Commentary on Sunday readings IV
Jeremiah is called by God to speak on his behalf even though he is young and does not know how to speak. God tells him that He knew him before He formed him in the womb and that He chose him before he was born to be a prophet to the nations. He asks him to say what he will command him, and not to be afraid: "I will not be afraid.I set you today as a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall before the whole country... They will make war against you, but they will not defeat you, for I am with you to deliver you.". But his life, despite God's protection, will be full of difficulties: persecuted by his compatriots, denounced by family and friends, hated, beaten, tortured. His life is an anticipation of that of Jesus.
In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus said that Isaiah's prophecy was being fulfilled in him. At first there is a positive reaction. They notice his gracious words. They are amazed, but doubt arises in their hearts: how is it possible that one of them, with hands tanned by toil, can have the spirit of God and speak as a prophet, be the one of whom the ancient scriptures speak? They doubt that the prophecy can be fulfilled in their small frontier country, ignored by the scriptures: "Is not this the son of Joseph?".
Jesus read their hearts and revealed their expectations. They wanted to see there the miracles he had done in Capernaum and elsewhere. They were disappointed in their fellow citizen. Jesus quotes two proverbs to them. With the first, "Physician, heal thyself"expresses the desire of the Nazarenes to be healed by Him. They consider him a thaumaturge. With the second, "No prophet is accepted among his people"He explains to them that they are not accepting him as a prophet, they would only want to take advantage of his healing powers to live better. But Jesus is a prophet: when he heals, he does it with an eye to the faith of the sick person and to open hearts to the word of God. He speaks to them about the widow of Zarephath of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian. Those two foreigners received God's miracles, not the hard-hearted Israelites. The Nazarenes could have repented by beginning to believe in Jesus. Instead, they take him to the precipice of the mountain to throw him down. They cannot stand his truth. Jesus, escapes them, with a miracle he has done nowhere else: his hour has not come. He opens the way to give us from the cross, with baptism, the power to be all doctors who heal in their place of life, and to be prophets welcomed in their home, in their environment. Thus they will be the first Christians who will spread the faith in their villages and in their families. But also with this Gospel they were prepared not to consider themselves "doctors".of the master"when misunderstanding and persecution came.
The homily on the readings of Sunday 21st Sunday
The priest Luis Herrera Campo offers its nanomiliaa small one-minute reflection for these readings.
