After the first upsurge of admiration comes comparison; then the desire to take advantage; then envy arises, from which is born hatred and the desire to destroy.
Newsdesk (28/01/2025 12:35, Gaudium Press) Try as they might, when it comes to the things of God, men have never succeeded in silencing the truth, especially when He Himself desires that His actions or interventions in history be known to all. He and His works cannot be relegated to oblivion.Thus, despite the fact that Jesus left not even one written work, no man has ever been the object of so many commentaries, nor has any biography been so well known and disseminated as Jesus’.
From the beginning of His public life, the words, actions and miracles of the promised and awaited Messiah threw the already stormy political, social and religious landscape of that time into turmoil.
He reveals Himself
Jesus attended the Synagogue on Saturdays and took the opportunity to preach. “One of the synagogal acts consisted of reading biblical passages and explaining them. After reading a passage from the Law, a passage from the prophets was read. The chief of the synagogue would designate who was to do this. After the reading, the same person or another was invited to comment upon it. The reading was done standing up, and the passage from the prophets, at least at that time, could be chosen freely. It was read and explained from a high place.”[1] Jesus was invited to do the reading on that Sabbath, the first after His official return to the city of Nazareth, and was given the book of Isaiah to comment upon a passage.
Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah
As we know, the books were written on scrolls and kept in a cabinet in a set order. Jesus, in a simple opening of the scroll, found the beautiful prophecy regarding the episode that was taking place at that very moment.
Let us try to envision the scene that Luke describes:
“and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.'” (Luke 4,17-19)
Imagine the atmosphere of special blessing that was created at the moment when Jesus, God-made-man, son of David, stood up to read this passage of Scripture inspired by Himself centuries ago. St. Luke alludes to the feeling of excitement among the listeners, in expectation of the commentary:
“The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.” (Luke4, 20)
The Evangelist records only a short phrase from this commentary:
“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4,21)
This Gospel ends with the above comment. But in the following verses (cf. Lk 1:22-30), the outcome of the episode is narrated. After an initial outburst of admiration, mistrust followed, and then deadly hatred: “… all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” St. Luke summarizes Jesus’ various interventions in Nazareth in this single episode, for reasons of synthesis and even to maintain the literary beauty of his work. In reality, there was an initial phase of much admiration for Jesus on the part of the inhabitants of this city and, probably, an prideful desire on the part of the local figures of importance to have Him as a subject. But, if it is not faithful to God’s grace, human nature, conceived in Original Sin, always reacts in this way: After the first upsurge of admiration comes comparison; then the desire to take advantage; then envy arises, from which is born hatred and the desire to destroy.
Mary’s restoration of the world
Today, also, the world finds itself in a similar crisis of hatred of the truth and the good and a desire to destroy it — in some aspects, even worse that that of those ancient times in which Jesus so masterfully began His public life.
If He does not free the captives from the horrors of sin and restore sight to the blind who are mired in their passions and vices, and once again proclaim ‘a year of favour from the Lord’, then we have arrived at the end of History.
However, Mary declared at Fatima: ‘In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph!’ This triumph will certainly take place.
Let us pray that when the Reign of Christ, through the Wise and Immaculate Heart of Mary, is established upon this earth, that the envy, hatred and destructive fury of evil will be suppressed for many centuries, that this Reign may be a lasting one!
Extracted, with adaptations, from : Msgr. João Scognamiglio Cla Dias, EP. New Insights on the Gospels, Volume VI.
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
[1] TUYA, Manuel de. Biblia Comentada. Evangelios. Madrid: BAC, 1964, v. V, p. 792.
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