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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Year B

July 8, 2012

Reading I: Ezechiel 2:2-5

Reading II: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

 

Gospel Mk 6:1-6
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.

I think there is more to this little episode than a nice story about Jesus going back home for a few days to see the family, and taking the opportunity to speak in the synagogue while he was there. Mark even avoids calling the town Nazareth. He says that Jesus "came to  his native place". This might have been for readers in far away places who had no idea where Nazareth was. But simply by saying Jesus came to his native place, Mark already gives the story a global dimension. What is his "native place", if not any place where people would know him and claim him as their own, anywhere that people feel that he belongs among them.

But he complained about their refusal to give him credit for what he was doing, and was amazed at their lack of faith.

This a warning that growing up with Jesus gives no title of privileged access to him? It could be a criticism of the people who stayed home, not even bothering to go down to the Jordan to be baptised by John, with the result that they remained locked in their small-town ignorance and the presumption and prejudice it sheltered?

It could also be a reprimand. The maxim that "a prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house" is not an excuse. It is a shameful thing. Familiarity breeds contempt. The Jerusalem Bible has: "A prophet is despised only in his own country..."

Presumption and prejudice can be found in Christian churches today at every level. It is not a good idea to think of oneself as a "born Catholic", or Christian-by-birth. There is no birthright to 'the Christ'. The notion of "Vicar of Christ" as a title that endows a man with authority to speak and act definitively on behalf of Jesus the Christ is problematic in the extreme. If we dare describe ourselves as the "People of God", it must always be as a pilgrim people, a people called out of darkness. The call is always to leave where you are and go forth - go forward, go away, perhaps.

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This is recognised throughout the Bible, and indeed in all traditions of spirituality. Abraham was called "to leave your father and your father's house and go forth to a land I will show you" (Gen 12:1) This quote is from the opening words in the story of Abraham, "our father in faith". The letter to the Hebrews adds another phrase: "he went out, not knowing where he was to go" (Heb 11:8).

The start of the journey of faith for every least one of us can only be in leaving, in going out. Leaving is up to us: the place of our arrival is in God's hands. The only mistake we can make is to refuse to leave, to sit tight, holding fast to our traditions and protecting our accomplishments. 

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Yet currently church leaders make much of their responsibility to protect and preserve. The idea that the Creator Spirit might depend on us to keep safe its work is the stuff that dreams are made on. Looking at their current attempt to wind back the Spirit-filled experience of Vatican II, we might well be amazed at their lack of faith.  

Vatican II was a brave beginning, but it fell far short of what is needed. Even its charter of aggiornamento only meant 'bringing up to date', and the subtext was to open windows on the world. While this was a necessary and courageous first step at the time, it is hardly a worthy response to the call for metanoia that opens the gospel narrative and must be the program of every day in the life not only of every christian but of every institution that bears the name Christian. It doesn't even begin to resonate with the word that stands at the very end of the New Testament literature: “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5). 

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The question is asked: Do we need the institution? Do we need organised religion? At the very least, this can be said with confidence: In the absence of better guidance from knowledgeable leaders, christians today have to launch into the deep, alone or in small groups, with that trust in the Spirit which is the only touchstone of true spirituality. While in the centres of ecclesial power they are worried about many things, across the globe new forms of spiritual life in the Way of Jesus are breaking through in fertile ground. There is no time left for standing idly by, waiting to be hired by some remote patron; now it is time to go forth in trust, to join with one or two like-minded folk and become, in your native place, a little community which is the living 'body' of the risen Christ.

If Jesus were to visit "in the flesh" he might well be amazed at the vitality of their faith!