Today's Gospel is the continuation of the previous where Christ announces he is the Messiah in Nazareth. There is wonder first. Then Christ, in response to questions about miracles, says this strange thing:
"Surely you will quote me this proverb,
'Physician, cure yourself,' and say,
'Do here in your native place
the things that we heard were done in Capernaum.'"
And he said, "Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place."
Mark and Mathew write that Christ could not do miracles there because the people had no faith. What does that mean? There are limits of the power of God? That we humans must participate to have these great acts work? That there is a bond between us and God, that there is a necessary spiritual partnership between us?
Then he says something else, he compares the situation to that of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath, and that of Elisha the prophet and Naaman the Syrian, both examples of where God's prophets preferred helping Gentiles to Jews. While this infuriated the locals, its context is particularly confusing. Does it mean the failure of miracles among the faithless is not that they are unreceptive but rather purposefully deprived by God?
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