A Prophet without Honor

                       14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                      B cycle

 

                     

In today’s first reading the prophet Ezekiel is warned that his mission will be difficult. Though he is being sent to his own people, the Israelites, he should not expect a warm welcome. 

 

Hard of face and obstinate of heart

Are they to whom I am sending you.

 

This passage from the Hebrew scriptures is obviously an introduction to our gospel reading. Today’s passage from Mark picks up right after the words we heard last week where Jesus had worked some miracles in a land with a mixed population of Jews and pagans. Even though he was not a native of this territory, his reputation had preceded him and crowds swarmed around him. A woman just had to touch his cloak to be healed, and he had even raised the young daughter of a synagogue official from her deathbed. In both cases it was faith that worked the miracle.

 

But today we read that Jesus returned to his own native land and rather than receiving a hero’s welcome the people who knew him could not believe. Even when the wisdom of the words that he spoke in the synagogue amazed them, they could not believe their ears.

 

How could he be so smart? They knew he was just a carpenter or the son of a carpenter. They knew his mother, Mary. Was she any different from any other Jewish mother? They knew his brothers and sisters. Scholars tell us not to take these words literally. The words brother and sister could mean just cousins or kinfolk. In any case, there was nothing special about any of his relatives. 

 

We are told that his neighbors took offense at Him leading Jesus to utter the famous reply.

 

A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

And among his own kin and in his own house. 

 

It is always good for us to put ourselves in the place of those mentioned in the gospels. Today we should put ourselves in the place of the hard hearted or hard headed Israelites of Ezekiel’s time, or the neighbors of Jesus who could not believe or understand.

 

Haven’t we all had the experience of underestimating someone that we knew very well? Aren’t we surprised sometimes to find out that a brother or sister, a son or daughter has done very well in their chosen profession? Has any of us had the experience of going to an awards banquet and discovering that someone we thought we knew was highly regarded by strangers? Sadly, don’t we all often fail to realize how gifted or talented our own husbands and wives might be? We all love to get recognition but it is so hard to give it. 

 

On the other hand, it is hard when we fail to receive recognition for what we have done or for who we are. From children to senior citizens we all want to get our just desserts. The gospel says that Jesus was amazed by the lack of faith of his hometown neighbors. We can understand because we are often ignored by those closest to us. It has often been said that if business men or women would treat their spouses with the same respect they treat their clients, their marriages would be much happier.

 

In today’s second reading St. Paul expresses a similar kind of disappointment. He knows that God has given him a great gift but that God has also humbled him so that he will not become puffed up.  He knows that he will not always succeed or get the recognition he desires but still he will carry on. It is better to trust in God than in yourself.

 

I am content with weaknesses, insults,

Hardships, persecutions and constraints,

For the sake of Christ,

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

###

Reading 1.  Ezekiel 2: 2-5

Reading II. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

Gospel. Mark 6:1-6 (a prophet without honor)

Love Walked In *

                   4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                  C cycle

 

 

Today's first reading is from the beginning of the book of the Prophet Jeremiah. It is Jeremiah's call to be a prophet:

 

      But do you gird your loins;

      stand up and tell them

      all that I command you.

 

Jeremiah is going to be a prophet not in the sense that he is going to foretell the future but in the sense that he is going to remind the people of their past and their covenant with God, and bring them back into a true relationship with their God. How often have they forgotten that they are a chosen people, a people with a mission to bring all the nations to God. Jeremiah is warned that it will not be an easy task. His own people, Judah's kings and princes, priests and people, will fight against him.

. 

This reading sets the scene for the continuation of Luke's gospel account of the return of Jesus to the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth which we began last week. The first verse of today's gospel reading actually repeats the ending of last week's reading. Remember, Jesus had read a passage from Isaiah about the Lord's anointed or chosen one and then said, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

 

Today's reading gives us the peoples' reaction. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, urged his followers to try to visualize the scenes of the gospel, even see them in their minds as if they were part of the scene itself. Let's put ourselves in this scene. We're in the church, we're impressed with the eloquent words of Jesus but then we remember that He is only  one of us. "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"  Maybe we're thinking, "Wait a minute, who does this guy think he is?"

