A well-known son returns home to a hero’s welcome. As we heard, all in the synagogue spoke highly of Jesus and were amazed at what he had to say. But soon the tide of popular opinion turns against him, but that is what Jesus expected. “No prophet,” he noted, “is accepted in his native place.” So long as he delivered what they wanted to hear, Jesus was welcomed but once he spoke the divine truth, in this case, that God’s kingdom welcomes everyone, both Gentiles and Jews as children of God, they drove him out of town.
Their reaction seems so outrageous. How could they go from a warm welcome to the “urge to kill” so quickly? To better understand their provincial feelings, consider this ancient Greek tale about a farmer who had a “perfect” wheat field. Everyone admired how every stalk was exactly the same height. When asked how he achieved it, he explained, “If a grain sticks its head above the others, I cut it off!”
The folks in Nazareth did the same thing. For thirty years they had known Jesus as the carpenter’s son. All that time, he had blended into their neighborhood. Now as a roving preacher and miracle worker, he stood out like an overgrown shaft of wheat, speaking a hard truth they didn’t want to hear that God’s favor also extended to the Gentiles. Going against their expectations of a Messiah, Jesus irked them so much that they drove him out of the town.
Before we pass judgment on the people in the synagogue for overreacting, consider our own reaction at times to the truth that God unconditionally loves all peoples. Might we be just as blind and narrow-minded to what God has to say today? Paul reminds us that loving is what being a follower of Jesus Christ is all about yet how often do we advocate issues that demonstrate anything but love? Racism, white supremacy, and opposition to immigration all suggest that like the people in Nazareth, not all of us want to hear, much less accept the truth. We act like the patient whose doctor told him the truth about his condition. “You are a very sick man. You probably won’t live more than a couple of weeks at most. You should settle your affairs. Is there anyone you want me to call?” The patient replied, “Yes, another doctor!”
When we don’t like what we hear, we seek a second opinion. How often as a child did you ask one parent for what you wanted if the other parent gave you the answer you didn’t want to hear?
When given a truth they don’t like, some people look for another “prophet” who will tell them what they want to hear. They leave the Church to find another one that will tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
Obviously, Jesus was not a politician. Politicians assume their success depends on saying what people want to hear. As the first reading from Jeremiah hints, prophets are seldom popular for they tell hard truths, making people confront unpleasant realities. Unlike politicians, their authority comes from God, not popular opinion. Successful prophets often rub people the wrong way, just as Jesus did that day in the synagogue.
Two traits hinder our society’s ability to accept what Jesus has to say. The first is secularism, which doesn’t actually deny the existence of God but sends the message that God is irrelevant. The fact that so few Catholics attend Mass regularly is evidence that even many of them believe that lie.
Then there is relativism, the flawed notion that you have your truth and I have my truth. Without using an objective truth to measure either claim, this amounts to saying one opinion is just as good as another opinion. Thus, many opinions are promoted as being morally right when in fact they are not.
Opinions, not truth, often set the moral tone of our society. The most glaring example of that is abortion. Made legal by our Supreme Court 46 years ago, abortion is an immoral value that has numbed our society’s conscience. Despite the evidence modern medicine provides to show that an unborn child is a living human being, such objectivity doesn’t matter for those who refuse to accept the truth that life is sacred. Recently, 14 Catholic senators, including our two, voted against a bill that would outlaw late term abortions. If they had voted, as their faith would dictate, this cruel and horrible practice would have been outlawed. What’s next? Infanticide?
As followers of Jesus Christ, are we willing to accept the truth that God unconditionally loves everybody, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, handicap and origin of birth?
Paul’s description of love is eloquent and thought provoking. Genuine love for anyone or any cause requires truthfulness. Ultimately, truth matters more than popular opinions do. Love gave Jesus and Paul the courage to always be truthful, no matter what. As Paul said, Love “does not rejoice with wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.”
Clearly, Jesus did not flow with the current of his times, nor does he today. He always spoke the truth, knowing that it would not be politically correct or well received. He continues to speak the truth today, using the Church as his means to do so. God is counting on us to keep the divine truth alive. Like Jesus and Jeremiah, we should move through the crowds, confident that God will strengthen us to face the challenges we will meet for upholding God’s moral truths.