Can you imagine how mad the people were at Jesus in today’s Gospel? They wanted to throw him, who they knew growing up, right off the cliff. How did Jesus go from hometown hero to mobs seeking to kill him?
As we follow Jesus, it is easy to like him for his miracles, for his humbling the Pharisees and his beautiful and inspiring words. We all like to see those pictures of beautiful babies or some cute cats or puppies. But do we want to see or hear the person who challenges our living situation or our choices in life? How do we react to that person who says we have too much pride or we swear too much or corrects one of our bad habits and makes us feel uncomfortable? Can we love that person or do we want to throw him off a cliff? We would rather get rid of that person even if it would be good for you. This is our pride. So we say to Jesus, you can be in my life if you only show me good pictures, say nice things and compliment me or challenge me when it is something I like to do. No. We come to Church and recognize we are all sinners. We bend our knees and say to Jesus I am not strong enough. I don’t need cute pictures. I need your help, your challenge, and your directions and inspiring words so that I can overcome my vices and accept the challenge to always do better. Or as St. Paul says today, “so faith, hope and love remain, and the greatest of these is love.” Accept Jesus’ challenge and love one another.