A Reflection for the Monday of the Third Week of Lent

“Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place” (Luke 4:24). With these words, Jesus prepares us to accept the bitter pain of rejection for our faith. He urges us to recognize that the people closest to us, those whom we cherish and hold dear in the depths of our hearts, will often fail to grasp the distinctive mission we have received from God. He makes us ready to experience isolation and loneliness in this life, as we walk a path replete with sickness, hurt and spiritual poverty. His words are soon fulfilled, as we hear that the crowd “rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong” (Luke 4:29). This moment offers us a glimpse of the sorrowful Passion our Savior will soon undergo and the cross he will ask us to take up alongside him in our own lives. 

Even as his listeners erupt in a tumultuous display of “fury” and violence, however, Jesus’s message rings clear into the present. The gospel reminds us that as disciples of Christ, we are called to step out from the confines of our own “native places.” Jesus reminds us that our hearts cannot belong to one particular time, place or nation. Ours is a pilgrim Church, unhindered by worldly barriers, charged with bringing hope to all corners of the Earth. We must extend the fullness of our love to each and every person we encounter, regardless of identity, background or status. Jesus directs us to the examples of Elijah, who traveled to the widow Zarephath of Sidon (1 Kings 17:7-16), and Elisha, who healed the Syrian leper Naaman despite all the ills in his homeland (2 Kings 5:1-15). Their wisdom challenges us to look beyond our immediate circles and acknowledge that our devotion must encompass the whole of the human family. 

This Lent, as we reflect on this story of Jesus proclaiming his message and enduring the cruel response of the people gathered around him, let us remember that our faith is not simply a gift we cherish for ourselves. It is not something to hold back from those we might be tempted to think of as “other.” Rather, our faith demands that we practice a special way of being in the world. It manifests as a fundamental charity that we extend to all people, no matter the cost. Although many of us have gone months now without receiving the Eucharist, Jesus offers us this exquisite truth as a means of experiencing His redemptive presence in daily life and, we pray, of becoming what we believe for all time.