mk 6:2-3). According to the standard of his town mates, Jesus, being a lowly member of the society is not supposed to possess such authority and power. But as they themselves had seen and heard, He just had such power which they themselves, who belong to the higher social strata than Jesus, did not have. They must have asked, “Why he, not me?” For them if there is anybody who should have been endowed with such power it should be them and not Jesus. Prejudice and envy, two of several hindrances that prevent us from accepting Jesus and making him rule in our lives.
- Fr. Jimmy Sales, SVD | USC, Cebu City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
