Gospel: Luke 4:21-30
At that time, Jesus began to say in the synagogue: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled.” All were amazed and wondered at the words that Jesus had spoken. They said: “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them: “No doubt you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! What we have heard you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'” And he added: “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath, in the region of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, but none of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage; they got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their town was built, intending to throw him off. But he, passing through the midst of them, went away.

Fruit: To want to believe in faith, to deepen the truths of my Catholic faith, in the documents of the Church.

Guidelines for reflection:
The Gospel speaks to us of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, at the beginning of his preaching in Nazareth. In the synagogue, on Saturdays, the scribes explained the Scriptures and invited an adult Jew present to do that explanation. They invited Jesus. Today, we can see summarized the attitude adopted by his compatriots during the visits the Lord made to them: joy and admiration, but also rejection.

1. Jesus’ childhood companions
Jesus Christ arrives in Nazareth, his hometown. There, he must have known all his inhabitants perfectly; he had lived among them, and in total they probably did not number more than a thousand people. He would have played with many as a child, attended to others in the carpentry shop when they went to make a request to Joseph, or to Him when his father died. They were not strangers to him, nor was he a stranger to them. But this closeness blinded them to faith. The first impression when he begins to preach in the synagogue was one of admiration, of being amazed. But they quickly moved to a critical attitude: if you are the Messiah, perform some important miracle before us. They want miracles, but not because they feel needy, but as a prerequisite to believe in Him.

2. Miracles to believe?
This is the first time in the Gospel that people ask Jesus for a miracle to believe in Him. This argument, this demand for miracles, will be repeated many times, up to the ultimate moment of the cross. “Come down from that cross—the Pharisees will say—if you are the Son of God, and we will believe in you.” It is the constant temptation of man throughout the ages, a temptation closer to us than we imagine. How many times, in our prayer, do we ask Jesus to give us this or that grace, to fix this problem, to remove this difficulty! The Lord listens to us, but He wants us to trust in Him. It seems to shout at us in this Gospel: I know you since you were little, I have grown among you, I know your needs. But beware, I am God, and I know better than you what you need. More than asking for miracles, ask for faith, and you will receive miracles.

3. The greatness of Jesus imposes itself by itself
Who has faith easily discovers the miracles, but who demands a miracle to believe, often is not able to see it. This happens at the end of the Gospel passage. The crowd, in a mob, tries to kill Jesus, throwing him off a high mountain near Nazareth. And he makes his way through them and departs. The scene must have been impressive. An agitated crowd is petrified watching pass by the one they want to execute; his very presence commands respect, almost reverence. Surely the simple people among the crowd saw something special, meaningful, different in this event. It is easy that more than one, after this event, approached to hear the new rabbi, and that hearing his doctrine, they converted. But those demanding a miracle were not able to see it; their pride did not open to the grandeur of Jesus’ simplicity, and with salvation just a step away, they remained trapped in their sin.

Purpose: I will ask Jesus simply: “Let your will be done, not mine.”