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A good Sunday to all. The episode we will hear in today's gospel passage must have occurred after about a year of Jesus' public life in Capernaum. There he preached the Gospel, and with his presence and with his word, he performed wonders, he cast out demons, healed the sick. We remember two of these wonders; we heard them last Sunday: that of the woman who touched his garment and was healed, and then the resuscitation of the daughter of Jairus.

The crowds admire him, they flock to him, and this success begins to worry the religious authorities in Jerusalem. Why? Because what Jesus teaches, what he does, often contrasts with the tradition of the ancestors, with what the rabbis, the scribes and Pharisees teach. And he violates the Sabbath when people are in need; then he frequents the houses of the tax collectors and sinners; he caresses the lepers, he announces a face of God who loves all, regards no one as unclean, rejects no one, forgives sinners without first questioning if they are repentant. First, he forgives, and then, when his love envelops them, they realize that they are far from God and from themselves, they repent of the condition they are in. Therefore, they change not because of threats that God will punish them but by love. Jesus also does not practice fasting and teaches even the disciples to do the same.

All these are enough reasons to be concerned that Jesus is leading people astray from traditional religious practice. And, in fact, a group of scribes and Pharisees departs from Jerusalem to go and warn the people of the danger that Jesus represents to their faith. The people must have replied: 'but he is good'... No, they say, what happens is that he does these wonders by the power of Beelzebub. Beelzebub gave Jesus power to perform these wonders to divert people from the faith, Beelzebub was a god worshiped in the land of the Philistines, in the plain of Sharon, there he had the temple in Ekron and he was the god that cured diseases, and secretly even some of the Jews when they did not receive the grace requested from their God, they went to ask to be cured by Beelzebub in Ekron.

The religious authority is concerned, and they decide to take him out of the way at a certain point. This news that circulates about Jesus becoming quite famous throughout Galilee begins to worry relatives in Nazareth, a small town of 300 inhabitants in the hills of Lower Galilee. You can see a picture of Nazareth, which is from the 19th century. Nazareth at the time of Jesus looked something like this.

What do Jesus' relatives do? They mobilize like clans do when they must rescue one of their members who is in danger. They go to Capernaum to bring him back home. They return empty-handed. Jesus did not allow himself to be trapped; he did not allow himself to be involved by their fears and plans. He makes them understand that he has started a new family; it is not that he has rejected or renounced his family of origin, but that his natural family must give its adhesion to the new family, which is that of those who welcome the proposal of the kingdom of God.

It is in this context, just after having realized the two healings that we heard last Sunday that Jesus decides to return to Nazareth. What is he going to do there? He did not go when they came to take him away, but now he goes of his own free will. It is not to visit his mother who maybe was a little disappointed when she couldn't convince him to come home. It's not a visit to his family, to his friends. Instead, he has a different objective.

Let's hear what happens when he returns to Nazareth:

 

"He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples."

 

Jesus departs from Capernaum; behind me, you can see the fields just above the city of Capernaum which stretches along the shore of the lake. I want you to notice the background, the last green you see. It's the place where Magdala used to rise, and then from Magdala, the mule track starts that passes in the middle of the two mountains, through that gorge, and then goes to Nazareth. The lake is located two hundred meters below sea level, and Nazareth is 500 meters above sea level, so, there is a difference of 700 meters of elevation difference. The trail is quite long; it takes two days to walk it.

Note that Jesus does not go alone, he goes with the disciples, and he has an obvious objective: he wants to introduce to his natural family, to his fellow countrymen, the new family formed by those who have given him their adhesion, those who have accepted the proposal of the kingdom of God. It is formed by Peter and Andrew, who have left their nets; by James and John, who have left their nets and their father Zebedee in the boat with the servants; and Levi, Matthew, who abandoned the collection of taxes. Jesus and the disciples go out of Capernaum and pass through the whole plain along the length of the lake and arrive at Magdala. Magdala was called Tarichea (Ταριχαία - taricos is dried fish). Dried fish was the business that made Magdala rich. At night, Peter, Andrew, James, and John fished in that lake. In the morning, they took the fish and sold it in Magdala. There they dried and salted them with salt from the dead sea and sold it in all the markets of Galilee; it was highly prized.

