Last week, when Jesus spoke in the synagogue, his words pleased the crowd – as we hear at the beginning of today’s Gospel. How quickly the mood changes! This story shows very clearly that Jesus was not a “crowd-pleaser” – he wasn’t interested in saying the right things to be popular or accepted. He was interested in the truth – which is the basic definition of a prophet – whatever the personal cost. So today, when Jesus points out that salvation is not just for the Jews, or even just the people of Nazareth, they reject the
message and the messenger. Just like Jeremiah, when he was called to be a prophet (first reading), Jesus has to confront the land: they will fight with him, but not overcome him.
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Jeremiah 1: 4 – 5, 17 – 19
1 Corinthians 12: 31 – 13: 13
Luke 4: 21 – 30.
