Monday of Week 3 of Lent – Gospel
24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Commentary on Luke 4:24-30
This Gospel, and the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42), are both linked by the story told in today’s First Reading about Naaman, a Syrian general, who was miraculously cured by Elisha the prophet.
The Gospel is the second part of the scene in the synagogue in Nazareth, where Jesus officially announces his mission as Messiah, Saviour and Liberator. The first reaction was one of amazement that Jesus, their townsman, could speak with such power:
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. (Luke 4:22)
There was amazement, but no real faith in him. Familiarity had blinded them to his true identity, and they reject him. For them he is just ‘Joe the carpenter’s boy’.
Jesus says he is not surprised by this reception:
Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
He then goes on to give two examples taken from the lives of two well-known Old Testament prophets. They are not quite examples of prophets not being received by their own people, but rather of prophets reaching out to other peoples, non-believers.
When there was a great famine among the Israelites, it was a Sidonian widow who was helped by Elijah. Sidon was the place where Jesus would heal a gentile woman’s daughter. There were many leprous people in Israel, says Jesus, but Elisha was sent to cure Naaman the Syrian, another Gentile.
Jesus’ hearers are incensed by what appear to them arrogant and insulting words. In their minds, they were not rejecting a prophet, but an impostor. They find his remarks about Elijah and Elisha highly objectionable.
The references to Elijah and Elisha help to emphasise Luke’s image of Jesus as a prophet like those who went before him. They also lay the foundation for the future mission of the Apostle to the Gentiles.
We too can very easily fail to recognise the voice of God in certain people who in fact—whether they are aware of it or not—are bringing a message from him. Like the people of Nazareth, we can think we know them too well to have to listen to them. We feel it would be inconceivable that God could speak to us through such people. Fair warning that this probably happens most of all with people we see every day during our lives.
