March 8, 2010
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
But his servants came up and reasoned with him. "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." So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 2 Kings 2:13-14
And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” Luke 4:24
Piety
Psalm 43: Grant me justice, God; defend me from a faithless people; from the deceitful and unjust rescue me.
You, God, are my strength. Why then do you spurn me? Why must I go about mourning, with the enemy oppressing me?
Send your light and fidelity, that they may be my guide And bring me to your holy mountain, to the place of your dwelling, that I may come to the altar of God, to God, my joy, my delight. Then I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.
Why are you downcast, my soul? Why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God.
Study
Jesus has just delivered the shocking Nazareth manifesto. His neighbors have listed to the familiar words from Isaiah but were given pause when Jesus left out the familiar ring of the hoped for “vengeance” against the enemies of the Lord.
Perhaps sensing that he has affected and afflicted his audience, Jesus then begins his prophesies about the present. "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”
Throughout the early Gospels, we witness time after time where the Samaritans, the poor, the sick, the evil spirits and foreigners recognize the power of the Lord on earth. Yet right here in his home parish, Jesus first feels the sting of rejection. His newly defined ministry “to bring glad tidings to the poor…to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” has hardly gotten off the ground.
Despite his presence among them, doubt pervades the hearts and minds of those closest to Jesus. That doubt turns to hatred and they attempted to thrown him off a cliff. In the same chapter where the devil tempts Jesus to test the power of God’s angels, once again Jesus escapes a potentially fatal fall.
Jesus ends the chapter exactly where he started it…in the desert. How ironic that the place where Jesus can be closest to God is when he goes off to pray in a deserted place.
Action
When Moses confronted the burning bush, he knew he was on holy ground that very moment and removed his sandals. Today, our soul continues to thirst for the living God. We seek out the Lord but sometimes, we are like our ancestors in the Hebrew Bible, unable to recognize Jesus when he stands right in front of us.
Where and when shall we behold the face of God? Sometimes, we get so caught up in our Oscars, March Madness, and more that we can not see the face of God when it is right in front of our eyes.
What challenging message does the Lord have for you this Lenten season? Put yourself in a place where your eyes can see the Lord and your ears can hear the message.