 

Jesus hears and says, "no prophet is accepted in his own native place." More than that, he tells us that in the past other prophets had been rejected by us, and could only do their healing among foreigners, even enemies. "There were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Israel, Syria, the names are still with us today in the most strife torn region of the world. Naaman himself was a Syrian warlord. 

 

OK, we're still in the scene and we can imagine our reaction. "When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury." We surge along with the crowd as we drive Him to the outskirts of the little hill town to throw Him over a cliff. However, He passes through our midst and goes away, leaving His home town of Nazareth behind.

 

St. Paul himself was no stranger to angry mobs. Before his conversion he had participated in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. He was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians there when he encountered the risen Christ and received his own call to prophesy--to bring the gospel to all nations. In today's second reading we find that he is finding it no easier than Jeremiah. 

 

He had established a Christian community in the leading Greek city of Corinth but after leaving them to continue on his missionary journeys, he has heard that they have begun to bicker among themselves. In the last two weeks we got a sense of what they were arguing about. Some felt that they were better than others--that they had received greater spiritual gifts. Christians of Jewish or Greek ancestry could not put away their traditional hostility to each other. So Paul has had to remind them that all our gifts or abilities come from Christ, that we all are part of His Mystical Body, and that we all have a role to play in the mission of Christ.

 

Even today there are many who don't like Paul especially when he tells women to be silent in Church or reminds them to be subservient to their husbands. We'll have to talk about those remarks some other day but for now it is enough to say that the same Paul wrote in today's reading the most beautiful and eloquent words that have ever been written on the subject of Love. *

 

We're in the season of love, the time of the year when we celebrate St. Valentine's day.  We know that our culture today has cheapened and debased the gift of love. We only have to watch TV to see that our culture is seeking after the lesser gifts. Paul tells us to "strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts." He boils them down to three:

 

      So faith, hope, love remain, these three;

      but the greatest of these is love."

 

What is love?

 

      Love is patient, love is kind.

      It is not jealous, it is not pompous,

      it is not inflated, it is not rude,

      it does not seek its own interests,

      it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

      it does not rejoice over wrongdoing

      but rejoices with the truth.

      It bears all things, believes all things,

      hopes all things, endures all things.

 

Let's hope that we don't share the fate of the crowd at Nazareth when Love "passed through the midst of them and went away."

###

*Note: The readings today always remind me of the great Gershwin song, "Love Walked In." Here is a link to a version by Chris Conner, or view the short video below.

Reading 1. Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

Reading II. I Corinthians 12: 31--13:13

Gospel. Luke 4: 21-30  (the son of Joseph?)

A Prophet Without Honor

                       14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

                    

 

                     

In today’s first reading the prophet Ezekiel is warned that his mission will be difficult. Though he is being sent to his own people, the Israelites, he should not expect a warm welcome. 

 

Hard of face and obstinate of heart

Are they to whom I am sending you.

 

This passage from the Hebrew scriptures is obviously an introduction to our gospel reading. Today’s passage from Mark picks up right after the words we heard last week where Jesus had worked some miracles in a land with a mixed population of Jews and pagans. Even though he was not a native of this territory, his reputation had preceded him and crowds swarmed around him. A woman just had to touch his cloak to be healed, and he had even raised the young daughter of a synagogue official from her deathbed. In both cases it was faith that worked the miracle.

 

But today we read that Jesus returned to his own native land and rather than receiving a hero’s welcome the people who knew him could not believe. Even when the wisdom of his words that he spoke in the synagogue amazed them, they could not believe their ears.

 

How could he be so smart? They knew he was just a carpenter or the son of a carpenter. They knew his mother, Mary. Was she any different from any other Jewish mother? They knew his brothers and sisters. Scholars tell us not to take these words literally. The words brother and sister could mean just cousins or kinfolk. In any case, there was nothing special about any of his relatives. 

