Jesus came to his native place...

Homecoming should mean reunion, sharing old stories,

recalling good times.

Not so for Jesus. He was rejected by the hometown folks in today's Gospel. "Who is he to be so uppity?" they may have asked.In fact Jesus has NO home.

"The foxes have dens, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

Have you ever considered, as a youth, Jesus was an undocumented alien, a refugee in a strange land: Egypt.

And in adulthood, he was homeless, and a  migrant worker. It is true he visited the home of Martha and Mary, and the home of Peter's Mother In Law, and other homes. And there were a group of holy women who supported his ministry. But there is no evidence that he ever enjoyed the comforts of a real homelife.

Ijstead he was a migrant worker, spreadng the Good News from town to town.

So, over his lifetime Jesus was:

...an undocumented alien in a far away land. (Herod never would have issued Joseph a passport, while he wished to kill his child. And today Herod reappears in El Salvaor  and other Central American countries.

Jesus was also...homeless...

...and a migrant worker!

Think about that!

And WHO then would Jesus identify with today?

And so we pray:

Deliver us Lord from hard heartedness.

Help us look with pity at the refugees

knocking at our doors.

Instead ogf "Begone!"

let us offer welcome,

for when we welcome them,

We welcome Jesus.

Amen