Hometown prophets
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
https://bible.usccb.org/ybible/readings/032425.cfm
In a recent interview, a politician spoke about the hierarchy of love and said that one should take care of one’s family first, then one’s community, then one’s nation, and then the broader world. We can all agree that a family shouldn’t neglect a sick member when the rest are healthy. A family shouldn’t disregard a struggling member to celebrate the successes of another. A family shouldn’t stop looking for a lost member because they have each other. A family shouldn’t team-up to mistreat one of its members.
For Jesus and other prophets, they believed that their family and community were greater than just those they grew-up with or those within their vicinity. For them, family and community were universal. They were driven to witness to a broader audience who were in more need than the community they found themselves born into. Jesus talks about how Elijah was called to a widow in Sidon, a Samaritan city, and Elisha was called to cleanse lepers in a foreign city. Their message went beyond just the Jewish people and was focused on those that hadn’t heard the message; those that were in need of the message and ready to receive it. Their goal was not one group thriving over another but how all can thrive together.
Jesus worked to elevate those on the fringe of society, the outcasts, and those overlooked by his community. He focused on the foreigner, the condemned, the sick, and the unclean. The Nazarenes wanted Jesus to focus strictly on them, to be loyal to them above all else, to elevate them above all others. He was blessed with certain gifts, why wasn’t he going to use them to make the people of Nazareth great?
For Jesus there isn’t a need to have losers to have winners. For Jesus, there’s no one unchosen, if all are chosen. His message was to let outcasts know that they were chosen as well, not through assimilation, but through already-existent love. With a lot of society today making it about choices between groups, we much remember the message of Jesus. We are all part of one family. Caring for Palestinians isn’t antisemitic. Caring for immigrants isn’t unamerican. Saying black lives matter, isn’t saying others aren’t. God’s love is unconditional, not hierarchical and without borders. Let’s start living like it and act the same.
