Friday of
the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
August 1, 2014 8:30am
In Jesus’ day, the synagogue was
not a place for sacrifices – the sacrificing of animals that we hear mentioned
throughout Old Testament times and even in Jesus’ day.
That happened in the temple in
Jerusalem.
The Jewish priests were the ones
who had to be involved with those sacrifices.
The local synagogue in each town,
like Nazareth, was not the kind of sacred place that the temple was.
The synagogue had three purposes:
a house of assembly, a house of prayer, and a house of study.
So the local Jews would assemble
in their town synagogue.
It was the center of their life.
They would pray there.
The psalms were often the center
of the prayer.
And they would study there.
They would read the prophets and
the law and someone would share his understanding and insight into the passage
that was read.
This did not have to be anyone
special.
It could be almost anyone.
This is the context for the
incident in today’s gospel.
Jesus speaks and comments on the
Scripture in his home town synagogue, in Nazareth.
He apparently shows great insight
and spirituality and what happens?
They turn him off.
In effect, they say, “Who does he think he is?”
And it seems that a very common,
human dynamic is at work.
So often we miss and even reject
the talent, the wisdom, or the brilliance of those we know very well.
Maybe we do this because we just
look at the ordinariness of one another.
Maybe we do it because we only
look at the dark sides, the deficiencies of one another.
Maybe we don’t expect and
therefore don’t look for the special in those we live with or see all the time.
That seems to be the lesson here
in this passage.
We are to look for the positive,
for the good, even for the special right in the ordinary persons and events and
things around us.
Look for this and then we won’t
miss God or Jesus when he is standing right before us with that breakthrough
insight or healing word or kind action.
Look for this and we will find
God, Jesus right in our midst.
