FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
4 JULY 2021
When
Jesus returns to his native place, he encounters astonishment. The locals have heard of his wisdom and the
mighty deeds wrought by his hands. They
are amazed that he has attracted disciples who have left everything to follow
him. However, their astonishment is not
one of pride. Instead, their
astonishment is driven by unbelief. The
residents of Nazareth had known him all his life. They had seen him working with his father as
an ordinary carpenter. They know his
family in a tightly knit community that does not have language to distinguish
between siblings and cousins. In a
culture which names a man as a son of his father, they sneer at him and call
him the son of Mary. They know that Mary
had conceived him before she was formally married to Joseph. They refuse to believe that one so great
could come from among those who are so wretched. He is far too ordinary for them.
We tend to
judge the people of Nazareth harshly. But,
we resemble the folks in Nazareth more than we think. Unlike them, we have the advantage of the
Scriptures that proclaim Jesus Christ is the Son of God who is capable of such
wisdom and mighty deeds. At Christmas, we
celebrate the Mystery of the Incarnation, of God taking on our ordinary human
flesh.
But like
those folks in the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus Christ might be too familiar to
us. We tend to put the truth about him
into our own narrow categories. Today we
celebrate our freedom as Americans. We
are grateful for our freedoms and many blessings. But, we can take our freedom and comfortable
standard of life for granted. Those of
us who have traveled or lived in third world countries know how privileged we
are. But, we can put our citizenship
first and forget our responsibility to the poor and vulnerable of our
world. With modern technology, it is
easy to become the rich man ignoring Lazarus starving at our doorsteps. In our divided country, we can put membership
in a political party first and view our discipleship from that narrow lens. We can become so alienated from those with
whom we disagree that we cannot see the presence of Christ in them. It becomes more difficult to see the daily
miracles (or signs of the Lord’s presence) in our narrow vision of faith. Jesus can become too ordinary in our daily
experience.
Jesus
understands the fate of being in the long line of prophets. Like Ezekiel, he and his words will be
rejected, even though he is the Incarnate Word of God. Saint Paul understands this dynamic. In his ministry of evangelizing the Gentiles,
he has experienced his share of suffering and rejection. But he also knows his successes. In writing to the Corinthians, he makes it
clear that the fruit of his ministry is up to God, not him. His “thorn in the flesh” has helped him to see
this truth more clearly in his ministry.
Saint Paul does not tell what his “thorn in the flesh” is. Some speculate that it may have been a
painful physical defect. Others wonder
whether it might be a persistent habit that he cannot break. Whatever it is, he prayed constantly that the
Lord would remove the thorn from his flesh.
When the Lord does not remove it, he realizes that God’s grace allows
the Lord’s power to dwell more powerfully within him.
Every one
of us has a “thorn in the flesh” – some weakness that causes great pain. Like
Saint Paul, we may beg the Lord to remove it.
When he does not, we can understand our call to evangelize more
clearly. Our thorn tells us that the
Lord does not expect success from us. He
expects faithfulness. We can manifest how
extraordinary is the ordinary indwelling of the Son of God in our midst by our
words and actions. That is the mission
of evangelization. Once we embrace our
thorns, we see the opportunity for divine grace to enter, transform, and
manifest to others God’s incredible love and power now, in our hometown of
Granger.
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