NOTES for Luk 4:22-30

“But the encounter with holiness becomes all the more unbearable, objections grow all the sharper, and denial manifests itself with all the greater intolerance when it happens ‘in the prophet's own country.’ How can one acknowledge that Someone whose parents are known, Someone who lives nearby and is ‘just like everyone else,’ represents something holy?” (R. Guardini). It is very important to sense this disposition in people so that we do not fall into anything similar ourselves. And how can we fall into it? Whenever we have the feeling that we know and understand something well about God and people, we fall into this sin.

This alone is why the Lord says, “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Mt 7:1). This commandment seems very close in spirit to our whole situation today. We should always leave a question mark behind even a plainly visible and obvious phenomenon, and never pronounce verdicts. Otherwise, something holy may fall under such a verdict.

In some respects, this approach is very close to the scientific worldview, the worldview of scientists who, even after obtaining a certain result, still understand that what lies before them is a finite amount of knowledge and an infinite amount of what is unknown. Only then can you always remain ready for the encounter.

Like the wise virgins who understood that every supply of oil (by which we may now mean every notion we have about the world, people, and God) will run out and be exhausted, and that one must always remain exceptionally attentive in order to add fresh oil in time. Such intense attention to everything around you is very hard to bear. But as one modern holy martyr said, a bow shoots only when it is drawn.