Homily for Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent

In our Gospel passage, Jesus confronts the somewhat limited view of God held by His fellow Nazoreans. They believed that God belonged only to the Israelites. When he reminded them of a couple of instances in the Scriptures when God seemed to prefer the pagans over the Jewish people, they resented it and drove Him away. His rejection in Nazareth predicted His even more violent rejection to come in Jerusalem.

The people's understanding of God was too narrow, and Jesus sought to expand their knowledge; He wanted them to see that (in the words of Peter) "God has no favorites."

Jesus wanted the people to know that God is more generous, more inclusive than they comprehended. He was always trying to show them that there was so much more to God than they could imagine. Jesus' vision of God remains a challenge for us today, but it is a vision of God that is primarily "Good News" for all who are open and willing to receive it.+