XIVth Sunday in Ordinary time.

EZ 2: 2-5; II COR12: 7-10; MARK 6: 1-6

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel is told that he will face rejection of his message. Ezekiel's mission was to speak the truth despite apathy and resistance. In the second reading, St. Paul speaks about his mission of preaching God's word despite his weakness, "a thorn in his flesh." This Gospel story is a kind of home coming for Jesus. The first reaction of the people in the synagogue to Jesus' words was one of astonishment.  Many who heard him were astonished.  And they said, "Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

They knew him only as a carpenter from a poor family, with no formal training in Mosaic Law. They “knew” that he could not be the promised Messiah who would come from Bethlehem as a descendant of David’s royal family.  The town’s folk needed to see His diplomas, His credentials for getting up there like that. “Who does he think he is!”  Certainly, they thought, he had gone far beyond the point one of his status as a humble carpenter should go. Instead of accepting Jesus’ message because of the evidence, the people rejected Jesus because they knew Jesus’ background.

One of the dreams of Martin Luther King was that people "would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". Jesus’ neighbors could not understand how a mere carpenter could be their political Messiah who would liberate them from Roman rule and reestablish the Davidic kingdom of power and glory.

Very often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to and refuse to accept the words of grace, love and encouragement that we offer to them, because they are too familiar with us. Hence, they are unable to see us as God's appointed instruments, the agents of God's healing and saving grace. And it happens in the reverse order too. We fail to see our friends and co-workers as God’s agents speaking to us. St. Paul teaches us that we don't have to be perfect to be instruments of God, like he had a thorn in his flesh, and he was not perfect. But we should never give up speaking the truth.

By our baptism, God calls us to share in Jesus’ prophetic mission. The task of a prophet is to speak God’s truth. We must never be afraid of this call. We may rely on Jesus to supply us with the courage to oppose the many evils in our society. Our society tells youngsters that promiscuous sex, drugs and alcohol are means by which they express their individuality. It is here that our country needs Christians with the prophetic courage of their convictions to fight against such moral evils.

The Jews rejected Jesus because they were relying on their knowledge but Jesus was inviting them to go beyond what they did know into the relationship of faith to which He was inviting them. What we’re dealing with here then is something much more serious than a mistake in reasoning. It’s the deliberate rejection of something one knows to be true. It’s the turning away from a good, one recognizes and accepts as desirable. In such negative attitude God cannot work with us.

“And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” (Mark 6:5). This is one of the most shocking statements in all the Gospels – that Jesus could not perform miracles. Not that he would not but that he simply could not. Is anything impossible with Jesus? Today’s gospel says yes. It is impossible for Jesus to perform miracles in a situation where there is no faith. Jesus could do all things and wants to do all things for his people. But he needs our faith to release his power. Remember last week’s gospel of the woman with the flow of blood. Many people were touching and pushing against Jesus. Nothing happened because they did not touch with faith. But as soon as the woman of faith touches him, healing power comes out of Jesus. As all-powerful as Jesus is, we have the capacity to disable him by our lack of faith. Faith is like a switch that turns God on, lack of faith turns God off.

Remember Jesus said to the Jews, looking at the stubborn, non accepting attitude that: all the sins will be forgiven but the sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven ? There is nothing that God cannot forgive, but the deliberate hiding of the truth is a sin which prevents God’s forgiveness. Because there is no openness towards God there. It is like: I am terribly thirsty, and you give me water and I say no, that is not water and don’t take it. What will happen, I will die of hunger. That is why Jesus told the Jews, I will go, but you will die in your sins. St.Augustine said the God who created us without our consent will not save us without our consent. So, God takes our consent in working his grace into us.

While Mark says: “he could work no miracles there,”   Matthew says, “He did not work many miracles there” (13:58), making it look more like a decision on Jesus' part.  It is a frightful thought that we have the ability to prevent miracles, to tie the Lord’s hands.... How many miracles have I prevented in my life?  Or this week?  Why are my wife and children so quiet?  Are they sinking into despair?  Or have I a way of making my husband feel so bad that everything he might do or say is condemned in advance? 

When we blame God for doing nothing while we suffer all things here below, does God perhaps blame us for our unbelief that has made it impossible for Him to act?

Let’s not try to place God or others in our boxes, trying to limit them by our limited understanding of them. Let’s be open to God for God to work in and through us.