An envoy can be accepted or rejected. But God’s messenger is always rejected, like all the prophets and Jesus Himself. The truth of a love that is poor, serving and humble, disturbs and calls to conversion. For this reason, the wise and powerful, who love to possess, to dominate and to appear (Cf. 1 John 2:16), despise Jesus. His very relatives think He is out of His mind; His disciples betray, deny and abandon Him. No one of the “rulers of this age” was able to know the wisdom and power of this God-love: “For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8).
Were Jesus to promise wealth, power and prestige, all would accept, even the disciples. Even the Romans would have paid Him tithe in order to have Him as their ally. Their rejection is the cause of the Cross. But Jesus doesn’t reject those who reject Him: He gives life to those who kill Him. His Cross is not a failure but “martyrdom,” witness of an extreme and never-ending love that goes beyond the beyond, and beyond it there is nothing but still love. The cross reveals God as God, overwhelming Satan and his lie about Him and us.
Zachary, last of the prophets, used to say of those who were killing him: “God sees and He will avenge!” (2 Chronicles 24:20ff). The Crucified Jesus instead will say: “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34). Only God loves in this way, shouldering the evil of those who do evil to Him. Here, every abyss of misery is filled in by mercy.
“Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you” – In the home, we can enter only if accepted; in the city, we enter in any case. Normally, however, after the first curiosity, there is rejection. We tend to accept the rich but not the poor. Unless we recognize that every poor person is also a member of the human race, even represents the human race. It is destiny: darkness doesn’t like light, its mortal enemy.
“Go into its streets and say” – The true disciple, as well, doesn’t refuse those who reject him. Even he publicly announces what is good and denounces evil, hoping for conversion.
“Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you” – Those who enter the Promised Land, in order not to contaminate it with pagan soil, wipe off the dust from their feet. The gesture means that the city that doesn’t welcome the poor brother is still pagan: it refuses God as its Father. The words “cling” and “to wipe off” are somehow medical terms: they remind us of a wound which “clings together” while healing, and that we “wipe off” in order to dry it. Refusal wounds the one whom we refuse. The only cure for his bleeding wound is not to give back a refusal, but to carry it in ourselves; in this way, witnessing an unconditional love.
“Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near” – The kingdom of God who is infinite love, has arrived: it is present and it gives itself exactly in this love that is stronger than death.
“Woe to you” – To refuse love is perdition and hell. But the evil of the one who refuses love falls on the one who loves. “Woe” is not a threat but a cry of pain. It is the “woe” of the mother for the evil of the son: she feels it more than if it were her own. The cross is God’s “woe” for the evil of the world. Jesus painfully remembers the city that has refused Him as He cries over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41): He will give His life on their behalf and go down to the underworld in order to save them. In this way, even perdition becomes a place of salvation.
“Whoever listens to you, listens to Me” – In the refusal, the mission of the envoy sent in poverty is accomplished: giving his life on behalf of those who take it, he becomes witness of God who is love. For this reason, Jesus identifies him with Himself and the Father who sent him, saying: “Blessed are you when they insult you, banish you, etc.” But if the messenger comes with wealth, power or prestige, he will rightly be rejected as a competitor, or accepted like the false prophets (Luke 6:22.26).
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