I suppose Peter must have said to the group something like this: 'There are 13 of us; if we come to Nazareth and stay there three or four days and we arrive empty-handed, your mother (he says to Jesus) will be grieved because she will ask how can I feed all these people?'... Peter must have said: 'I know those who dry up the fish, they know me very well'... and they must have taken their contribution to Nazareth so that they could have something to eat in the days when they stayed there in Nazareth. I made this digression because I believe that it is not very far from the facts and because I would like to take everybody out of the pedestal, even Mary, take her out of the high place and put her in this concrete life, and listen to the apostles, to Jesus and Mary as fellow travelers in our concrete life.

Now they continue their journey; starting from Magdala, they begin to climb the valley of Arbella in the middle of these two mountains. Many caves characterize these mountains and in observing them, certainly, Jesus and his disciples have commented on the dramatic facts that had happened in these caves and of which the memory was certainly still very much alive and remembered. Herod the Great, the one who wanted to kill Jesus as a child had cruelly massacred the rebels who had barricaded themselves in those caves. Then the road goes on, always uphill, of course. Our passage says that he reached his native place.

Note the fineness of the text; it does not say that he returned to Nazareth but to his homeland (patria) 'Patris' in Greek is a clear reference to the father, hence to tradition. The group does not arrive on a Sabbath; they arrive a few days earlier, and there is no allusion to discrepancies or discussions. Jesus was known and certainly, well-liked, even if in the hearts of his compatriots they may still have some grudges, a certain resentment towards him because he had chosen to change his residence and to perform wonders not in Nazareth but in Capernaum.

Jesus had made this choice easy to intuit and is found in several Gospel texts. Nazareth is a small town in the mountains; the mentality is closed, refractory to novelties and Jesus wanted to change all the traditional religiosity, often linked together with archaic beliefs; and if Jesus had stayed in Nazareth, he would have made a hole in the water. However, the reputation that he had in Capernaum had also reached the inhabitants of Nazareth. The welcome given him when he arrived was undoubtedly good; Mary was glad to see her son again and certainly during those days, she did everything she could to make everyone comfortable.

The problems started on Saturday when, as was his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue for the celebration. Let's hear what happened:

 

"When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished."

 

The incomprehension towards Jesus was not immediately manifested as soon as he arrived in Nazareth. In Mark's account, it appears that he spent a few days with his mother, with his friends peacefully, nobody had anything to say about him; he was a respected person. The problem exploded only when the Sabbath arrived and he began to speak in the synagogue. The evangelist says that many who heard him were astonished. Here it is important to understand what the verb mentioned in the Gospel means in the original text: it does not say that they were astonished at the beautiful things he said. It does not use the verb 'zaumásein,' which would be astonishment, wonder... no, the verb is 'ecplexo,' which means they were impressed, they were grieved, they were scandalized by what he said.

What was it that hurt them? They were not shocked because he spoke well, but they were pained by what he said. We do not know what he preached, but he certainly proposed the message he announced everywhere, a message that questioned a whole traditionalist mentality, a religious practice considered intangible, the message preached by the rabbis and scribes accepted by all as absolute truth. Jesus questioned all this; it is clear that those in the synagogue were scandalized.

The image of God that Jesus presented was not God as the lawgiver and severe judge who punished those who dared to transgress his orders; no, it was a God who loved everyone, who considered all his sons and daughters, who made the sun rise for the good and the bad... this was unacceptable to the traditional religiosity of the inhabitants of Nazareth and for all the people of Israel, but especially for these more traditionalist people who lived there in those mountains. Then, the observance of the precepts of the Torah.

The Torah was a legislation that had to be observed in every detail, and Jesus placed the Torah at the service of the person; the Lord has given the Torah for the good of the person; and when you realize that these provisions are not conducive to life, to the joy of people, it means that the Torah has been misinterpreted. The Sabbath is in the service of the person; when, on the other hand, you realize that the Sabbath is not conducive to the good of the person, it means that you have not understood, you have not interpreted in the right way this rule that God has given.

Also, salvation is reserved for the children of Abraham. Israel has always been considered as the chosen people as opposed to the pagans; God had chosen Israel and, therefore, privileging Israel. Jesus says no. Israel's vocation is in the service of the pagans to carry the blessings of Abraham also to them. All this could only hurt exclusivism, closed-mindedness, separation which characterized the mentality of these people. All this is called into question. Here is then the reason why the people of Nazareth, present in the synagogue, reacted... 'he equates us with the pagans and they also are children of God as we are... no way '... this is what they probably said.

