Precisely seeing this resistance, which confirms the proverb “No prophet is accepted in his own land,” Jesus speaks words to the people in the synagogue that sound like a provocation. He cites 2 miracles performed by the great prophets Elijah and Elisha for non-Israelites, to show that sometimes there is greater faith outside of Israel. At that point the reaction is unanimous: they all get up and chase him out and even try to throw him over a precipice, but Jesus, with masterly calm, passes through the midst of the infuriated people and goes his way. At this point it is natural to ask: Why did Jesus wish to provoke this rupture? At the beginning the people admired him and perhaps they would have achieved a certain consensus… but this is exactly the point: Jesus did not come to seek consensus among men, but – as he will say in the end to Pilate – to “bear witness to truth” (John 18:37). The truth prophet does not obey anyone but God and serves truth, ready to make personal sacrifices if necessary. It is truth that Jesus is the prophet of love, but love has its truth. Indeed, love and truth are 2 names of the same reality, 2 names of God. In today’s liturgy, these words of St. Paul are also heard: “Charity … pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4-6). Believing in God means giving up our own prejudices and welcoming the concrete form in which he reveals himself: the man Jesus of Nazareth. And this path also leads to recognizing and serving him in others.
