May the Lord give you peace.
It is 07th July 2024. We reflect on Ezekiel 2:2-5 / 2 Cor 12:7-10 / Mark 6:1-6.
It is 14th Sunday of the Ordinary Time.
“The greatest of all illusions is the illusion of familiarity.” G.K. Chesterton.
Are we taking people and things for granted just because of their familiarity and proximity to us?
Can Jesus work miracle in our life? Most of us would say yes. But in reality, He is not doing any miracle because of our belief in Jesus is shadowed by many things.
Is it our familiarity or prejudice or what else not to have faith in Jesus? Is God’s grace sufficient for us? Do we know who Jesus is?
In the first reading, God chooses Ezekiel to be the prophet to a rebellious people who have vowed not to listen to the Lord. But they did not want to accept and listen to God. The Lord said: “whether they listen or not, let them know that there is a prophet among them.” The Lord sent the prophet to a rebellious people.
In the second read, St. Paul confesses his strength in the Lord even though he was weak. Yes, we all are weak persons. God alone can remove our weakness and brokenness. “My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.”
East or west home is best. Not for all indeed. Surely not for Jesus. Having baptized in the hands of John the Baptist, he started do the ministry in around Capernaum, 36 kms from Nazareth. He did not act in his hometown. Brendan Byrne: “the greatest enemy to faith can simply be “familiarity”: a refusal to believe that God’s presence could come to us in so familiar a form as the person next door.”
Can a Carpender talk about the Kingdom of God?
Are we having a tunnel vision? Children were asked to do an assessment to observe and write whatever they saw and write in the nearby park. Many wrote: No Kangaroos. “I was looking for that only.”
Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus all went through a hostile people and situation.
Jesus received hostile reactions. He could work no miracle. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
There is a rebel, an enemy, and a sin within each one of us as there is a prophet in each one of us.
The rebel and the enemy within are so subtle, hidden, and oblique, we tend to ignore and begin to fight the related shadows and resemblance in others. However best one could be, he or she will not be appreciated by the people whom he or she is so familiar with. We need to stand our grounds when people are still destroying the very base we stand and work.
The rejection, rebellion, retaliation are the unfair response and treatment we get for having been honest, hardworking, and speaking and standing for the truth. God may not alter our sufferings and the situations of rejection. When we have mastered fighting and dealing with the enemy and the rebel and that ‘thorn in the flesh,’ we are not that much affected emotionally and spiritually as people refuse to acknowledge the goodness that we show.
People choose not to appreciate your good works and words of consolations and correction, yet we need to continue to do the will of God. Our worth is shining right within and become resilient while people engage in refuting and rejecting every tiny move we make. The pain within can be healed by one’s own personal conversion and the constant focus on God through our faith.
If we are not rejected, ignored, and humiliated yet, it means we have not done anything substantially and all that we have done and spoken are the things that pleased the people not God.
The first reading teaches us that there is a prophet for God’s people even if they are not interested in listening to the prophet.
The responsorial Psalm intercedes, “Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.” (Ps.123:2).
The second readings strengthen each one of us teaching that it is through Grace of God that we live and continue to believe God. “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9,10).
The Gospel encourages us to go to people other than our own. Let us not spend all our time looking at the thorny bushes and sinful conditions within our communities and families we come from and being rejected by our own rather let us embark the journey of love, peace and reconciliation and offering hope even if people do not accept and reject our message of love as relevant. Whether we are appreciated or not, let us do our part healing the world around by healing ourselves. We are all wounded persons need a tremendous grace to be healed. However, rejected one could be by the family, the community and nation, we are not a reject in the eyes of God and therefore, we still can churn and shake the core for the welfare of the humanity.