Daily Reflection Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Today’s gospel passage is taken from Jesus’ first sermon which he gave in the synagogue of his hometown of Nazareth. Remember how, at first, the congregation was rather impressed with him. But then the story took an ironic turn. Jesus warned, “No prophet is accepted in his native place.”



Jesus embraced the foreigner. For example, he talked about two Gentiles – the widow of Zaraphath in Sidon, and the leper, Naaman the Syrian – who were helped by God while the Israelites received no such help. But it is the very act of accepting the foreigner that led many in Israel to reject him. The Jewish authorities, with their strict purity code, ostracized many people for their differences, be they physical (sickness) or spiritual (sinfulness). The authorities had defined themselves by their national borders and their laws. And they were infuriated to hear that outsiders were saved while their own people were overlooked. The problem here is that, as they defined themselves, they were defining God as well.



To define (de-finis) something is to draw boundary lines around it. A definition describes what something is and, by implication, what is it not. So, a definition limits what is being defined. This is helpful for us in understanding the stuff of our lives. But we cannot define God, the One who is incomprehensible. As the Supreme Being, God is beyond us. We pray then, especially during the season of Lent, that we may come to know God more intimately.