Visit to Nazareth
M Mons. Vincenzo Paglia
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Gospel (Mt 13,54-58) - At that time Jesus, having come to his homeland, was teaching in their synagogue and the people were amazed and said: «Where do he get this wisdom and the wonders? Isn't this the carpenter's son? And his mother, isn't her name Maria? And his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? And aren't his sisters all staying with us? So where do all these things come from?". And it was a source of scandal for them. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not despised except in his own country and in his own house.” And there, because of their unbelief, he did not perform many wonders.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus returns to Nazareth, to his "homeland", among his "his". It is easy to reduce the Lord to our sad wisdom. We do it with everyone. We believe we know someone immediately just because we know where he comes from, for a memory, for an attitude, for how he speaks, because we have known him. We trust our impressions, which we consider infallible and in any case ours, therefore true. The inhabitants of Nazareth knew Jesus well: they had seen him grow up, they had played with him, they had been next to him in the synagogue. He returns among them. He does not present himself as another man, he does not take on other appearances: he is always the same, but with a wisdom that his people cannot understand and that scandalizes them. The reaction of the inhabitants of Nazareth - reaction of fear, habit, conformism, superficiality - is profoundly sad: everyone is what they are, no one can really change; there's no point in dreaming, we're still the same as we always were! You can change some traits, appearances, but then one is always the same! The consequence is that nothing can ever be done, that it is not worth doing. It is the resigned and realistic wisdom of this world: we believe we know everything and we do not know love, the heart, life. Like us: we are informed of everything that happens in the world; we have the news live, but we don't understand with our hearts, we know how to love little and in the end everything becomes the same as the little we already know; we know everything about life, we multiply interpretations, but we do not understand it with love. Those who become part of him know Jesus, not those who think they are one by nature, by inheritance, by merit, because they were close to him.