 

We are told that his neighbors took offense at Him, leading Jesus to utter the famous reply.

 

A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

And among his own kin and in his own house. 

 

It is always good for us to put ourselves in the place of those mentioned in the gospels. Today we should put ourselves in the place of the hard hearted or hard headed Israelites of Ezekiel’s time, or the neighbors of Jesus who could not believe or understand.

 

Haven’t we all had the experience of underestimating someone that we knew very well? Aren’t we surprised sometimes to find out that a brother or sister, a son or daughter has done very well in their chosen profession? Has any of us had the experience of going to an awards banquet and discovering that someone we thought we knew was highly regarded by strangers? Sadly, don’t we all often fail to realize how gifted or talented our own husbands and wives might be? We all love to get recognition but it is so hard to give it. 

 

On the other hand, it is hard when we fail to receive recognition for what we have done or for who we are. From children to senior citizens we all want to get our just desserts. The gospel says that Jesus was amazed by the lack of faith of his hometown neighbors. We can understand because we are often ignored by those closest to us. It has often been said that if business men or women would treat their spouses with the same respect they treat their clients, their marriages would be much happier.

 

In today’s second reading St. Paul expresses a similar kind of disappointment. He knows that God has given him a great gift but that God has also humbled him so that he will not become puffed up.  He knows that he will not always succeed or get the recognition he desires but still he will carry on. It is better to trust in God than in yourself.

 

I am content with weaknesses, insults,

Hardships, persecutions and constraints,

For the sake of Christ,

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 

###

Reading 1.  Ezekiel 2: 2-5

Reading II. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

Gospel. Mark 6:1-6 (a prophet without honor)

A Prophet without Honor

                           14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                        

                          

In today’s first reading the prophet Ezekiel is warned that his mission will be difficult. Though he is being sent to his own people, the Israelites, he should not expect a warm welcome.

"Hard of face and obstinate of heart

Are they to whom I am sending you."

This passage from the Hebrew scriptures is obviously an introduction to today’s gospel reading. Today’s passage from Mark picks up right after the words we heard last week where Jesus had worked some miracles in a land with a mixed population of Jews and pagans. Even though he was not a native of this territory, his reputation had preceded him and crowds swarmed around him. A woman just had to touch his cloak to be healed, and he had even raised the young daughter of a synagogue official from her deathbed. In both cases it was faith that worked the miracle.

But today we read that Jesus returned to his own native land and rather than receiving a hero’s welcome the people who knew him could not believe. Even when the wisdom of his words when he spoke in the synagogue amazed them, they could not believe their ears.

How could he be so smart? They knew he was just a carpenter or the son of a carpenter. They knew his mother, Mary. Was she any different from any other Jewish mother? They knew his brothers and sisters. Scholars tell us not to take these words literally. The words brother and sister could mean just cousins or kinfolk. In any case, there was nothing special about any of his relatives.

We are told that his neighbors took offense at Him leading Jesus to utter the famous reply.

A prophet is not without honor except in his native place 

And among his own kin and in his own house.

It is always good for us to put ourselves in the place of those mentioned in the gospels. Today we should put ourselves in the place of the hard hearted or hard headed Israelites of Ezekiel’s time, or the neighbors of Jesus who could not believe or understand.

Haven’t we all had the experience of underestimating someone that we knew very well? Aren’t we surprised sometimes to find out that a brother or sister, a son or daughter has done very well in their chosen profession? Has any of us had the experience of going to an awards banquet and discovering that someone we thought we knew was highly regarded by strangers? Sadly, don’t we all often fail to realize how gifted or talented our own husbands and wives might be? We all love to get recognition but it is so hard to give it.

On the other hand, it is hard when we fail to receive recognition for what we have done or for who we are. From children to senior citizens we all want to get our just desserts. The gospel says that Jesus was amazed by the lack of faith of his hometown neighbors. We can understand because we are often ignored by those closest to us. It has often been said that if business men or women would treat their spouses with the same respect they treat their clients, their marriages would be much happier.

