GOSPEL POWER | AUGUST 30, 2021 - Monday - 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: 1 Thes 4:13-18 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 96 – The Lord comes to judge the earth. 

Gospel: Lk 4:16-30 

When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he  went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He  stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to  him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to  bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to  the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed  go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up  the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all  in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them,  “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke  well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from  his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them,  “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’  And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that  we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell  you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But 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; yet Elijah was sent to none of them  except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many  lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them  was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all  in the synagogue were filled with rage. They 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. But he passed  through the midst of them and went on his way.

Reflection:

In the Gospel of Luke, the rejection of Jesus by his own  townspeople is not simply because of familiarity with  his humble origin, but because of his interpretation of the  Isaian passages about Israel’s jubilee tradition (Is 61:1-2a; 58:6). His  announcement of the jubilee year raises his listeners’ expectations  that God will act in their favor, for Yahweh is Israel’s God. But Jesus  challenges their exclusive claim on God by suggesting that the year  acceptable to God is not theirs alone. God is not a domesticated  national God who is at the beck and call of Israel. God, the Creator of  all, is totally free. Through his prophets of old, he has shown favor to  foreigners. The year acceptable to God, which Jesus announces is for  everyone on whom God’s favor rests. Jesus dares his own townspeople  to be open to the unexpected.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, draw us out of narrow-mindedness that prevents us from  encountering the God of mystery. Amen