The Gospel for Monday of the 22nd week in ordinary time is taken from Luke 4, 16, 30. Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went, according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in his synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, 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, is this not 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, and then 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 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. One of the most fascinating things about Jesus as a messiah, someone who came to change the entire world and free us from an excessive power of evil over us. He was so ordinary. He was of the house of David.
But basically the fundamental thing was he was seen as an ordinary guy from a little, not so great town and had a shady past because many thought maybe he was illegitimate. But you look at that, and he is the voice of God, this ordinary human being on the surface. But what is it about him that’s so powerful? Not him or his physical life on this planet, but the God that dwelt in him and did such extraordinary healing work. Please take a few moments to reflect upon these images, and then I will close with a prayer. Closing prayer Father the gift of spirit to each and every one of us is beyond measure.
And yet we often look for other qualities about us that we would be more like. Things that were honored by our culture, that were beautiful, that we’re wealthy, that we have a great education. None of that is really necessary for a human being to be effective in the world if they allow God to work through them. And we ask this in Jesus name, amen.
