“No prophet is accepted in his own native place.” – Luke 4:24
HANDLING REJECTION
Allow me to share with you some helpful tips in handling rejection:
Acknowledge that anyone can be rejected.
Allow yourself to feel bad initially.
Do not take rejection personally.
After the rejection, look for other options to bounce back.
Try again and move forward.
In today’s Gospel story, our Lord experienced opposition and rejection.
Since He was too familiar to the people around Him as the son of a
carpenter, He was taken for granted. In spite of this, Jesus boldly
proclaimed that He is the fulfillment of the Promise. He had no second
thoughts about what He said because He was telling the truth.
As I reflect upon this story of our Lord, I’m reminded to take heart
whenever I deal with rejection. I also realized that, just like the
Lord, I should speak out and live out my faith, not motivated by my ego,
but driven by the truth. Though we may encounter challenges and
rejections in life, let us all face it with courage like Jesus did. JC Libiran
1ST READING
The
king of Israel is a man of very little faith, whereas Elisha is a man
of great faith. Look at the difference faith can make in a person’s
life. A leper is healed because of Elisha’s faith. Without Elisha the
king would have remained in despair; now he can rejoice in the goodness
of God to the leper and to Israel. Let us hope and pray that each time
we experience or witness a miracle of God, our faith in Him will grow.
2 Kings 5:1-15
1 Naaman,
the army commander of the king of Aram, was highly esteemed and
respected by his master, for through him the Lord had brought victory to
Aram. But valiant as he was, the man was a leper. 2 Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife. 3 “If
only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,” she
said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 Naaman went and told his lord just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 “Go,”
said the king of Aram. “I will send along a letter to the king of
Israel.” So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents, six
thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments. 6 To
the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read: “With this letter
I am sending my servant Naaman to you, that you may cure him of his
leprosy.” 7 When
he read the letter, the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
“Am I a god with power over life and death, that this man should send
someone to me to be cured of leprosy? Take note! You can see he is only
looking for a quarrel with me!” 8 When
Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his
garments, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 The prophet sent him the message: “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.” 11 But
Naaman went away angry, saying, “I thought that he would surely come
out and stand there to invoke the Lord his God, and would move his hand
over the spot, and thus cure the leprosy. 12 Are
not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than all
the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?” With
this, he turned about in anger and left. 13 But
his servants came up and reasoned with him. “My father,” they said, “if
the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary, would you not
have done it? All the more now, since he said to you, ‘Wash and be
clean,’ should you do as he said.” 14 So
Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of
the man of God. His flesh became again like the flesh of a little
child, and he was clean. 15 He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God. On hisarrival he stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
P S A L M
Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
R: Athirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?
1 [2] As the hind longs for the running waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. (R) 2 [3] Athirst is my soul for God, the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? (R) 43: 3 Send forth your light and your fidelity; they shall lead me on and bring me to your holy mountain, to your dwelling-place. (R) 4 Then
will I go in to the altar of God, the God of my gladness and joy; then
will I give you thanks upon the harp, O God, my God! (R)
Jesus
is not afraid of controversy if it is rooted in truth. We would say
today that Jesus is quite willing “to call a spade a spade” if that is
the truth of the matter, and then deal with the aftermath later. We,
too, must be willing to embrace truth. There is nothing gained by hiding
from the truth.
Luke 4:24-30
24 Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. 25 Indeed,
I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when
the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine
spread over the entire land. 26 It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 Again,
there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. 29 They
rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
REFLECTION
CAN YOU HANDLE THE TRUTH?
Ever
heard of the line that says, “Better make someone cry with the truth
than to make someone laugh with a lie”? Jesus comes home today to His
hometown Nazareth. Apparently, not everything Jesus said was taken
gladly. The people were filled with indignation to the point of
expelling Him from the town. The message must have been so disturbing
that they wanted to eliminate the messenger instead.
That is the nature of truth. When it is proclaimed, it never fails to
strike a sympathetic chord in the heart. But truth can be threatening
for it demands a corresponding action. It either affirms or convicts.
Herod, for example, was attracted by the message of John but he did not
have the courage to give its corresponding demands. What did he do? He
put John in prison. The townmates of Jesus were so stung by His words
that they wanted to hurl Him over the edge of the cliff.
God’s truth comes to us in varied ways. Through persons, situations or
some sort of religious experience, the truth of God seeks us out. But
like the people of Nazareth, we are afraid of truth’s demands. We do not
want the self-denial and conversion it entails. And so we imprison
God’s message. We leave God in a corner. We compartmentalize our lives.
We confine God and make His message irrelevant to our daily lives. We
let the Bible gather dust. We treat the Mass as a once-in-a-while
diversion. Remember, God is a “polite” God. He can work in our lives
only to the extent that we give Him “permission” to do so. This is what
we mean when we say that grace builds on nature.
James Garfield is credited as saying: “The truth will make you free,
but first it will make you miserable.” How true this is. Unleash the
power of God in your life. Call on Him. Open your heart. Do not be
afraid of truth’s demands. As Jesus assures in the Gospel, “You will
discover the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). Fr. Joel Jason
"Lord Jesus, grant me courage and wisdom whenever I experience rejection in my life...entice my heart with the beauty of Your truth and allow me to rejoice in it. Amen"
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