Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B)
04.07.2021
Gospel Reflections by Fr. Freddie Santhumayor SVD
A reading from the gospel according to Mk 6:1-6
Main Focus: Just as the OT prophets and Jesus (the greatest NT
Prophet) were rejected by their own people, so also those who do prophetic
mission today are resisted and rejected by their own people because of
prejudices and for exercising their role as denouncers of evil.
In brief: Rejection of a prophet
SYNOPSIS
Today’s gospel text tells us about a striking contrast between Jesus’ total rejection in his own hometown Nazareth and his astounding success in another town Capernaum. Hence, the main theme of today’s gospel is – a prophet’s rejection by his own people for three reasons: (1) over-familiarity with him and prejudices against him; (2) his role as the one who denounces evil; and (3) lack of faith in his divine powers.
First of
all, in today’s gospel we get an example of how narrow-mindedness, prejudice
and over-familiarity can lead us to the rejection of God’s message coming to us
from his prophets or our own leaders who play a prohetic role. Jesus’ humble
and human origins and lowly occupation as a carpenter became an obstacle for
people of his hometown to believe in him (6:3). They were also jealous of him
for his exceptional wisdom and power and asked: “Where did this man get all
this” (6:2)? Instead of becoming “owner’s pride and neighbour’s envy,” Jesus
became “owner’s envy and neighbour’s pride.” His own people despised him and
refused to listen to him, because they could not believe that God was at work
in him. By rejecting him they rejected God’s Kingdom, that is, his offer of
salvation.
What
happened to Jesus happens to us even today. It is not uncommon to notice some good,
committed and talented leaders, preachers and social reformers, even among the
priests and the Religious, becoming unacceptable to their own people or
religious congregations; but getting acceptance from outsiders. There is a
saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” And I would say over-familiarity breeds a
higher degree of contempt and envy. When we do God’s work or speak for him and
act on his behalf, we are often rejected by our own family members, friends and
relatives, and in our own native place. People might scornfully ask: "Who
does he think he is?" It is like posting a notice at our heart’s boundary:
“Insiders are not acceptable to us even if they are wonderful” and “Outsiders
are acceptable even if they are half-baked.” Are we are willing to accept the
truth from whomever it comes. Within our families, religious communties or
congregations, priestly cirlces, workplaces, villages and neighbourhood,
over-familiarity often generates prejudices and jealousies towards those who
perform better. Are we often too critical of those who are close to us?
Secondly,
Jesus was rejected by his own people for his prophetic role and mission. He
said that prophets are honoured better outside their hometown, and the circle
of their own family or kith and kin (6:4). Broadly speaking prophets in the OT
had two contrasting roles: (1) announcing
God’s word, interpreting his will, predicting the future in terms of the
present situation and instilling hope and consolation in people; and (2) denouncing personal and social evil,
social injustice and ungodly ways of the world. It is precisely this sencond
role of Jesus as the greatest prophet of NT disturbed his people. They took
“offence” at him (6:3), because his prophetic role of denuncing evil, injustice
and hypocrisy of Jewish leaders must have scandalized them so much that he
became a stumbling block in their sight. This story continues till today.
All of
us are called to be prophets by our baptism and must speak for God even if
people refuse to listen. We exercise our prophetic call at various levels: (1)
at the personal level when we guide, correct and admonish people; (2) at the
level of the Church when we encourage other members, instil hope in them,
purify the Church and warn her erring members; (3) at the level of society we
do it when we stand for God’s values, oppose social evils, encourage, comfort,
warn and admonish its leaders and heads.There is a tendency in us to give up
our prophetic mission of counselling, guiding and giving fraternal corrections
to others due to fear of rejection of our message by our own people. Often we
close our eyes at the faults and wrongdoings of those who are close to us in
our own families and religious communities for fear of reaction or backlash from
them and losing our good relationship with them. Due to this fear, we think the
best ‘virtue’ is to practice a “culture of silence”, that is keeping quiet. Today’s
gospel invites us to remain faithful to our prophetic mission in small ways in
spite of rejections. Do we?
Taken in
another sense, today God continues to call us back to his path through his
prophets. Parents, good friends, teachers, spouses, catechists, good leaders,
priests and the religious are like prophets who often remind us to walk on
God’s ways. They correct us and even warn us. We do not want to listen to them
and reject them along with their message. Why? Is it not for the same reson we
heard just now?
