Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time- 4th Sunday- Rejection At Nazareth: Be Not Crushed On Their Account !

The Scripture passage Jesus just read from the prophet Isaiah dates back 700 years. Then Jesus, a local boy, a carpenter from a family of modest means, announces, in effect, that he was the Messiah sent from God. This is Jesus’ first messianic declaration. He is the long-awaited Christ, who would redeem his people from every kind of affliction.

The hometown people wanted to stone him as a false prophet as they tried to hurl him down the hill.

The experience of feeling caught in an emotionally distressing situation at work has been called being hooked.

[source for this homily: Working With You Is Killing Me: Freeing Yourself from Emotional Traps at Work by Katherine Crowley, Kathi Elster].

The activity of changing your reaction to emotionally upsetting circumstances is unhooking. E.g., From our First Reading, we heard “gird your loins,” which means to gather up your free-flowing clothes and tie it at the waist so you can be attentive and ready to work.

Step 1-- Unhook physically–Our Gospel says: “Jesus passed through the midst of them and went away.” Luke 4:30

Step 2 -- Unhook mentally– “Be not crushed on their account,” we heard in our First Reading from Jeremiah. It means do not fall apart psychologically. Often, we cannot help being persecuted or even killed, but we can refuse to be crushed. In Jeremiah 32:17, he says "Nothing is too hard for you [God]. In Jeremiah 32:27 God answers, “I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? God reaffirms Jeremiah's prior declaration, in effect: that's right, Jeremiah, nothing is too hard for me.

Step 3 -- Unhook verbally-Jesus quoted a traditional maxim, saying, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. He begins it with “Amen, I say to you,” which is an assertive phrase. In Thomas a Kempis classic, The Imitation of Christ, Chapter 8 is called “Avoiding Too Much Familiarity”: “Do not lay open your heart to everyone.”

Jesus told St. Faustina to pay absolutely no attention to a certain religious sister who was cunning and full of malice. Jesus told St. Faustina: “My daughter, do not speak to this person either about your views or your opinions.” What Jesus is saying is that if a person asks you a question that feels inappropriate, you do not have to answer.

One illustration of unhooking verbally comes from a show streaming on T.V. that has won critical acclaim, which I have not seen, about an American college football coach who led the Wichita State Shockers to a Division II NCAA championship. He is hired to coach AFC Richmond, an English soccer team. A folksy American, he is seen as unsophisticated but is smarter than he looks. He loves to coach and cares more about people than wins. Similar to our 2nd Reading, which says that love is not rude; love is not quick-tempered, love does not brood over injury. So, when the American coach gets insults from the townspeople about how poor the soccer team is and he as the coach, he responds, “I appreciate your opinion and hope we’ll have your support in the next game.” Underneath his cheerful demeanor, he is learning about the character of people.

Step 4 -- Unhook with a business tool like a follow-up email—

Jesus' allusion to Elijah and Elisha made it clear that his ministry would not be restricted to his own people.

e.g. More from the book, “Working With You Is Killing Me”: Take Susan she's sitting at the weekly staff meeting where the departments are giving their reports. Susan's colleague Tracy unabashedly takes credit for a brilliant promotion idea that Susan had originated.

Unhook mentally: Susan tells herself not to be intimidated by Tracy's behavior; she can find a way to be heard.

Unhook verbally: Susan speaks up: "When I first ran this idea by Tracy, we both got excited about it."

Unhook with a business tool: Susan writes and distributes an e-mail summarizing the results of the meeting and clarifying the fact that the promotion idea originated with her: ". . . I'm glad that my promotion idea received such a positive response from the rest of the team. I look forward to working with everyone to develop it further."

Jesus saved us by being nailed to the Cross and rising from the dead. The rejection he experienced at his hometown was a foreshadowing, but it happened to teach us: “Be Not Crushed on Their Account!” When you feel hooked, unhook like Jesus, and continue on your mission.

Amen.