The public ministry of Jesus begins at Nazareth. He finds himself in the synagogue reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah is the prophet who foretold what the time of the Messiah would be like. He prophesied about hope, consolation, communion, peace, light and blessings for Israel. But, above all, Isaiah is the prophet who speaks about the people's return from exile.
Last Sunday, Jesus ends his reading of the scroll by proclaiming, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Jesus affirms that he is the one who brings the good news. Rather, HE himself is the good news. We would expect that those present would have leaped for joy, embraced one another and rejoiced. Instead, Jesus hears murmurs. "Isn't this the carpenter's son?" Jesus replies by telling them how difficult it is to prophecy to ones own people. Only foreigners like the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian were able to recognize the prophets Elijah and Elisha. At this point, the people become outraged. Who does he think he is? The people cannot accept that the son of Joseph, the carpenter, can be a prophet.
The reasons for rejecting him are clear. Jesus is not the Messiah they were expecting. He is not spectacular enough.
The same thing happens to us today. We ask ourselves, "What can a God made man do for us?" A severe God would do a better job of convincing us of his existence. A God who intervenes directly in our lives would be better able to inspire our adoration and devotion probably because we would expect him to do a miracle for us. However, Jesus eludes triumphalistic expectations. Why? Because he prods us along toward the truth. Because by his word he goads us to plumb the depths of our human experience. Jesus does not offer easy solutions to the inevitable sufferings of life.
We are held prisoner by our ideas of what Christianity is such that we are unable to see the true face of God. We ask ourselves, "What does the Church have to tell us about God? What does the gospel have to say about the pressing moral and ethical problems of our day?" And many continue to be scandalized by the fact that God entrusts his word into our fragile hands. He entrusts his word to us who are so often unfaithful, who are so often in need of forgiveness and continuous mercy. We run the risk of getting fixated on the messenger all the while overlooking the message - the Word, the Word which became flesh among us.
Today's gospel is not only for those who are far off, for those without faith. It is directed also to us, the faithful who go to church every Sunday. We also have to be careful not to lose the meaning of the role of prophecy in our lives. We must allow ourselves to enter into dialogue with the Word of God and to acknowledge our need for ongoing conversion otherwise we run the risk of also throwing Jesus out of the synagogue.
We live in a world which is full of paradoxes. It is a world which is satiated but at the same time desperate. It is a world which acknowledges God but at the same time does not allow him to be found. It is a world in which there is much uneasiness and dissatisfaction, but which does not allow it to be discussed. This is a world which so often accuses God of being disinterested in humanity and yet, in the face of hunger and poverty, promotes materialism and opulence.
And so, brothers and sisters, the Church, when confronted with such a world, is always in need of prophets. The Church must always be prophetic. We can never forget that, at the moment we received baptism, we were anointed and given the three-fold dignity of priest, prophet and king. The Church needs to take challenging, counter-cultural positions on the issues of the day in order to keep alive and fruitful the charism of the gospel. In the Christianity we live which too often becomes rote and confused we must discover how to become women and men who seek and accept the role of prophet. We cannot accustom ourselves to a privately held faith which consoles but does not challenge, which provokes emotions but does not change lives. And if we ask the Holy Spirit to come and actualize in us our prophetic vocation, if we are called to be witnesses to the gospel, if we are called to proclaim with not only our words but with our actions that Jesus is the Lord and that he must be the center of our lives, we should not fear because as God said to the prophet Jeremiah in today's first reading: " You will become a fortress, and I will be within you."
Jesus leaves us free to accept his challenge, to welcome the good news of a God who really and truly loves us. We are also free to be limited by our own opinions and points of view. He leaves us free to respond seriously to his offer of love. Or do we prefer to throw Jesus over the cliff because he fails to tell us what we want to hear?
Sia lodato Gesu' Cristo!
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