3rdweek in Lent, Monday – 16thMarch 2020 – Luke 4,24-30
Attitude towards outsiders
After his inaugural manifesto in Nazareth, Jesus explains the quoted Isaian text with prophetical examples. The reason why the people in the synagogue were furious against Jesus was that he preached good news to the non-Israelites, which was a bad news for the privileged. Jesus reminds them with Scriptural examples that God’s love extended beyond their borders. He said that Elijah helped a woman from Sidon and Elisha healed a hated Syrian. In order to accept Jesus’ teaching, the people needed to change their attitudes towards outsiders. They would have to include people they routinely excluded. They would have to believe that God’s salvation is really for all human beings and not just for them alone. This is the transformation that Jesus expects of his hometown hearers, as he announces his mission statement. In their angry desire to make God’s salvation serve their own purposes, they try to kill Jesus. But Jesus mysteriously slips out of their grasp and goes on his way, which shows that God’s ways for the marginalized are never hindered.
