Reflection on Scripture Fourteenth Sunday Gospel B
Fourteenth Sunday
Gospel Year B
Jesus departed from there and came to his native
place, accompanied by his disciples.
Jesus retuned to
Nazareth, possibly to visit him mother Mary.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.
Being a faithful observant of the
Covenant, Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. People had heard about
him and so he was asked to teach after the readings from the scriptures.
We don’t know from Mark what he taught,
but whatever he said, astonished the people. No one has taught like this
before. He taught with authority not quoting other Rabbis.
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! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and
Simon? And are not his
sisters here with us?” And
they took offense at him.
Their astonishment turned quickly to questioning,
doubting and taking offense at a home town son having spoken so well.
They could not accept that he was of
God. They knew him as one like them. They knew his background and his extended
family. Was he not merely a carpenter by trade?
Calling him the son of Mary and not of Joseph may have been a slur
against him?
When they indicate his “brothers and
sisters” these were probably cousins in his extended family. For we believe
Mary had no other children.
They were trying to box him in and, in a
sense, to try to control and harness him.
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.
It saddened Jesus to
feel the rejection by his own townspeople and extended family. But he knew historically
that this was the life of a prophet.
What saddened most was
that, though he wanted to minister God’s love to them through signs and
wonders, he could not because of their lack of faith. Only a few were open to his
ministry. But seeing this did not change the closed mindset of the people.
Do we at times have a
lack of faith in the person of Jesus Christ?
Do we sometimes put him
in a box of our own making?
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