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| "The Brow of the Hill near Nazareth" by J. Tissot. Brooklyn Museum / Public Domain. |
Luke 4:24-30, for Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Today's Gospel foreshadows Good Friday.
Christ's hometown Nazareth has tried to kill him.
They heard he did miracles elsewhere, and they wanted to see him do some in Nazareth.
He wanted them to believe without miracle.
In the end it would be more than Nazareth.
One of his twelve handpicked "Christians" would sell him to the nation's high priests.
The nation's priests, high court of justice, supreme council and laity belonging to the strictest religious groups worked together with the Roman pagan colonial government to kill him.
When they caught him, his other eleven handpicked Christians ran away, and the chief Christian among them cursed and lied when accused of being Christ's follower.
Christians, Jews and pagans, the whole world played a role in his suffering and death.
You and I have become his handpicked Christians and his hometown through Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist.
He wants us to believe without seeing miracles.
So here we are using the works of Lent to ready ourselves for renewing at Easter our Baptismal vows, that is, to swear again that we believe without seeing miracles.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,
who, by the will of the Father
and the work of the Holy Spirit,
through your death brought life to the world,
free me by this, your most holy Body and Blood, from all my sins and from every evil;
keep me always faithful to your commandments,
and never let me be parted from you.
