First Reading

Reading from the first letter of the Apostle Saint Paul to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 2, 1-5

Brothers and sisters: When I came to your city to proclaim the Gospel to you, I did not seek to do so through eloquent speech or human wisdom, but I resolved to speak to you only of Jesus Christ, and even more, of Jesus Christ crucified.

I came before you weak and trembling with fear. When I spoke to you and preached the Gospel, I did not wish to convince you with the words of a wise man; on the contrary, I convinced you through the Spirit and the power of God, so that your faith might depend on the power of God and not on the wisdom of men.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke

Luke 4, 16-30

At that time, Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. He entered the synagogue, as was his custom on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, unrolled it, and found the passage where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak, saying: “Today this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips, and they asked: “Is this not the son of Joseph?”

Jesus said to them: “Surely you will quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, cure yourself, and do here in your own land all the wonders we have heard you did in Capernaum.’”

And he added: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. There were certainly many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a great famine spread over the entire land, yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; yet none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with fury. 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. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.