My unbelief limits Jesus

Good morning, happy Wednesday, and many blessings.

The Gospel today (Mark 6:1-6) speaks of the visit of Jesus to Nazareth and describes the obstinacy of the people of Nazareth who do not want to accept Him. Tomorrow the Gospel describes the openness of Jesus toward the people of Galilee, shown through the sending out of His disciples on mission.

They hear his preaching, his message of the Kingdom concerning how the new wine cannot be held in the old wineskins, and rather than embrace the teaching, they outright reject it. Not only that, but they also even take offense at him and what he has become.

That is, they could only see what Jesus was and not the Jesus as anointed teacher, called prophet, or indeed, Jesus Messiah. They could only remember that they knew his family and his roots. They could only see the one who worked with calloused hands and not the one who brought a new, fresh and final work from GOD.

The response of the people of Nazareth to Jesus should serve to remind us that we must be open to what GOD is doing, that GOD's word often comes to us in terms Spirit-refreshed not old and stale, and that we will miss this word to us if we can't see beyond his messenger. 

Or, said differently, GOD is most often at work in the most unlikely ways, using the most unlikely persons, and just because what GOD is doing is not what we expected, doesn't mean it is not GOD's work.

We might well ask just why unbelief limited Jesus' work? Clearly, the point here is that GOD respects human freedom. If the people of Nazareth, or my hometown even, do not want to hear from GOD ("he that has ears to hear, let him hear"), and if they do not want healings and deliverance to come ("he was not able to perform any mighty deed there"), then GOD will not force these good works on them.

Finally, it seems clear that Jesus simply did not expect to be rejected by his hometown. These were the people he probably knew better than anyone else on the earth. These were the people for whom he probably carried the heaviest burden. And, yet, they wanted no part of him. And so, the people of Nazareth, rather that experiencing the joy of a new way to live -- the way of freedom and hope -- continue in their same old, tired thoughts of prejudice and hate.

Definitely, Jesus had problems with His relatives and with His community rejection. From the time when you began to live the Gospel better, has something changed in your relationship with your family and with your relatives? Jesus cannot work many miracles in Nazareth because faith is lacking. Today, does He find faith in us, in me?

Blessings,

Fr. Luis+