Reflection for July 4, 2021

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ( B )

Ezekiel 2:2-5 | Psalm 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 | Mark 6:1-6

​Today’s readings assure us that neither rejection nor personal limitation need inhibit the power of God working in our lives. 

Maridel, a newly commissioned Lector was assigned to proclaim the second reading in jampacked St. Pius X Parish one Sunday. She was a bag of nerves. She trembled on her way to the ambo and her knees were shaking as she stood to read. In her sheer nervousness, she started the reading this way: “A proclamation from the letter of Saint Paul to the Philippines.” And while she proceeded with the reading, she had mispronounced many words. And to conclude the reading, she said: “The end of the world”. And the people responded: “Thanks be to God.”

A prophet is called to be one who speaks as God speaks, bringing the message of God into our world, into the human family, into our lives. Israel refused to listen to the prophet Jeremiah, who had warned them against entering into military alignment with other nations and waging war. As a result, they got caught up in a war and they were totally defeated. Jerusalem was overwhelmed and destroyed. The people were carried off into exile. Ezekiel, in our First Reading, was sent to his own people who are hard of face and heart. Filled with God’s spirit, he was trying to help them to understand how they had gone wrong, to repent of their evil-doing and to come back to God. The fate that awaited Ezekiel was no surprise to him. He was warned that they might also reject him. But because God had compassion on his people, he wouldn't abandon them to the enemy’s devising. He always sends a prophet to communicate his all-important, life-saving instruction. 

There was once ​a farmer named Fernando who had two wooden water ​buckets, one painted blue and the other painted red. He used those buckets to bring water home every day. The blue bucket had a crack and leaked continuously. The red bucket was perfect and never slipped a drop. As time passed the blue bucket became sad about the leaked water. It decided to speak with the farmer. Upon learning that the blue bucket was sad, Fernando asked it to join him on a walk. They walked down the same path as always. But this time the farmer pointed out all of the beautiful flowers and plants that had sprung up around them. He explained to the blue bucket that it was responsible for all of this beauty. If he hadn't leaked water every day the blooms and greens would never have grown. The blue bucket realized that despite his flaws, he still helped those around him grow. 

In our culture we have a fixation with being strong. Weakness is anathema; it’s to be discouraged and kept under wraps. In writing to the Church in Corinth, Saint Paul makes reference to “a thorn in the flesh” that was given to him; an “angel of Satan” that he asked the Lord three times might be removed from him. He had some very painful handicap which he felt prevented him from preaching the Gospel effectively. He begged God to take away this affliction. The answer to his prayer was surprising. He was told that God’s power working through him shone more in his weakness. Stan Lee, the head of Marvel Comics changed the game for superheroes when he decided to make them flawed and have weaknesses instead of being God-like. People took to it because they could relate to them in a way they couldn't with Superman. Do you realize the purpose of your flaws, shortcomings and woundedness? Each of us suffer from different things, in different ways, at different stages in our lives. It may be a disease or disability. It may be a form of persecution or oppression. It may be a particular sin that we struggle to overcome. Jesus knew what it was to suffer weakness and to rely on God. And because of this, death was conquered, sin was overcome, and the salvation of the world was won. The life of an apostle is an epiphany of the cross of Christ. Jesus loves cracked buckets. He has a plan for your life – not despite your past, but because of it. Our “thorns of the flesh” should help us to identify with Christ who makes our weaknesses sources of strength and power. 

Like many other spiritual writers, Fr. Henri Nouwen’s huge body of writings have touched me deeply and have played a significant role in my own formation. In one of his reflections, he lamented on how hard it is to witness for Christ within one’s family: 

"I had a dream that I would be the priest of my family. Everybody would love me. I would baptize the children and bury my uncles and aunts, and I would be connected to everyone else. Now my mother has died, my father is 90 and becoming blind. My sister got separated from her husband and neither wants that much to do with me...One brother has a very shaky marriage...Another brother’s wife has cancer...And they ALL left the church. Nobody had their children baptized. They don’t even go to church. They think I am an interesting medieval figure, but they don’t know what I am all about. When I come home, they say, “Just be our brother, don’t talk about religion.” That is a loss. I cannot be a minister, a priest for my own family. The little children don’t know anything what their Uncle Henri is about. They know he is doing strange things, he goes to this church...He has this white thing on. My own family, my own flesh! Wonderful people who have suffered a lot, but part of a culture that has moved away from the church. It took me a long time to not feel guilty about that, to not feel that it was my fault."

In our Gospel, Jesus went back to His hometown of Nazareth shortly after he finished teaching in the synagogue but it was far from being a happy homecoming. They rejected Jesus because he was one of their own, a man from Nazareth, someone they had watched grow up. The village people begin questioning the disciples about just where did Jesus study, what degrees has he received. The questions that they posed were not simple queries, asked out of interest; they were attacks, issuing from cynical spirits. They not only doubt his credentials as a prophet, they are downright insulting. Who does Jesus think he is? They knew him. He is the carpenter’s boy and the son of Mary down the road. They are confined by what they know and so move to reject him as anything new or different. Jesus stands up, lays his hands on a few sick folks for good measure and leaves the square. He did not argue or defend, or reject his neighbors. The questionings of others did not move him to question himself. He continued being who he was and doing who he was — a prophet. He set off to share the Good News elsewhere and to offer God's saving love to the hearts and minds that were ready and willing to believe and have faith in the Son of God. At times, we may be like Jesus, bringing the wisdom and power of God to our friends, families or communities, only to meet with rejection. Take consolation in the fact that Christ shares your moments of pain and disappointment in a very special and personal way. Some people are going to reject you, simply because you shine too bright for them. And that's okay. Regardless of your circumstances, keep shining God's love and bringing life around you. <enrique.ofs>