22nd Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 1st September 2020 — Gospel: Lk 4,31-37
Wholehearted acceptance
Jesus begins to move out of Nazareth to practice what he preached in the synagogue. He arrived at Capernaum, a small city of Galilee, about 25 miles from Nazareth, where Jesus frees a man from the demons. As in Nazareth, here also he goes to the synagogue to teach on the Sabbath. Both the Nazarethites and the Capernaumites initially responded to Jesus’ teaching with awe and wonder. Even though there are some similarities between what is taking place in these two centres and to the reaction of people; there are some reactions that are disturbing in both the places. The people of Nazareth recognized Jesus merely as “Joseph’s son” and could not further recognize him as prophet or Messiah. When he informed them of his messianic ministry, which included the salvation of the Gentiles, they got angry with him. Therefore they drove out Jesus from their synagogue and sought to kill him. In Capernaum, the demon possessed man recognized him as “Jesus of Nazareth” and then proclaimed him as “the Holy One of God.” And the people of Capernaum witnessed Jesus’ authority to teach and of his power and authority to cast out evil spirits from men. Because of Jesus’ words and his actions, the people begged him not to leave them. In this sense, the people of Capernaum seem to stand head and shoulders above the people of Nazareth. In their openness, the people of Capernaum accepted Jesus as a prophet, a Messiah and the Holy one of God. The people of Nazareth reacted to Jesus by rejecting him, while the people of Capernaum responded to his power and authority by accepting him.
