Word to the Wise
Friday, August 1, 2025 - Friday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Lev 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37 and Matt 13:54-58]Jesus came to his native place and taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and said, "Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter's son: Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas: Are not his sisters all with us?nn Where did this man get all this?" Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. [Matthew]
AUGUST 1 ST. ALPHONSUS LIGUORI, C.SS.R.
All three of the synoptic gospels record Jesus' visit to his hometown of Nazareth after his ministry was well on its way. The story in Matthew is much the same as that in Mark, but Luke has a much more colorful account which ends with the villagers trying to run Jesus out of town! The broader context is that of the rejection Jesus experienced at different levels. To be rejected by one's own family in Jesus' time would be considered a calamity. But the gospels place Jesus in the broad narrative of the great prophets who were also rejected. In Nazareth, it would have been a matter of class prejudice against someone who was getting "above their station." Jesus was the son of the local carpenter. He had not studied under some great rabbi. Who was he to come home and claim to be someone special, no matter what deeds he did?
The common human problem of prejudice existed in Jesus' time and it exists in ours as well. The blind social prejudice in Nazareth prevented them from believing in Jesus and prevented him from ministering fully to them. What particular prejudice might be lurking in us that would have the same result? Can we be as open as he was to anyone who came to him in faith? In what ways does the Sermon on the Mount or the parable of the Last Judgment [Matt. 5-7 and 25:31-45] strike us as too much to ask in the light of our socio-cultural-political expectations? Where is Jesus' "hometown" now? AMEN