Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 4, 2009 - St. Catherine De Ricci, O.P.
[Hebreews 12:4-7, 11-15 and Mark 6:1-6]"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house."
Playing to the hometown crowd can be an interesting experience! One gets such expressions as, "I always knew you were going to be a priest!" (Funny, I sure didn't!) Or, "Remember when you did such-and-such an embarrassing thing back in grade school or high school?" (Why are you reminding me?) Those are stereotypical and not in the majority but they do illustrate the types of feelings that might help us to understand the reaction of Jesus' hometown crowd: "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him?.....Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?......And they took offense at him!" As any politician will tell you, it can be a mixed blessing to be a "favorite son." This familiarity becomes an obstacle to those who might seek Jesus' help. The people have their opinions about him and his family and allow those opinions to shape their reaction to Jesus. The hometown rejection would ultimately become a rejection by others, including the religious leadership, and lead to fatal consequences. The Gospel of Mark makes a point of letting everyone know that there are consequences to this rejection. The terrible irony is that we may lose the opportunity for a closer and deeper knowledge of Jesus by clinging to deep seated notions and prejudices about him! AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
64 ms
4
