The rejection of our Lord Jesus in Nazareth

Last Sunday’s gospel was about the beginning of the Galilean Ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is found in your Bible in Luke 4:14-21 and today’s gospel is the continuation of last Sunday’s gospel, which you can read in the next verse of Luke 4:21-30… but this time, it is about the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ in his own hometown of Nazareth.

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21 [Jesus began speaking in the synagogue saying,] “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” 23 He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’”

24 And he said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25 Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. 26 It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.

27 Again there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were filled with fury. 29 They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went away.”

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As we said, today’s scripture comes right after the beginning of the Galilean ministry of our Lord. Perhaps our Lord must have thought that if there was any place that he would begin preaching the Good News, it should be his own hometown of Nazareth, after all, the townsfolk there knew him and his family. But instead, his own townsfolk and kin rejected him.

As we read in Luke 4: 18-21, our Lord entered the synagogue in Nazareth and an attendant gave him a scroll and read aloud 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” 20 Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. 21 He said to them, “Today, this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The first reaction of the Nazoreans was one of awe… that one of their own spoke so eloquently about this scripture passage. But then, one of them started to murmur and asked the crowd, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” That statement most probably reminded the Nazoreans that Joseph was a lowly carpenter and naturally, they must have seen his son Jesus also at work with his father. At this point… the Nazoreans realized that their own kin wasn’t really a Rabbi… but a mere carpenter; and as the old saying goes, “familiarity breeds contempt.” In the end, when our Lord continued speaking… the Nazoreans were now angered by his teaching.

So they got up and dragged him out of the synagogue and led him to a hill to cast him down… but they were powerless when our Lord Jesus merely passed within their midst… for his time hasn’t yet come. Bible scholars declare that the rejection in Nazareth was the beginning of the ultimate rejection of the Messiah by the Jews, who are known as the first-born people of God. While our Lord Jesus Christ did not work miracles in Nazareth, he began healing the sick and the lame and gave back sight to the blind in all of Galilee. Yet, despite all those miracles that he performed, the Jews would reject him during his passion and even chose Barabbas over him and had him flogged, mocked and crucified.

In John 3:16, our Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” Two thousand years later… the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ continues to this day.

In ancient times, when one professes that he doesn’t believe in God or that he is an atheist, it was tantamount to a death sentence… where people would stone the blasphemer to death. In the USA, they don’t allow the Ten Commandments in the schools. Here at home, the atheists rejoiced in victory over the passage of the RH Bill, which is a rejection of our Catholic faith. Worse, many of them still profess that they are Catholics. Yes, they are whom we call hypocritical Catholics or Catholics in name only.

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