In today’s second reading St. Paul expresses a similar kind of disappointment. He knows that God has given him a great gift but that God has also humbled him so that he will not become puffed up.  He knows that he will not always succeed or get the recognition he desires but still he will carry on. It is better to trust in God than in yourself.

I am content with weaknesses, insults, 

Hardships, persecutions and constraints,  

For the sake of Christ,  

For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

###

Reading 1.  Ezekiel 2: 2-5

Reading II. 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10

Gospel. Mark 6:1-6 (a prophet without honor)

Love Walked In

                                    4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                    

Today's first reading is from the beginning of the book of the Prophet Jeremiah. It is Jeremiah's call to be a prophet:

            But do you gird your loins;

            stand up and tell them

            all that I command you.

Jeremiah is going to be a prophet not in the sense that he is going to foretell the future but in the sense that he is going to remind the people of their past and their covenant with God, and bring them back into a true relationship with their God. How often have they forgotten that they are a chosen people, a people with a mission to bring all the nations to God. Jeremiah is warned that it will not be an easy task. His own people, Judah's kings and princes, priests and people, will fight against him.

.

This reading sets the scene for the continuation of Luke's gospel account of the return of Jesus to the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth which we began last week. The first verse of today's gospel reading actually repeats the ending of last week's reading. Remember, Jesus had read a passage from Isaiah about the Lord's anointed or chosen one and then said, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

Today's reading gives us the peoples' reaction. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, urged his followers to try to visualize the scenes of the gospel, even see them in their minds as if they were part of the scene itself. Let's put ourselves in this scene. We're in the church, we're impressed with the eloquent words of Jesus but then we remember that He is only  one of us. "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"  Maybe we're thinking, "Wait a minute, who does this guy think he is?"

Jesus hears and says, "no prophet is accepted in his own native place." More than that he tells us that in the past other prophets had been rejected by us, and could only do their healing among foreigners, even enemies. "There were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Israel, Syria, the names are still with us today in the most strife torn region of the world. Naaman himself was a Syrian warlord.

OK, we're still in the scene and we can imagine our reaction. "When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury." We surge along with the crowd as we drive Him to the outskirts of the little hill town to throw Him over a cliff. However, He passes through our midst and goes away, leaving His home town of Nazareth behind.

St. Paul himself was no stranger to angry mobs. Before his conversion he had participated in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. He was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians there when he encountered the risen Christ and received his own call to prophesy--to bring the gospel to all nations. In today's second reading we find that he is finding it no easier than Jeremiah.

He had established a Christian community in the leading Greek city of Corinth but after leaving them to continue on his missionary journeys, he has heard that they have begun to bicker among themselves. In the last two weeks we got a sense of what they were arguing about. Some felt that they were better than others--that they had received greater spiritual gifts. Christians of Jewish or Greek ancestry could not put away their traditional hostility to each other. So Paul has had to remind them that all our gifts or abilities come from Christ, that we all are part of His Mystical Body, and that we all have a role to play in the mission of Christ.

Even today there are many who don't like Paul especially when he tells women to be silent in Church or reminds them to be subservient to their husbands. We'll have to talk about those remarks some other day but for now it is enough to say that the same Paul wrote in today's reading the most beautiful and eloquent words that have ever been written on the subject of Love.

We're in the season of love, the time of the year when we celebrate St. Valentine's day.  We know that our culture today has cheapened and debased the gift of love. We only have to watch TV to see that our culture is seeking after the lesser gifts. Paul tells us to "strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts." He boils them down to three:

            So faith, hope, love remain, these three;

            but the greatest of these is love."

What is love?

            Love is patient, love is kind.

            It is not jealous, it is not pompous,

            it is not inflated, it is not rude,

            it does not seek its own interests,

            it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

            it does not rejoice over wrongdoing

            but rejoices with the truth.

            It bears all things, believes all things,

            hopes all things, endures all things.

Let's hope that we don't share the fate of the crowd at Nazareth when Love "passed through the midst of them and went away." 

