Lenten Reflection

Monday, March 16, 2009

Luke 4:24-30

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. '

Reflection
Kristen Pierce '01

In this reading, the people in the synagogue reject Jesus because they don't like the truth he preaches. It seems that their expectations of him were different than what they actually encountered when they saw him. This lead to great disappointment and eventually, drove Jesus away.

How often in our lives do we place such high expectations on an experience or an individual that when the moment actually arrives, we are unable to enjoy it because it doesn't go as planned? Everything in our life happens for a reason and if we reject a single part of it, in an essence, we are turning away from God and the plan he has for us.

Two years ago, my Aunt was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Everyone was devastated and wanted to deny it was even happening. My Aunt, on the other hand, made the decision that this disease had happened to her for a reason, and that she would embrace it. She maintained a positive attitude throughout the treatments and lo and behold, she beat the cancer!

In life we have two choices-we can fight the inevitable (or in the case of this gospel, the truth) or we can choose to accept it for what it is. What truths are you fighting? How can you get back on the path to accepting what our loving God has in store for you?