Faced with this news, they should have asked themselves: 'What Jesus does and what he says is it right or wrong?' They should have asked him to explain himself better. Let us hear instead what objections they raise:

 

“They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at him."

 

The people of Nazareth are good, pious people, but unfortunately, they are afraid that their convictions will be questioned, what they have always done, though, and believed. For this reason, in front of the novelty of Jesus' message, they raise a series of objections which are not requests for clarifications but serve to deviate, to convince themselves that they are right and therefore, they do not need to get involved in the Master's message. This is exactly what is still happening today, to believers and non-believers. In the face of the novelty of the Gospel, in the face of the demanding requests made by Jesus with his beatitudes, they try to shield themselves with the same questions.

Let's study them. The first question they ask: "Where did this man get all this?" They say it to Jesus: 'this man' where does he get these things from? 'He does things that attract the admiration of the people of Capernaum; we've already heard it but where does he get them from? Where does he get the ability to do these prodigious things?' The answer for them is reassuring because they shield themselves in the proposals that he makes with his life, with his words, and they say that the rabbis are right: 'we have already heard it from the rabbis, who are the established religious authority that he is an unreliable person because he does it by the power of Beelzebub, he is linked with the prince of demons.' So, where does he get these things from?

The question one must ask is not where he gets them from, but whether his behavior, his life creates joy, creates love, creates peace, creates harmony between people. This was the right question, not where they come from. Even today, there is the same objection when people are confronted with someone who leads a very evangelical life and, therefore, who presents the demands of the Gospel. Someone may tell him that he is an exalted one, a leftist, a rightist, a heretic, someone who wants to be original, someone who wants to stand out... What does this have to do with it? The right question is: 'Is his or her behavior evangelical, beautiful, and according to the human model proposed by Jesus?'

This is the question that one should ask, and then he or she is forced to bring one's convictions back into play. Perhaps he was a Christian who felt at ease, but from this proposal of life that is made to him, his life is put at stake again, which costs him.

A second objection: 'What kind of wisdom has been given him?' 'To this one...' Where did he get the message from, where does this message come from? It doesn't come from the religious authority constituted by the official guides, therefore, it is not reliable; it is not the traditional one, the one we have always learned and listened to and that also corresponds to our reasoning. The question to ask should have been not where this wisdom comes from but is it true or false; is it right or wrong?

For the believer today, the correct question is not if it conforms to what has always been taught, what we have learned in catechism as children. This is not the right question. The right question is if this new face of God and man that is proposed to us, is it true or not; if it conforms to the Gospel or not. This is the question the believer must ask. When confronted with the Gospel message, many people today object to something that did not happen in the past: 'But we've always been taught'... No, the question is: 'Is this message true or not?', even if you are asked to change your way of thinking.

For the non-believer, the right question should be: Is the gospel message I hear humanizing or not? You don't have to ask yourself from which pulpit the sermon comes from. Naturally, we all would like that the one who announces the Gospel also incarnates it as Jesus of Nazareth did, but at the end of the day, it is with the Gospel that you must confront yourself, not with the life of some priest, of some Christian. Don't look for excuses, do not put objections to escape from this proposal that you realize is beautiful.

Always for the unbeliever: Is the proposal of the gift of life made by Jesus in conformity with your identity as a human being? I mean to say: Who is more of a person... the one who lives thinking at all times of his own benefit, in doing what he likes or the one who acts thinking about the good, the happiness of the other, who wants the other to be happy even if he is an enemy who has done him wrong? Who is more of a person? This is the right question for you, the non-believers. The way of living sexuality, the monogamous family, the unconditional conjugal love, is it worthy of a person? These are the right questions, not where they come from.

And then "What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter?" Always 'this one… the carpenter.' Like it or not, he's a carpenter who changed the world. No one expected it, least of all those in Nazareth. Let's notice that they don't call him by his name; they identify him with his profession, which is not an appreciated profession. Why? Because in Israel, every minimally well-to-do family had their fields, and the one who exercised these professions was somebody who did not have enough land to live on. The work that the carpenters did was what every family did in their leisure time. If there was a door or a plow to fix, they fixed it; they didn't call the carpenter. The carpenter was the profession of someone who didn't have enough land to satisfy his needs.

