Last Updated on January 31, 2023 by GMC
Luke 4:16-30 “in a snailshell”
Monday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
©️2021 by Gloria M. Chang
He 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,
to 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 the 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, “Isn’t this 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, “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. They 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.
Luke 4:16-30
Israel’s prophets blessed Sidon and Syria.
Disturbing truth drove hearers to hysteria.
Filled with fury they rose up,
Led him to the hill edge.
Empty of love was their cup,
His cup was a truth pledge.
He passed by their evil intent,
He showed what the Word meant.
May the Word spoken and lived by Christ dwell in us for others to see.
Dear GMC, all I can say is: Lord, I am nothing without you. Over and over and over again.
Dear Gloria, Your reflection makes me think that as far as John the Baptist goes, after Jesus said that he was the greatest of the prophets, he made a point of saying that the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than him. Our Lord too gives us something to think about. You walk, dear Gloria, in the company of prophets….
“Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”
Matthew 11:11
John the Baptist understood his role as Forerunner of the Christ whose glory was still shrouded in mystery: “The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me” (John 1:15).
Yes, it’s a lot of ponder…