Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr. Heinz Kulueke, SVD – University of San Carlos, Cebu City
Monday 3rd Week of Lent
What happened to Jesus some 2000 years ago back in his hometown could happen again today to people in any part of the world who give advice to others in their own place. “No prophet is accepted in his own place” (Luke 4,24) has become a common saying whenever one’s advice is not accepted by people belonging to one’s family, friends or place.
The people in Jesus’s hometown might have known him as a child and then as a young person growing up in their place. But when Jesus preached to them, they asked: Who is he to tell us what to do and not to do?
Most people do not like to be told what to do, more so when the advice comes from people of their own kind. But God oftentimes chooses just these people to let us know what to do, people like mothers, fathers, siblings, teachers or friends?
The Gospel serves as a reminder too to all those who want to give advice. More than words what is needed is life lived according to Jesus’s command such that others might follow.
This story about Gandhi is very relevant. One day a somewhat desperate mother approached Gandhi and asked him to help convince her son to stop smoking. Gandhi first listened to her, then asked her to come back the following week. When the appointed time arrived, Gandhi told the woman’s son to stop smoking. The mother, very perplexed, asked Gandhi why he had not told her son to stop smoking even the week before Gandhi’s response was simple: “Last week I could not tell your son to stop smoking because then I was still smoking myself.”
Becoming a prophet acceptable in one’s own place will mean changing one’s own life first.
