“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
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.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
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.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
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.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
No matter how important you are, no matter what you've done or the awards you have won, you always will be good old (insert your name) when you get back into the old neighborhood. After all, these people knew you before you attained all of the honors that you have received. They saw you when you were not at your best, they are familiar with the person that is inside. Our Lord is explaining this to his audience and how the Israelites treated the prophets of old. His listeners are being reminded of things that they do not want to remember. This is one of the things a prophet does and Jesus is the king of prophets and his neighbors are not pleased with what he says and they decide to silence Him forever by throwing Him off the top of a hill. He just walked through their midst to safety.
We must remember that we must conform to the word of God and not rewrite it to conform to our behavior. That is what got the Old Testament prophets into trouble and ultimately it is what got Jesus in trouble. When we see a wrong, we can allow it to continue without saying anything, we can keep the peace. This is what is expected in today's world, to be politically correct. We, as Christians, and more than that, Catholic Christians, the caretakers of all of God's truth, have to step up and let our voices be heard.
Please remember to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory today.
No comments:
Post a Comment