Thirdly,
the final reason of Jesus’ rejection was the unbelief of the people or lack of
faith in him (6:5-6). Miracles do not happen in the absence of faith. Through Jesus,
God was inviting the people of
A
prayer
Lord Jesus,
the most amazing Prophet for all
times, grant that we may be faithful
to our baptismal call to be prophets who announce your word of comfort and
denounce evil. Give us the strength to face rejection and opposition when we do
our mission as prophets in the world. Amen.
To read the full text of my Gospel Reflections for the 14th
Sunday of Ordinary Time [Year B], please go to my Blog by clicking on the
following link:
http://freddygospelreflections.blogspot.com
FULL TEXT
Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (B) [Mk
6:1-6]
04.07.2021
The
Rejection of Jesus at
1. Theme in
brief
Rejection
of a prophet
2. Focus
Statement:
Just as the
OT prophets and Jesus (the greatest NT Prophet) were rejected by their own
people, so also those who do prophetic mission today are resisted and rejected
by their own people because of prejudices and their role as denouncers of evil.
3.
Explanation of the text
Today’s gospel text tells us that Jesus
went from
Why did the people of
When we read other parts of Mark’s gospel, we find further reasons for their rejection of him. They might have thought he was 'crazy smart.' Mark says his family had gone to restrain him from his activities because people were saying he had "gone out of his mind" (Mk 3:21). The scribes said that he was casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons called Belzebul (Mk 3:22). They might have been also jealous of him for his exceptional wisdom and power. They might have thought that God could not work in a special way through someone who had that kind of background.
Secondly, from Jesus’ own words we come to know that he was rejected by his own people for his prophetic role, just like the prophets of OT were often rejected. The real identity of Jesus – who he is – is an important issue in Mark’s gospel. Today’s text tells us that he was a prophet who was rejected in his own hometown for these reasons, by his own kin and house (6:4), but was accepted by outsiders. That is why he said that prophets are honoured better outside their hometown, and the circle of their own family or kith and kin (6:4). The OT prophets’ role of announcing God’s word and denouncing the evil ways of the people (including those in power) was disturbing to Israelites, especially its leaders. So also was Jesus’ prophetic role. That is why they might have taken “offence” at him (6:3, literally, were “stumbled” or “scandalized” by him). In other words, his unconventional behaviour must have scandalized them so much that he became a stumbling block in their sight.
Thirdly, the final reason of rejection was their unbelief or lack of faith in him (6:5-6). The fact that he could not do any ‘mighty deeds’ (miracles) there except curing a few sick people (6:5), does not mean that he had no power to do so. He could have done, but did not want to force his grace on those who were unwilling to believe in his divine power or trust him. He was amazed at their lack of faith (6:6) which was quite in contrast to his amazement at the deeper level of faith he found outside his town and family circle. Through him God was inviting the Nazarenes to experience his loving rule (that is, his Kingdom) of peace, liberation, brotherhood and justice. But their prejudice prevented them from accepting his invitation.
4. Application to life
Today’s gospel is an example of prejudice of familiarity. We learn from it how
narrow-mindedness, prejudice and over-familiarity
can lead us to the rejection of God’s
message coming to us from his prophets. The people of
We are familiar with this saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” I would rather say
that over-familiarity breeds a higher degree of contempt. When we do God’s
work, speak for him and act on his behalf, we are often rejected by our own
family members, friends and relatives, and in our own native place. Those who
know us and our background too well often fail to believe, respect and accept us.
Just like Jesus, sometimes this over-familiarity can become a stumbling block to our mission. It turns even
the most towering and awe-inspiring personalities into very harmless and
ordinary creatures in the eyes of prejudiced minds. When people become fixated to this over-familiarity, they refuse
to accept and believe in anything good coming from the best leaders and
teachers among them. They might scornfully ask: "Who does he think he is?"
The worst form of rejection comes when our own family members or close
relatives rebuff an offer of help
extended to them just to show their displeasure against us. Like the people of
What happened to Jesus happens to us even today. It is not uncommon to notice some good and committed leaders, preachers and social reformers becoming unacceptable to their own people and unsuccessful among them; but getting acceptance from outsiders or strangers. Familiarity not only breeds contempt but also generates envy. It is not totally unusual to find our worst critics or opponents among our own family members, relatives and neighbours. We too are often critical towards those who are close to us. In family, workplace, office, committees, staff and neighbourhood, over-familiarity often generates prejudices and jealousies towards those who perform better, are better committed and talented. Unfortunately, this weakness is commonly observed even among those who undergo long years of spiritual and religious formation/ training in the Church. When people become so hard-hearted that they do not take the best leaders and teachers in their midst seriously, they become fixated in their way of life. There will not be anybody to challenge, admonish, correct and guide them. All will have a free hand to do what they want.
