Gospel Reading: Luke 4:21-30

Jesus began to speak in the Synagogue, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen. ‘And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips.    They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’ But he replied ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.” And he went on, ‘ I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these; he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonan town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’

When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

GUIDELINES TO HELP US TO MEDITATE ON THE PASSAGE SO AS TO RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE GOD’S PRESENCE AND ACTIVITY IN OUR LIVES AND WORLD TODAY.

                (Prepared by volunteers from the Lectio Centre project)

‘Everyone in the synagogue was enraged’                                                                                                                        Meditating on the words of the passage can you think of a time when you or someone close to you chose to tell the truth even though it would make them unpopular?  For example, someone who challenges an injustice in the workplace, or young people who choose a different route from their peers. We thank you Lord, for the people of courage in our communities, families and workplaces who stand up for the truth.  Through the power of your Holy Spirit grant that we too will have courage when it is our turn to speak out.

                                                                                             Can you remember a time when you were rejected by your own people;in your family, workplace, community, a time when you felt you had something to offer and nobody listened. Can you identify with Jesus’ feeling of rejection? Or perhaps, at times we have been astonished of when words of wisdom came from an unexpected source and we haven’t listened because of prejudice or bias? Father, open our ears to your message and forgive us for times when pride and lack of humility prevented us from hearing the truth. Forgive us, Lord, for the times when we have not listened to people with unwelcome messages, and instead have judged them by association, by their families or hometown or political beliefs.