Prophets and promises

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary inspire five P words for consideration. The words prophets, poverty, pagan, pride and promises come to mind. The Gospel from Luke tells of Jesus return to the synagogue in Nazareth after He had begun His public ministry in other communities of Galilee. RobertL. Deffinbaugh looks in detail at this event as part of his Bible Study work on the Luke as the Gospel for the Gentiles. The people of Jesus home town where He is known as the son of Joseph were perhaps hoping that the miracles which accompanied Jesus visit to Capernaum and other towns of Galilee would be manifest in Nazareth. The reading of the text from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah was politely received and, according to Deffinbaugh, not really deeply understood. The preference of the mission of God to address the needs of the poor, oppressed and downtrodden is too often missed by the ears of the powerful and privileged. The reference by Jesus to the miracles done by God in the Hebrew Bible for the pagan widow and leader reminds the audience of the long standing directive to the Chosen People to be a light to all nations and to bring these of unclean race and culture into the Messianic Kingdom. Pride can be personal and it can be tribal. How does this man of Nazareth claim to fulfill the prophetic words of Prophet Isaiah by inviting the poor and pagan to the Kingdom? It is too much. The promise in the Book of Isaiah to establish the Kingdom of God is rejected once again. The promise to the pagan people of Thessalonica, confirmed by Paul, is that those who have died before the second coming of Jesus will join those alive at that time and enter the Eternal Kingdom. All those gathered at the second coming will be singing the praises of God like the words from the psalmist today.