“Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”
“My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not
have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
Jesus faced a hostile crowd in the synagogue at Nazareth.
Due to their hostility, Jesus said no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Don’t we resistant change? Do we push back when God invites us to see in a new light? We do like to stick to our gun, don’t we? Jesus invited that Nazareth faithful to a new way of seeing things, but they refused the offer. He made a prophesy in their presence, but they refused to accept it. Rather they only could see him as their home boy. Hence, the kingdom of God is here. Jesus has come to bring the Old testament to completion. He has come to shine his light on those who live on the margins of the society, the imprisoned, the ill, the homeless, etc. He has come to rescue us from the bondage of sin and death.
To drive home his point, Jesus recounted two episodes in the Old Testament, where God showed mercy to two outsiders, two non-Jews.
Jesus recounted the story of prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, were though there were many widows in the land of Israel, God’s mercy and compassion was on a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. The biblical story of the encounter between prophet Elijah and a widow and her son gathering sticks when he arrives at the town of Zarephath. Elijah asks her for a piece of bread, and the destitute widow invites him to her home where she uses her last bit of flour and oil to bake for him. The prophet then blesses the woman and her child and assures them that their supplies of flour and oil will never be diminished.
The second story took place during the time of Elijah’s disciple, Elisha the prophet, when not withstanding all the lepers in Israel, only a Syrian called Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy.
What is the crux of these stories?
Nobody has monopoly of God’s grace. Jesus reveals his mission and identity. Jesus came for all, Jew and Gentiles alike to encounter the mercy and love of God. No one has a right to be blind to God’s grace. And no one should be excluded, either. Jesus is teaching us about the need to always not discriminate a person from his external looks.
Never look down upon others especially when, from our human perspective, we think nothing much can come from them. This means that good things from God will not come on a silver platter. They will come wrapped in the humblest way possible. Rather, let’s allow God to be God. He makes his sun rise on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
Have a wonderful week