Reading 1. Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

Reading II. I Corinthians 12: 31--13:13

Gospel. Luke 4: 21-30  (the son of Joseph?)

###

Prophet without Honor

                                    4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

                                     

Caravaggio: Conversion of Paul

Today's first reading is from the beginning of the book of the Prophet Jeremiah. It is Jeremiah's call to be a prophet:

            But do you gird your loins;

            stand up and tell them

            all that I command you.

Jeremiah is going to be a prophet not in the sense that he is going to foretell the future but in the sense that he is going to remind the people of their past and their covenant with God, and bring them back into a true relationship with their God. How often have they forgotten that they are a chosen people, a people with a mission to bring all the nations to God. Jeremiah is warned that it will not be an easy task. His own people, Judah's kings and princes, priests and people, will fight against him.

.

This reading sets the scene for the continuation of Luke's gospel account of the return of Jesus to the synagogue in His home town of Nazareth which we began last week. The first verse of today's gospel reading actually repeats the ending of last week's reading. Remember, Jesus had read a passage from Isaiah about the Lord's anointed or chosen one and then said, "Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

Today's reading gives us the peoples' reaction. In his Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, urged his followers to try to visualize the scenes of the gospel, even see them in their minds as if they were part of the scene itself. Let's put ourselves in this scene. We're in the church, we're impressed with the eloquent words of Jesus but then we remember that He is only  one of us. "Isn't this the son of Joseph?"  Maybe we're thinking, "Wait a minute, who does this guy think he is?"

Jesus hears and says, "no prophet is accepted in his own native place." More than that he tells us that in the past other prophets had been rejected by us, and could only do their healing among foreigners, even enemies. "There were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." Israel, Syria, the names are still with us today in the most strife torn region of the world. Naaman himself was a Syrian warlord.

OK, we're still in the scene and we can imagine our reaction. "When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury." We surge along with the crowd as we drive Him to the outskirts of the little hill town to throw Him over a cliff. However, He passes through our midst and goes away, leaving His home town of Nazareth behind.

St. Paul himself was no stranger to angry mobs. Before his conversion he had participated in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first martyr. He was on the road to Damascus to persecute the Christians there when he encountered the risen Christ and received his own call to prophesy--to bring the gospel to all nations. In today's second reading we find that he is finding it no easier than Jeremiah.

He had established a Christian community in the leading Greek city of Corinth but after leaving them to continue on his missionary journeys, he has heard that the have begun to bicker among themselves. In the last two weeks we got a sense of what they were arguing about. Some felt that they were better than others--that they had received greater spiritual gifts. Christians of Jewish or Greek ancestry could not put away their traditional hostility to each other. So Paul has had to remind them that all our gifts or abilities come from Christ, that we all are part of His Mystical Body, and that we all have a role to play in the mission of Christ.

Even today there are many who don't like Paul especially when he tells women to be silent in Church or reminds them to be subservient to their husbands. We'll have to talk about those remarks some other day but for now it is enough to say that the same Paul wrote in today's reading the most beautiful and eloquent words that have ever been written on the subject of Love.

We're in the season of love, the time of the year when we celebrate St. Valentine's day.  We know that our culture today has cheapened and debased the gift of love. We only have to watch TV to see that our culture is seeking after the lesser gifts. Paul tells us to "strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts." He boils them down to three:

            So faith, hope, love remain, these three;

            but the greatest of these is love."

What is love?

            Love is patient, love is kind.

            It is not jealous, it is not pompous,

            it is not inflated, it is not rude,

            it does not seek its own interests,

            it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,

            it does not rejoice over wrongdoing

            but rejoices with the truth.

            It bears all things, believes all things,

            hopes all things, endures all things.

Let's hope that we don't share the fate of the crowd at Nazareth when Love "passed through the midst of them and went away." ###

See video for Leontyne Price's version of Gershwin's "Love Walked Right In".

Reading 1. Jeremiah 1:4-5, 17-19

Reading II. I Corinthians 12: 31--13:13

Gospel. Luke 4: 21-30  (the son of Joseph?)