While the headline above may not be a direct quote from Jesus—it does carry a warning and has meaning for every generation, in every time and place. In this Fourth Week of Ordinary Time, the Gospel of Luke takes us to a hillside in Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, to a place called Mount Precipice—just on the southern edge of town—which is thought of as the site where today’s gospel takes place: “…and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong…But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” (Notation: According to Catholic tradition).

While this locale may not be perfectly factual—it is important for us to have a place on
which we can focus our attention for today’s key theme of the gospel—and to come to  understand what is it that Jesus is trying to tell us about the power and purpose of His Good News.

Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus returns to His hometown and speaks to the people in their
Synagogue and that the people respond to His teachings and words with great enthusiasm. But then they realize that this Good News is not just meant for them, the people in His hometown, but that Jesus’ mighty deeds and miracles are for all peoples, in every time and place. Why would He then go to Capernaum, they wonder? What is happening in His hometown is that the locals have high expectations of “their Jesus”—after all, He is one of them. They believe they know best what He ought to be doing—and it should be done in Nazareth. But Jesus has other plans. He does not want to have His Good News—complete with His message of Salvation—restricted for a select few or just the “locals” of Nazareth. In fact, the Messiah will frustrate those who want to restrict His impact on humanity—for His Love, Compassion, Mercy and Salvation are intended for the whole world.

While Catholics and Christians of all denominations do not believe in reincarnation—it does seem as if those folks in Nazareth some 2,000 years ago are “showing up” again and again in every generation, especially today, to restrict, limit or dilute the message of Christ’s Good News. This is evidenced by people who do not believe in the message of Salvation and therefore relegate it to an antiquated way of thinking, or by governments who wish to restrict faith to the four walls of a church and limit its role in the public arena; and, it is even diluted by Catholics who misunderstand their faith teachings and choose to accept cultural mores over Christ’s own
teachings. Often times people forget or deny that we are created by God in His Divine Image, that each and every one of us has been endowed with unique gifts, that our lives and all life is sacred, and that those who Trust in the Lord shall be offered Eternal Life. He is the Creator, we are the created. This message of the Lord should ring true today as we witness many people trying to restrict, dilute and even eliminate the powerful message of the Good News of Christ.

In our modern culture, faith and human dignity are under attack. And these attacks vary: from
misunderstanding, through ignorance, of the complimentary nature of male and female, created
uniquely and equally in the Divine Image of the God, which is meant to dilute the vital importance of gender on the development of the human family (a natural building block of humanity) to the ever increasing lack of concern for human life—from abortion and euthanasia to the use of the human beings in the womb for medical and scientific research. These are just two waves of attacks on faith. Just look to the recent New York law, cheered by some politicians and citizens alike, which allows full term abortions right up to the delivery of the child; in more subtle ways we see attacks on women and traditional family life in movies, television shows, and in music. Just watch a Disney Channel show where the parents or adults are always illustrated as complete idiots, out of touch with “reality” while the young child is the “sensible” one. Advertising in
commercials quietly highlights against tradition or faith-based answers to life’s difficult questions. We must remember that while (societal) change is inevitable, progress is always optional.

The message of today’s gospel is to look with eyes of faith at the teachings of Christ and to
recognize that goodness (God’s Love) is never exclusionary, but rather is meant for the whole of His creation—in every time and every place. God cannot be limited, diluted or removed from our presence—no matter how hard some people try. For God is logic and logic holds that goodness is for all—as we are all made uniquely and equally in His Divine Image. I guess you could say that uniquely and equally created, we are a complimentary people.