Overview:

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

A Reflection for Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They 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.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away. (Lk 4:24-30).

Find today’s readings here.

“God doesn’t play favorites.” As proverbs go, it seems pretty sound, no? It also strikes me as demonstrably false. Who can read either the Old or New Testament and dispute that some people are chosen by God in special ways? It doesn’t mean God doesn’t love everyone, obviously, but it’s also a part of love to have favorites. Ask any parent, teacher, leader, caregiver or boss if he or she had favorites. Parents might tell a white lie to their own kids that they don’t, but everyone else will laugh and say: “Of course I have favorites. And to be honest, I find some of you kind of disappointing, too.”

I blame John Rawls for the false assumption that everyone gets their fair share and that justice exists behind a veil of ignorance, but that’s neither here nor there. Today’s first reading tells the story of Naaman, someone who is the ultimate outsider and yet finds healing in the holy places of Israel rather than in his mighty Damascus. Jesus mentions him as well as the widow of Zarepath, to whom Elijah was sent, citing them as examples of times when God seemed to be ignoring the needs of the Israelites but showing favor toward strangers. 

If we imagine Jesus’ ministry as a placid and serene one, we might think the reaction of his audience would be to heed his words and realize that God is the God of all, not just a chosen people. Or perhaps they might be vexed and walk away, pondering these things in their hearts. How could a foreigner or a leper or a widow be the one to whom their God showed special care, especially when need was everywhere? But that’s not what Jesus’ ministry was like, and Luke tells us their reaction: The people go berserk, and in one fell swoop Jesus falls from local hero to outsider and scapegoat. 

Jesus isn’t just telling his townsfolk, after all, that God doesn’t play favorites. He’s telling them God does, and that sometimes the favorite ain’t them. 

Later on in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus will speak another phrase that has become a proverb: “To whom much is given, much will be required.” There it is again, the assertion that God does show special favor to some—but this time with a catch: The more you got, the more you got to give.

That lesson doesn’t play out in our lives much differently from ancient Nazareth. If you’ve been blessed with money and security, you care for the widow, the orphan and the stranger in your midst. If your surroundings or your resources are plentiful, you offer hospitality to the new arrival or the outsider who has needs there as well. And you do not translate “God chose me” into “I am exceptional above all others.”

Of course, heeding that proverb is another thing entirely, both for us and for Jesus’ peers. We all know what we do instead of the above; in Nazareth, they decide the best thing to do is to kick Jesus out of town—and maybe kill him while they’re doing it. Because, in yet another proverb we discover in today’s Gospel, no prophet’s words are respected in his own country.

James T. Keane is a Senior Editor at America.