LUKE 4:21-30
WHY DID THE PEOPLE IN
JESUS' TOWN GET SO MAD AT HIM? HE DOESN'T SEEM TO SAY ANYTHING THAT
MIGHT CAUSE THEM TO WANT TO KILL HIM. HOW DID WE GO FROM “ALL WERE
AMAZED AT THE GRACIOUS WORDS THAT CAME FROM HIS MOUTH” TO “WHEN
THEY HEARD THIS, THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH FURY”?
RECENTLY OUR SAINT
JOSEPH'S SOCIETY HEARD A TALK BY FATHER PETER NARANJO, WHO WAS JUST
RECENTLY ORDAINED. FATHER NARANJO HAD BEEN A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF
LATTER DAY SAINTS, THE MORMONS. HE TOLD US THAT THE BEGINNING OF HIS
CONVERSION CAME ABOUT WHEN ONE OF THE MORMON ELDERS LAUGHINGLY TOLD
HIM THAT CATHOLICS BELIEVED THAT THE BREAD AND WINE BECAME THE BODY
AND BLOOD OF CHRIST. FATHER NARANJO LAUGHED AS WELL, AND THEN LOOKED
AT HIS BIBLE. AS A MORMON ELDER, HE HAD STUDIED THE BIBLE AVIDLY,
AND IT WAS HIS HABIT TO MAKE NOTES IN THE MARGINS. HE SAW THAT THERE
WAS A LARGE SECTION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN THAT HE HAD NEVER WRITTEN
IN. THIS WAS THE SECTION IN WHICH JESUS TALKS ABOUT HIMSELF BEING
THE BREAD OF LIFE, AND TELLS THE CROWDS THAT UNLESS THEY EAT HIS BODY
AND DRINK HIS BLOOD, THEY WILL NOT HAVE LIFE IN THEM; AND WHEN THE
CROWD LEAVES BECAUSE THIS IS A HARD SAYING, HE ASKS HIS APOSTLES IF
THEY WILL LEAVE AS WELL. YOU REMEMBER ALL THAT. THE POINT IS THAT
WHILE HE WAS A MORMON, HE NEVER SPENT ANY TIME ON THIS PART OF
SCRIPTURE.
JESUS HAD COME HOME. HE
WAS HANDED THE SCROLL, AND HE READ FROM ISAIAH. AS PER CUSTOM, HE
WOULD HAVE OFFERED A COMMENTARY ON WHAT HE HAD READ. THE ONLY PART
OF IT WE HEAR ARE THE WORDS, “TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED IN
YOUR HEARING.” BUT I IMAGINE THAT HE ALSO TALKED ABOUT WHAT WAS
GOING ON – THE BLIND WERE MADE TO SEE, THE DEAF TO HEAR, THE POOR
WERE HAVING THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM. JESUS' REPUTATION HAD
PRECEDED HIM. AND THE PEOPLE WERE PROUD. JESUS, AFTER ALL, WAS ONE
OF THEM. THEY COULD BASK IN HIS GLORY. AND AS HE PREACHED TO THEM
ABOUT THE MESSAGE OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET, HE PROBABLY COVERED A LOT OF
TOPICS. HE TALKED ABOUT HOW GOD DESERVED OUR WORSHIP – AND THE
PEOPLE SAID, “RIGHT ON” BECAUSE THAT WAS WHAT THEY BELIEVED AS
WELL. HE TALKED ABOUT HOW WE SHOULD HELP THE POOR, AND THEY AGREED;
NOTHING NEW THERE. AND THEN MAYBE HE POINTED OUT THAT THERE WERE
QUITE A FEW PEOPLE BEGGING ON THE STREETS OF NAZARETH – MAYBE YOU
SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT THEM? AND THEN MAYBE HE REMINDED THEM THAT
THE SCRIPTURES TOLD THEM TO WELCOME STRANGERS, AND THERE WERE A FEW
SAMARITAN FAMILIES IN TOWN, AND SO FAR, THEY WERE ANYTHING BUT
WELCOMED.
AT THIS POINT, SOMEONE IN
THE CROWD SAID, “IS THIS NOT THE “SON OF JOSEPH?” NOW THAT
SOUNDS INNOCENT ENOUGH, BUT SOME SCHOLARS THINK THAT IN THOSE DAYS IN
NAZARETH, JESUS' PARENTAGE WAS QUESTIONED; AFTER ALL, MARY HAD BEEN
PRETTY FAR ALONG WHEN THE WEDDING TOOK PLACE, AND EVEN THOUGH JOSEPH
CLAIMED JESUS AS HIS SON, A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T BELIEVE HIM. WE'VE
ALWAYS BEEN TOLD THAT IT WAS COMMON FOR ENGAGED COUPLES IN THOSE DAYS
TO HAVE RELATIONS, BUT THAT WASN'T THE CASE; COUPLES WERE EXPECTED TO
WAIT UNTIL THE WEDDING, JUST AS THEY USED TO IN OUR SOCIETY A DECADE
OR TWO AGO. AND JOSEPH WAS KNOWN TO BE RIGHTEOUS; HE'D BE THE LAST
ONE TO BREAK THAT RULE. AFTER THE RESURRECTION, JEWS AND OTHERS
BROUGHT UP THESE RUMORS AGAIN TO DISCREDIT CHRISTIANITY. SO IN
EFFECT THE PEOPLE WERE SAYING, “WHY SHOULD WE LISTEN TO THIS
ILLEGITIMATE SON?” BECAUSE IF YOU WERE ILLEGITIMATE YOU COULDN'T BE
A TEACHER OF THE LAW. THAT'S WHY JESUS SAID “YOU WILL UNDOUBTEDLY
QUOTE ME THE OLD PROVERB, PHYSICIAN, HEAL YOURSELF.” A PHYSICIAN,
AFTER ALL, COULD NOT HEAL HIMSELF, THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT. IF
JESUS WERE ILLEGITIMATE, HE COULD NOT MAKE HIMSELF LEGITIMATE.