This is the perennial attempt to trivialize the proposal being made. He is not a rabbi. He is not a member of the clergy, he is not a scribe. He is not a synagogue leader. He is not an elite. He is a carpenter... one worth little. This is not what is relevant. What matters is what he says, what he does. This is what needs to be examined. In the same way that the present refusal not to adhere to Christ is the excuse that priests are not very exemplary... the popes of the Renaissance were corrupt, then the Crusades, the Inquisition… but what does this have to do with it? These are excuses for you not to confront the Gospel proposition. You must confront yourself with the Gospel, not with the priests.

"The son of Mary." This is an offense. Never a son is identified with the mother; even if the father is deceased, it is always with the father. Son of such a father... never of the mother. When they mention the mother, it is a way of saying that the paternity is doubtful, uncertain; therefore, it is offensive.

Then they mention the brothers, "The brother of James and Joses, Judas, and Simon. And are not his sisters here with us?" We do not know what degree of relationship there was between Jesus and these brothers and sisters, but the names are very important. They are all very traditional Jewish names. Jesus' family were all traditionalists, so much so that in chapter 7 of the Gospel of John it is said that not even his brothers had given him their adherence. Here is the objection of the inhabitants of Nazareth when they mention the brothers' names: 'your family is traditionalist, what are you inventing... how is it possible to believe in you if even the members of your family do not trust you and are scandalized by you?' It is paradoxical, but Jesus becomes a scandal to their faith.

There is a form of faith that it is good that be scandalized, a certain faith present even among Christians today must be and let itself be scandalized by the newness of the Gospel. There are certain traditional forms, also certain credulities that must be scandalized when the novelty of the Gospel is presented.

Let us now listen to the answer that Jesus gives:

 

“Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.’ So he could not perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then he went about the neighboring villages teaching."

 

Jesus came to Nazareth with the 12 with high hopes, with an excellent disposition. The conclusion of his journey is very bitter. Quoting a proverb, he says: "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." There is also a similar reference at the beginning of the Gospel according to John: "He came to his own, and yet his own people did not receive him." The people who had prepared to receive the messiah did not receive him, says the evangelist John.

In Capernaum, Jesus had conflicted with the religious authorities; he had attacked formalism of the scribes and Pharisees, he had denounced their hypocrisy and hardness of heart, but he had never had problems with simple people. Here, instead, Jesus has a harrowing experience: it is the peasants of his place who do not understand him, who reject him. There is no allusion to the presence of religious leaders, as had happened in Capernaum; here it is the townspeople who do not accept him, who reject the newness of the Gospel.

It is the mentality of the small town that expects great things from the people outside. The distant people, the foreign countries always exert a particular charm; they are fascinating; just think of the stars of our time, all the stars: those of politics, of sport, of show business they seem unapproachable, unreachable... 'they are great, important.' They are myths because they are far away; when you get close to them, you discover all their limits and then all that aura of sacredness and mystery soon vanishes.

And Jesus "was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them." What produces wonders is faith in the Gospel, not miracles that come from outside. The miracle, the prodigy, is the Gospel, and when you embrace it and incarnate it, you are a witness of wonders. Where it is welcomed, a world is born where There is love, joy, peace, gentleness, mastery of passions, free and humble service to the brother, even to the enemy who has wronged you. These are the wonders that the Gospel creates. If one rejects Christ and his Gospel nothing happens; the world, society, families go on with their disagreements and their wars.

"He was amazed at their lack of faith." In the gospels, 30 times appears this verb to marvel or to wonder (aumazein) and twice it is applied to Jesus. Jesus marvels twice in the gospels, once here in Nazareth. He marvels at their lack of faith. 'How come these people of Nazareth, who are good, not to welcome the wonderful news of the Gospel that I announce?' It is the same wonder that experience those Christians who believe in the Gospel; they have understood the beauty of the message of Jesus and are surprised that people do not accept it. We experience this wonder today too.

The second time was when Jesus marvels at the faith of the centurion, a pagan. We are also surprised today when the Gospel is accepted by someone, we would never have expected to adhere to the Master's proposal. Therefore, the journey that Jesus made from Capernaum to Nazareth fails.

So what do we expect to happen next? That he would drop his arms as it happens so many times today when there is some misunderstanding, some disagreement between the catechist and his pastor? Sometimes some people just drop everything. It is not like that. Jesus is not discouraged and, according to the gospel passage, he went through the surrounding villages continuing to proclaim the gospel message.

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.