At the point when today’s Gospel begins, Jesus has just read from the Hebrew Scriptures in the synagogue. His reading, from Isaiah, has been received with reverence. On sitting down, Jesus makes a shocking declaration. The promise of Isaiah is fulfilled here, today. The response of the people is fascinating. They embrace and accept him. Amazed by his gracious words and conscious of his background, ‘all spoke well of him.‘ All seems well with the world — the prophet is honored and the people are happy.
Jesus shatters this illusion. He cuts through the veneer of platitude. He realizes that the implications of what he has said have escaped them. He exposes how capricious and fleeting is human praise. He challenges the members of the synagogue to see that God works outside their predetermined ideas. Jesus points to the example of the Gentiles who received the help of God’s prophet. Israel, in contrast, had a history of turning its back on God’s chosen messengers. Now, in their presence, stood the One to whom the law and the prophets testified. Jesus declares that to reject him is far more serious than to reject the prophets of old. Listening to his teaching, the people’s apparent approval of Jesus quickly wanes.
This incident highlights a fundamental question from which no one can escape. The question is: who do you think Jesus is? A prophet? A holy man? An impressive religious leader? We can’t go through life and not address this question. There is a bottom line with Jesus: we either accept him or reject him. The synagogue congregation could not ignore him — he challenged their world and he challenges ours too.