BUT JESUS GOES ON; HE
REFERS TO THE MIRACLES HE'S WORKED, AND THEN SAYS, “LET ME TELL YOU
A COUPLE OF STORIES FROM THE BIBLE. FOR THESE WERE STORIES THEY ALL
KNEW. AND GRADUALLY, THE CROWD REALIZES WHAT JESUS IS SAYING. “YOU
ARE PROUD OF BEING JEWISH, OF BEING “GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE” AND
THAT'S OK. BUT YOU'VE DRAWN LINES AROUND YOURSELVES AND THOSE WHO
AREN'T JEWS. YOU'VE EVEN DECIDED WHO IS A GOOD JEW AND WHO ISN'T.
ALL YOU DO IS ERECT WALLS BETWEEN YOURSELVES AND OTHERS. BUT GOD
BREAKS DOWN THESE WALLS. TO GOD, A PAGAN GENERAL FROM SYRIA OR A
PAGAN LEBANESE WIDOW IS JUST AS WORTHY OF A MIRACLE AS YOU ARE. GOD
HATES LINES, GOD WANTS ALL THE WALLS BROKEN DOWN. AFTER ALL, THAT'S
WHAT ISAIAH MEANT WHEN HE TALKED ABOUT HILLS BEING LEVELED AND
VALLEYS FILLED, CROOKED ROADS BEING MADE STRAIGHT, ALL PEOPLE COMING
TO THE NEW JERUSALEM TO WORSHIP THE LIVING GOD IN HIS TEMPLE.
AND THAT WAS TOO MUCH FOR
THE CROWD. HERE WAS THIS MAN, WHO HAD GROWN UP IN THIS TOWN, WHO
EVERYONE KIND OF KNEW WAS NOT REALLY THE SON OF JOSEPH, DARING TO
PREACH TO THEM, DARING TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE, DARING TO CHALLENGE
THEIR WAY OF LIFE, WHICH THEY ALL BELIEVED WAS ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT
COULD GET. AND TWISTING SCRIPTURE TO SUPPORT WHAT HE WAS SAYING.
THAT WAS BLASPHEMY. THAT WAS A DIRECT INSULT TO GOD.
AND IN THEIR SECRET
HEARTS, THEY KNEW WHAT HE WAS SAYING WAS TRUE, BUT THAT WASN'T THE
POINT AT ALL; THE POINT WAS THAT GOD WAS BEING BLASPHEMED, AND BEFORE
ANYONE TURNED THEIR ATTENTION TO LESSER THINGS, LIKE LIVING OUT THE
SCRIPTURES, IT WAS NECESSARY TO DESTROY THE BLASPHEMER.
FATHER NARANJO BECAME A
CATHOLIC AND THEN A CATHOLIC PRIEST BECAUSE HE ALLOWED THE SCRIPTURES
TO CHALLENGE WHAT HE BELIEVED. UP TO THEN, HE HAD AVOIDED THE “HARD
SAYINGS”. HE HAD IN FACT, PUT THEM SO FAR OUT OF HIS MIND THAT HE
WAS SURPRISED WHEN HE REALIZED HE HADN'T STUDIED THEM AND PONDERED
THEM. THE PEOPLE IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF NAZARETH HAD IGNORED THE
IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR OWN SCRIPTURES, AND PROBABLY NEVER THOUGHT
ABOUT THOSE DANGEROUS AND SUBVERSIVE PASSAGES. WHEN THEY WERE READ
IN THE SYNAGOGUE, THE RABBI PROBABLY PREACHED ABOUT HOW MERCIFUL GOD
WAS – BUT NEVER THAT GOD CARED ABOUT GENTILES. AND UNLIKE FATHER
NARANJO, WHO ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE CHANGED BY THE SCRIPTURES, THE
PEOPLE WHO HEARD JESUS REFUSED TO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE CHANGED,
GOING SO FAR AS TO TRY TO DESTROY THE ONE WHO OPENED THE SCRIPTURES
FOR THEM.
IF YOU DON'T READ THE
BIBLE, I HOPE YOU WILL TAKE IT UP. I HOPE YOU WILL READ IT WITH YOUR
MIND OPEN, BECAUSE IT CONTAINS A LOT OF HARD SAYINGS, THINGS THAT
CHALLENGE YOU AND I. BUT EVEN IF YOU DON'T READ THE BIBLE, AT LEAST
LISTEN TO THE SCRIPTURES WHEN YOU COME TO MASS; IT'S EASY TO HEAR
THOSE THINGS THAT CONFIRM US IN WHAT WE BELIEVE AND HOW WE ACT; BUT
LISTEN TO THE PARTS THAT CHALLENGE US, THE PARTS THAT PUT YOU AND ME
TO SHAME, AND ALLOW THEM TO CHALLENGE YOU, AS THE PASSAGES FROM JOHN
CHALLENGED FATHER NARANJO. OTHERWISE, JESUS WILL MOVE ON AND TAKE
HIS MESSAGE TO ANOTHER TOWN, LEAVING US IN OUR COMFORT ZONE – OR
OUR PRISON.