Let us take the second theme of today: a
prophet’s rejection. Who were the prophets?
Prophets in the OT were messengers of God who spoke on his behalf. They were
his spokespersons who proclaimed his word to the contemporary situation. Broadly
speaking they had two contrasting roles: (1) announcing
God’s word, interpreting his will, predicting the future in terms of the
present situation and instilling hope and consolation in people; and (2) denouncing personal and social evil, social
injustice and ungodly ways of the world. For this second role of warning people of the danger of evil ways they
were called the watchmen of
All of us are called
to be prophets by our baptism and
must speak for God even if people refuse to listen. When we were baptized the
minister anoints our forehead with the oil of ‘chrism’ to denote our consecration as prophets, priests and kings
after the model of Christ. We exercise our prophetic
call at various levels: (1) at the personal
level when we guide, correct and admonish people; (2) at the level of the Church when we encourage other
members, instil hope in them, purify the Church and warn her erring members; (3)
at the level of society we do it when
we stand for God’s values, oppose social evils, encourage, comfort, warn and
admonish its rulers and leaders. Parents, teachers and local leaders also are
called to exercise this prophetic role towards their children, students and
subjects. Just as the OT prophets and Jesus were rejected by their own people,
so also today’s prophets are rejected because their message often disturbs people. Our prophetic role may meet
with resistance and opposition by those who refuse to change their
ways – often in our own families and neighbourhood. If Jesus’ teaching met with
contempt from his own people, why
should we expect something different? In spite of facing rejection by our own
people, today’s gospel invites us to remain faithful
to our mission. To be faithful to our prophetic mission, we must learn to live
with and deal with rejection, criticism, opposition and frustration.
There is a tendency in us to give up our good work and prophetic role of counselling, guiding and giving fraternal corrections to others due to discouragement caused by the rejection of our message by those to whom it is addressed. Normally we close our eyes at the faults and wrongdoings of those who are close to us in families and religious communities for fear of reaction from their side and losing our good relationship with them. The best ‘virtue’ we practice is called ‘the culture of silence.’ This fear slackens our commitment to God’s cause. Whether people listen or not, we have to proclaim God’s truth. Sometimes when we consider our own weakness or frailty, we think we are unworthy to correct others. Some parents think: Who am I to tell children not to do a thing when I myself am doing it. Thus they fail in their God-given mission to proclaim his values to them. In that case, children get license to do the wrong things that parents do not have the guts to forbid. This sort of dilemma should motivate parents and leaders to change themselves first.
Taken
in another sense, God continues to call us back
to his path through his prophets. Parents, good friends, teachers,
spouses, catechists, good leaders, priests and the religious are like prophets
who often remind us to walk on God’s
ways. They correct us and even warn us. We do
not want to listen to them
and reject them along with their message. Why? There could be several reasons: (1) We are prejudiced against them
because of their profession, family background or past record. (2) We are so
proud that we cannot see our faults and close our eyes on our faults/sins, that
is, do not want to accept them. (3) We do not want to change, and want to
maintain the status quo. (4) We are so greedy and pleasure-loving that we find
it difficult to give up those immoral practices/ bad habits which are condemned
by prophets like parents, teachers, pastors and other leaders.
Finally, miracles do not happen in the absence of faith. We are living in a Nazareth-like world, in a culture that is disinterested in Jesus’ gospel. Our teaching and preaching may change nothing in those who do not believe. Nobody can be healed if they do not want to. It is up to people to close their doors against Jesus or keep them open so that he can enter. What about us?
5.
Response to
God's Word
Are there symptoms of narrow-mindedness, prejudice and jealousy in us that lead us to reject the good in our own people? Does over-familiarity with people close to us lead to their contempt? Are we willing to transcend the limitations of over-familiarity and accept the truth from whomever it comes? Do we remain faithful to our prophetic call and mission against all odds such as opposition, criticism, discouragement? Due to frustration and rejection do we give up this mission? Do we listen to prophets among us? If not, why not?
6. A prayer
Jesus,
you are the most amazing Prophet for all times. Continue to guide, encourage,
comfort, warn and instil hope in us. Grant that we may be faithful to our
baptismal call to be prophets who announce your word of comfort and denounce
evil. Give us the strength to face criticism and rejection of a prophet. Amen.
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