From the Sunday Note with additional thoughts–
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
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.
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.
Mark 6:1-6, Sunday’s Gospel reading
If we read chapters 4 and 5 of Mark, we see the Gospel writer present Jesus in a series of triumphs: he calms a storm with a commanding word, casts evil spirits out of a Gentile, heals a woman afflicted with bleeding for 12 years, and raises a young girl from the dead. Then he returns home to Nazareth—and meets the really tough opponents: skepticism and unbelief! We can hear the scorn in their voices: “Who does this guy think he is? We know all about him and his family, and now he makes himself out to be a big somebody?”
It turns out the greatest opponent of the Anointed One is not unruly nature or the demonic or even death. His greatest opponent, the one most difficult to overcome, is lack of faith. How widespread that opponent is! We are all susceptible to joining just such opposition. But what is “lack of faith” more precisely? It is a lack. When we live in a family, a place, an era of the world’s history, we naturally learn enough to navigate our way through what is around us. Many, many actions, words, and judgments are repeated around us day after day—leading to a problem sometimes called “everydayness.” The people in Nazareth have seen him and his relatives through years and years, and they were sure nothing more was to be learned, seen, or experienced from them. Their eyes glaze over…and when the power of God begins to work among them, they honestly cannot see it. Instead of recognizing a new source of light, they are irritated instead by its flash. Routine smoothers it.
“Faith” in this context would be a willingness, a hunger (even if small) to hear and follow the voice of God speaking. It all begins with being open to hear or see or read or experience something that bears communication from God to us, particularly, now, this day. For myself, I find it most frequently in Scripture. But also in conversation, prayer, nature and landscapes, beautiful works of art, of music, in liturgical acts (the Mass, a funeral, a baptism) and quiet meditation. All are ways of breaking through “everydayness” to a life of faith.
We ask for it to happen. Then keep our eyes and ears open. Our inmost self will know.
The next element in faith is trust of what we hear. But there is nothing to trust if we haven’t heard it, nothing to hear if we don’t want to hear it.
For further reflection:
We should pray with expectation. God wants to encourage us to heal, to grow, to strengthen our overt relationship with him. As with human relationships, this is a gradual process in which misunderstandings and set-backs can pave the way for firmer, deeper friendship and knowledge of the other.
Is this valuable enough for you to stick with?
Your thoughts, comments, questions are welcomed. Leave a “Reply” or email me direct (see “ABOUT” above if you need my email address).