Monday of the Third Week of Lent
How likely are we to believe that the good, the holy is near us? Verses before the beginning of today’s gospel, the people in Jesus’ native places are amazed by what he says and the authority with which he says it. Then they remark, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” In other words, we know him, how could he possibly be saying and claiming all these things? We know him, and there’s nothing that extraordinary here.
Jesus responds, “No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” He speaks to our resistance to see our own surroundings and our own lives differently. How often have we thought to ourselves, “I know him, her, myself…Things cannot change….Nothing good can come of it.”
The incensed crowd rises with the intention of hurling Jesus off the hill on which their town had been built. The good, the holy was among them. Even geographically, they were already so close to heaven. But they were unwilling to see it. May we keep our eyes, our mind and our hearts open to Him.