Word to the Wise
Friday, August 2, 2019 - Friday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Lev 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37 and Matt 13:54-58]"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house." And he did not work many mighty deeds there because of their lack of faith. [Matthew]
Jesus speaks these words after being rejected by the people in his hometown of Nazareth. They thought he was getting above his station in life. After all, his family lived there and he had worked there as a carpenter. The Gospel According to Luke tells us that Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his preaching ministry, so the folks in Nazareth were well-acquainted with him. The old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt!" seems to be in play here. However, their lack of faith was counter-productive because we are told he did not work many mighty deeds in Nazareth because of their lack of faith.
It can be difficult to recognize Jesus' presence in our midst when we are blinded by "familiarity" or by some other prejudice. How open are we to the possibility that we may not know someone as well as we think we do, especially when it comes to a matter of religious faith? For example, we can become so focused on the Eucharist as the "real presence" that we consider it the ONLY presence of Jesus in our midst. How could any ordinary person represent that presence? Do we have some "archetypes" in our minds that lead us to say, "All.............are..........." and thus shut off the possibility that Christ may be speaking to us in them? [cf. Matt. 25:31-45]. When our Church becomes the "hometown crowd," we are in trouble! AMEN