Homily for January 9, 2020

In today’s Gospel passage, we find Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth telling the people what His ministry was going to be all about. First of all, He announced the Lord’s favor; He would reveal God’s loving favor for all people, but especially for those who were often out of favor with others: the poor, the captives, the blind and disabled, the downtrodden. We might add to that list: the lost, sinners, widows, and all who found themselves on the margins of society for whatever reason. Jesus was announcing that He was about to reveal the generosity of God, a generosity that was as all-encompassing as God’s love. This was, indeed, good news.

Strangely, however, this good news was not well received by the people of His hometown. Later in this story, the townspeople were ready to hurl Him down from the brow of a hill. It seems as if Jesus’ God was just too much for the people of Nazareth, too hospitable, too welcoming, too forgiving, too all-embracing, too generous.

Just as He did to His fellow Nazarenes, Jesus challenges our image of God. Yet, because He proclaims the favor and hospitality of God, He has the power to transform us: to enrich us in our poverty, to bring us freedom where we are captive, to give us sight in the many ways that we are blind, to restore our sense of belonging to the Lord after we have been lost. +