Monday of the Third Week of Easter
“Little Yeshu (Jesus) is a bit too big for his britches!”
Granted that the above quote is not found directly in today’s Gospel, but it might have been. It’s been said that “you can never go home again.” Jesus certainly finds this to be true. Folks in Nazareth remember Yosef & Maryam’s boy. They knew Yeshu as a toddler needing a diaper change. They knew him as an awkward, gawky adolescent. After his bar mitzvah they recall him sitting in the front section of the local synagogue every Shabbat with Yosef and the other men.
In the words of my Irish Catholic mother, Who in the _____ does he think he is?
The citation unravels when the locals, many of his own relatives, are compared to their stiff necked ancestors from the days of Elisha. In a rage, they drive this upstart to the edge of the cliff on which tiny Nazareth was built (you can go to that very cliff today). But he slips away.
“No prophet is welcome in his own village.”
Many of us can appreciate the circumstances that our Lord finds himself in. To the 24 cousins I grew up with in Youngstown I will be “Timmy” if I live to be 100. My four adult children think it is a hoot when they hear it. I really don’t mind. And Jesus may not have had the same experience with the intimate and familiar “Yeshu.” What he did have difficulty with was their hard heartedness and narrow mindedness.
Comparing his fellow Nazareans with those YHWH rejected for healing in favor of the pagan and accursed Naaman (II Kings 5:1-15) was bad enough. Accusing them of being less than that unclean swine eating pagan (Naaman) was a road too far. They couldn't imagine YHWH caring two bits for a Gentile leper. Jesus is neither small minded nor nationalistic. His Father, it would seem, doesn’t care what kind of flag you fly. (His Father isn’t an American or a Catholic either, but that’s for another reflection.)
Telling people that he knew well that they were stiff necked would have conjured up unsettling memories of those who persecuted and even killed the prophets. In this way, the peoples of both Israel and Judah thwarted the very will of YHWH. Now this smart aleck local boy returns and dares to accuse them of being no better and deserving no better. Who in the ______ does he think he is?
Jesus would have made a terrible politician. He insisted on telling people the truth! And he speaks that same truth on this March day in 2026. This penitential season of Lent is an opportune time to have a long and hard look at our own narrow mindedness and how we, too, can be hard of heart. Let us make spiritual-discernment our friend this Lent, our close advisor. It can help us see the heart of the matter.
Jesus would not have received many votes. But he didn’t set out to be liked or popular. Like himself, all our Nazareth native Lord is asking us to do is to be honest. As he was.
—Timothy J. Cronin