14th Sunday – Ordinary Time

Jesus said to His disciples, “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 by their lack of faith.   Mk. 6: 1 – 6

A prophet is the one who proclaims God’s message for you and me, and for the whole world. On this Sunday Gospel reading, we are given a hint of what a prophet is. A prophet is someone who speaks of God’s Words, God’s message to His people in a certain time and place. Jesus narrated His experience of being rejected by his own kinsmen, in Nazareth. He would like to perform miracles, but He was not accepted due to lack of faith of the people in consideration of His background. A carpenter’s son? Probably, He did not foresee of this kind of encounter of rejection. And Jesus was surprised.

Somewhat all of us could relate to in this incident. In some point of our life, as Christians who shared in the prophetic ministry of Christ, we experience rejection and lack of acceptance even in our own native place. When we experienced this, we felt like Jesus. We know Jesus could do great things and worked miracles but when He felt of being not accepted, He could do nothing. We cannot also perform the best of our capabilities because everything lies on how people around us could accept and believe to what we proclaim. Of course, those who know very well our limitations would not believe on us if we proclaim good things and on the other way around, we do the opposite to what we proclaim.

The main invitation of today’s gospel to our fellow Christian and fellow religious is to be sensitive in listening to one another. God is present in each and every one of us. We all need to recognize His presence to others. It is only our good faith that could help us listen to each other in order that God’s healing and salvation can enter into our lives.

We have all the role in this prophetic ministry of Christ as baptized Christian and professed religious brothers or sisters or ordained ministers. Let us be welcoming to where we are, so we can do great things for God’s Kingdom. In case we experienced this kind of rejection that Jesus experienced, let us just allow it to pass and have it experienced because it is part in sharing Christ prophetic ministry. The important is our response and attitude to this kind of certain situation and experiences of rejection. These are the challenges that we needed to face. Jesus asks us to love and forgive others as He loves and forgives them. Who could then separate us from the love of God?

 

Claire Marie R. Sy, CMT

Manila Community