Word to the Wise
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 - Wednesday in the 4th Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 12:4-7, 11-15 and Mark 6:1-6]Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house." So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. [Mark]
The Gospel According to Mark makes it clear. From the Jewish authorities down to his own kinfolk, Jesus experienced rejection and disbelief. In the case of Nazareth it may have been a kind of "familiarity breeds contempt!" "Who does this guy think he is? We've known him all his life! He's just a carpenter!" Their rejection was so complete that Jesus felt stymied in his ministry, as the lines quoted above tell us. The old expression, "There are none so blind as those who will not see..." has its roots in the experience of Jeremiah the prophet (5:21): "Pay attention to this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes and do not see, who have ears and do not hear." Jesus' statement about the fate of a prophet applied to him and challenges us to take a close look at ourselves.
Are Jesus' contemporaries any different than people of our own time? Rejection of Jesus occurs at many levels: theological, social, and political. There are some who cannot accept that he is divine. There are those who find his teachings inconvenient to their lifestyle, so they pick and choose. There are those who reject his teachings because those teachings contradict their cherished political beliefs. Nazareth can be any place. Could it be in any one of us? Has Jesus become too familiar? Or is it a matter that we don't want to see and be healed? AMEN