Gospel (Lk 4,16-30) - At that time, Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and as usual, on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and stood up to read. He was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah; he opened the scroll and found the passage where it was written: «The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; for this reason he anointed me and sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberation to prisoners and sight to the blind; to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of grace of the Lord". He rewound the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down. In the synagogue, everyone's eyes were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Everyone bore witness to him and were amazed at the words of grace that came from his mouth and said: "Isn't this the son of Joseph?". But he replied to them: «You will certainly quote to me this proverb: “Physician, heal yourself. What we heard happened in Capernaum, do it here too, in your homeland!" Then he added: «Truly I say to you: no prophet is welcome in his own country. Indeed, truly I say to you, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout the land; but Elias was sent to none of them, except to a widow in Sarèpta di Sidon. There were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha; but none of them was purified except Naaman the Syrian." When everyone in the synagogue heard these things, they were filled with indignation. They rose up and drove him out of the city and led him to the edge of the mountain, on which their city was built, to throw him down. But he, passing among them, set out.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

With this evangelical passage begins the continued reading of the Gospel of Luke which will accompany us until the end of the liturgical year. It is the beginning of Jesus' public preaching in Nazareth. Luke describes the entire story of the synagogue in great detail, as if to let us enter the scene. It is Saturday and Jesus appears in the synagogue during prayer. It was not the first time that Jesus entered it. The evangelist recalls that it was his "custom". He read the passage from the prophet Isaiah where he talks about the liberation of prisoners, the sight restored to the blind, the evangelization of the poor. It was the proclamation of a "year of grace", that is, the beginning of a new time, the time of God which begins today in the heart of every man who welcomes his Word. In fact, Jesus begins his first sermon with an adverb: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in which you have heard." Jesus links the prophetic word to history, to "today". The Word of God is not an abstract discourse, it is not a doctrine to be learned, it is not a moral norm to be put into practice. It's much more. It is a Word that enters the history of men to ferment it with its strength. The Word is creative, as it was at the beginning in creation. Welcoming it means letting yourself be questioned, letting yourself be disturbed, letting yourself be transformed. Jesus affirmed that that Word of Isaiah was finally fulfilled among them. Upon hearing Jesus' preaching, the listeners initially react favorably: "they were amazed" at his wisdom. But that spirit of wonder was born more from an ethnic reason than from true admiration. After all, the Gospel does not ask for amazement and admiration. It requires a change of heart.