Gospel: Luke 4:16-30
The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to
the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to
the Lord.
Rolling up
the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of
all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this
Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also
asked, “Is this not the son of Joseph?”
He said to
them, “Surely you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and
say, ‘Do here in your native place the things that we heard were done in
Capernaum.’ 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.
Accepting
that someone has achieved something can sometimes be difficult for many of us,
especially when we know the person and their background quite well. At times,
we may become doubtful, dismissive, or even scornful of their achievements.
Instead of rejoicing with them, we may quietly ask ourselves, “Why them and not
us?”
This
kind of non-acceptance also happened to Jesus when He returned to Nazareth, the
town where He grew up. His fellow townspeople refused to accept Him, even
though it was evident that He was an exceptional person who possessed wisdom
and authority. They knew Jesus personally, yet familiarity prevented them from
recognizing who He truly was.
Their
hearts had already been hardened toward Jesus. The worst part was that they
even tried to kill Him. This is human behavior at its worst! But why do we
sometimes find it difficult to accept the success and blessings of others? More
often than not, the answer lies within us—in our pride, envy, and arrogance.
When
envy takes root in our hearts, another person's success can feel like our own
failure. We may forget that God blesses each of us in different ways and in His
own time. The blessings given to others do not diminish what God has prepared
for us. We do not need to compete with one another because God's love and
goodness are not limited.
Our
pride, envy, and arrogance will never bring us anything good. Instead, they can
only hasten our downfall. When we allow these negative emotions to rule our
hearts, we close ourselves to the grace of God and rob ourselves of the joy of
celebrating the blessings of others.
Let
us therefore ask God to give us humble and generous hearts. May we learn to
rejoice when others succeed, to celebrate their blessings without comparing
them with our own, and to trust that God knows what is best for each of us.
Instead of asking, “Why them and not us?” perhaps we can learn to say, “Thank
You, Lord, for blessing them. In Your perfect time, bless us also according to
Your will.”
After
all, we are not called to outshine one another; we are called to love one
another. And when we can sincerely rejoice in another person's blessing without
allowing envy to steal our peace, we become more like Christ.
Can we rejoice wholeheartedly when others succeed, even when our
own prayers are still waiting for an answer—and are we willing to ask God to
remove whatever pride, envy, or arrogance may still be hiding in our hearts?—Marino J. Dasmarinas
