The article analyzes the Nazareth episode (Lk 4:16-30) using Sara Ahmed's framework, contrasting local, possessive hope with Jesus' prophetic, decentered hope. While the shift from admiration to rage shows how emotions fabricate identity borders, Jesus, through his action, reconfigures the space, transforming belonging into passage and hospitality.
Abstract
This article analyzes the spectacular shift from enthusiasm to rage in the Nazareth episode (Lk 4:16-30) through Sara Ahmed’s theory of emotions. It contrasts two forms of hope: the possessive and local hope of the Nazarenes, who demand an identity privilege (“do it here”), and the prophetic hope of Jesus, which is decentered and directs grace towards foreigners (Sarepta, Naaman). By mobilizing the concepts of affective economies and “sticky” signs, the article shows how the same dynamic that aggregates the “we” through admiration (vv. 14-22a) cracks and turns into rage when grace shifts (vv. 22b-27), leading to the materialization of the border through expulsion (vv. 28-29). Jesus’ final action – “he passed through the midst of them” (v. 30) – is interpreted as a performative act that unglues hope from identity attachments, restores mobility, and reopens the space, affirming that the Gospel does not confirm belonging, but converts it into passage and hospitality.
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JH07 Économie affective de l’espérance à Nazareth- GB Wabo
