Mark 6: 1-6
Dear Friends,
On the surface, it seems strange that the homefolks would not be delighted to see Jesus rise to fame. Truly, it is a story of a local boy making in the big time.
Such clearly was not the response of the locals. Their astonishment was not positive but negative.
Their questions showed that they considered Jesus one of them. In their mind, this excluded him from being a person of wisdom and a prophet. They had clear ideas how God would act, how the Messiah would come. Jesus did not fit their agenda. So rather than celebrate his new role, they were scandalized. The family reunion was not a fun thing for Jesus.
Any time we encounter an attack on our common sense understanding of reality in a Gospel story we should be thankful. It always is an invitation to go deeper. A gift of more profound wisdom awaits us.
As we analyze what the neighbors did, we are invited into a deeper Gospel truth. The people of Nazareth seemed unconcerned about the wisdom and mighty deeds of Jesus. There issue was the source. Where did this privileged knowledge and power come from? They are saying, in effect, that God could not use one of their own to do the mighty works of God. This is called the scandal of the Incarnation. On the contrary, God did chose to reveal himself in the ordinary stuff of life, in one of our own.
In this story of Jesus’ home town, it is a relative, a neighbor and the local carpenter that opens up the mystery of God.
The locals of Nazareth were choosing the comfort of ritual and ancient texts rather than the healing presence of one of their own to define their experience of God. It was both safer and more comfortable. In our day, the Sunday mass most often is much less threatening to our status quo than to be confronted by “one of the least of my brothers and sisters” (Mt 25: 40) on the way to church. Like the people of Nazareth, we tend to put God in a box by our clear and limited expectations for God.
The surprise is in the commonplace. God is in all of life. There are no limits. We need to be open to every bit of our daily experience. It is the ordinary and not the exceptional where we will find God. Progress in spirituality shows itself in the ability to recognize God in the familiar things in life.
Teresa of Avila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, is quite emphatic on this point. In her many writings Teresa never encourages people to seek the exceptional gifts that were her singular experience. She teaches that it is in faithfulness to the ordinary responsibilities and relationships where we will find God. In this, she simply is a faithful reflection of the Gospel. She is never far from walking with Jesus in all things.
Teresa’s Gospel orientation kept her approach incarnational. Teresa stressed the practicalities of life. She said we will find God in the pots and pans of daily service and commitment to our sisters and brothers.
Teresa was not into other-worldliness. She fought off escapism and false division between daily experience and the spiritual. In all of these approaches to true spirituality in real life, she was expressing what happens when we keep our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus.
On the surface, it seems strange that the homefolks would not be delighted to see Jesus rise to fame. Truly, it is a story of a local boy making in the big time.
Such clearly was not the response of the locals. Their astonishment was not positive but negative.
Their questions showed that they considered Jesus one of them. In their mind, this excluded him from being a person of wisdom and a prophet. They had clear ideas how God would act, how the Messiah would come. Jesus did not fit their agenda. So rather than celebrate his new role, they were scandalized. The family reunion was not a fun thing for Jesus.
Any time we encounter an attack on our common sense understanding of reality in a Gospel story we should be thankful. It always is an invitation to go deeper. A gift of more profound wisdom awaits us.
As we analyze what the neighbors did, we are invited into a deeper Gospel truth. The people of Nazareth seemed unconcerned about the wisdom and mighty deeds of Jesus. There issue was the source. Where did this privileged knowledge and power come from? They are saying, in effect, that God could not use one of their own to do the mighty works of God. This is called the scandal of the Incarnation. On the contrary, God did chose to reveal himself in the ordinary stuff of life, in one of our own.
In this story of Jesus’ home town, it is a relative, a neighbor and the local carpenter that opens up the mystery of God.
The locals of Nazareth were choosing the comfort of ritual and ancient texts rather than the healing presence of one of their own to define their experience of God. It was both safer and more comfortable. In our day, the Sunday mass most often is much less threatening to our status quo than to be confronted by “one of the least of my brothers and sisters” (Mt 25: 40) on the way to church. Like the people of Nazareth, we tend to put God in a box by our clear and limited expectations for God.
The surprise is in the commonplace. God is in all of life. There are no limits. We need to be open to every bit of our daily experience. It is the ordinary and not the exceptional where we will find God. Progress in spirituality shows itself in the ability to recognize God in the familiar things in life.
Teresa of Avila, the first woman Doctor of the Church, is quite emphatic on this point. In her many writings Teresa never encourages people to seek the exceptional gifts that were her singular experience. She teaches that it is in faithfulness to the ordinary responsibilities and relationships where we will find God. In this, she simply is a faithful reflection of the Gospel. She is never far from walking with Jesus in all things.
Teresa’s Gospel orientation kept her approach incarnational. Teresa stressed the practicalities of life. She said we will find God in the pots and pans of daily service and commitment to our sisters and brothers.
Teresa was not into other-worldliness. She fought off escapism and false division between daily experience and the spiritual. In all of these approaches to true spirituality in real life, she was expressing what happens when we keep our eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus.
