Prophetic voices

Gospel: Lk 4:24-30

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030424.cfm

There is a difference in how we share our traditions with someone who is from our culture and someone who is from a different culture. The things we do can look odd to a foreigner as it is easy for us to think the same of them. There is a difference in how we experience each other. Even when you speak the same language, you need to learn their customs and ways of doing things. You become more alert. Locals pay more attention to you when you are in a foreign land. Your seemingly normal actions do not seem so normal.

When you are in your community, you can easily get lost in the common practices of the people around you. On the norm, everyone operates as you expect. When you’re lost in a different culture, you don’t have that same level of security and control.

I think this is why prophets were not welcomed in their native land and were compelled to travel. When you are someone from the neighborhood, it is hard for someone to pay extra attention to you or see you as having a deeper message to share. You are simply the person they saw growing up. You are another person from around town. There is something special about being a foreigner or a stranger that has special significance. People need to try harder to understand what you're saying. They think more deeply to understand you. 

When you’re a foreigner, you may need to have a local help you out. It is easier to receive help from someone who needs help from you. It’s extremely disarming. This is the case in some of the gospels too. When Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman at the well, she helped him to some water. It was not traditional practice for a Jewish man to speak to a Samaritan woman. It was very disarming. It’s these abnormal encounters that cause people to lean in and listen more intently. Someone from the outside may see something that you and your community have overlooked.

This can also happen in other ways. I often have times when a close loved one gives me advice, and I don’t always listen. I think that I already know their perspective and where they are coming from, but then if I read the same advice in a book or hear it from a stranger, I am more willing to consider it.

Who is someone close to you that you presuppose their perspective? Try to listen more intently to those you take for granted, you may be surprised by the prophets you already have around you.