MONDAY 3RD WEEK OF LENT MASS READINGS AND COMMENTARIES: “No prophet is accepted in his own native place” (Lk 4:24-30)
MONDAY, 3RD WEEK OF LENT
MASS READINGS
READING I
2 Kgs 5:1–15
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the Lord had brought victory to Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper. Now the Arameans had captured from the land of Israel in a raid a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife. “If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,” she said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.” Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said. “Go,” said the king of Aram. “I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments. To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed: “Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”
When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments? Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. The prophet sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” But Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come out and stand there to invoke the Lord his God, and would move his hand over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With this, he turned about in anger and left. But his servants came up and reasoned with him. “My father,” they said, “if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.” So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On his arrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.”
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him face to face?
Like the deer that yearns
for running streams,
so my soul is yearning
for you, my God.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him face to face?
My soul is thirsting for God,
the God of my life;
when can I enter and see
the face of God?
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him face to face?
O send forth your light and your truth;
let these be my guide.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain
to the place where you dwell.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him face to face?
And I will come to the altar of God,
the God of my joy.
My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,
O god, my God.
R. My soul is thirsting for the living God: when shall I see him face to face?
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL
I hope in the Lord, I trust in his word; with him there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
GOSPEL
Lk 4:24–30
And he said, “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.
Gospel Commentary from the Navarre Bible, St. Luke (used with permission)
- 22-29 At first the people of Nazareth listened readily to the wisdom of Jesus’ words. But they were very superficial; in their narrow-minded pride they felt hurt that Jesus, their fellow-townsman, had not worked in Nazareth the wonders he had worked elsewhere.
- They presume they have a special entitlement and they insolently demand that he perform miracles to satisfy their vanity, not to change their hearts.
- In view of their attitude, Jesus performs no miracle (his normal response to lack of faith: cf. for example his meeting with Herod in Lk 23:7-1 1); he actually reproaches them, using two examples taken from the Old Testament (cf. 1 Kings 17:9 and 2 Kings 5:14), which show that one needs to be well-disposed if miracles are to lead to faith. His attitude so wounds their pride that they are ready to kill him.
- This whole episode is a good lesson about understanding Jesus: we can understand him only if we are humble and are genuinely resolved to make ourselves available to him.
- 30 Jesus does not take flight but withdraws majestically, leaving the crowd paralysed. As on other occasions men do him no harm: it was by God’s decree that he died on a cross (cf. Jn 18:32) when his hour had come.
Stay safe and God bless! Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: WERE THERE INSTANCES OF UNCONTROLLED ANGER IN YOU?
Today’s readings are replete with anger. In the first reading, the king of Syria is outraged at the king of Israel – whom he thought was trying to spite him – for sending Naaman, his army commander, to be healed of leprosy. Elijah, the prophet, convinces the king of Syria to calm down and leave it to him to help Naaman. But Naaman became incensed at Elijah for asking him to bathe seven times in the River Jordan. Convinced by his own servants, Naaman eventually acceded. In the gospel reading, the people of Nazareth are infuriated when Jesus compares Himself with Elijah and Elisha, prophets who went beyond Israel to preach and heal. Without anyone to convince the people to sober up, they moved to hurl Jesus down the craggy hills, but Jesus managed to escape.
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