Ez 2: 2-5; 2Cor 12: 7-10; Mk 6:1-6
Jesus is the prophet per excellence. He performs his mission
always accompanied by his disciples. The disciples learnt to follow Jesus
through the daily situations which involved the life of the Master, including
the situation of contempt experienced in his hometown. Revealing the God’s
plan, Jesus revealed his true identity. The people of his hometown knew
everything about him and took this as criterion of judgement. Their knowledge
about Jesus prevented them to know who Jesus is really. They rejected Jesus
because were closed to the newness of God revealed by his Son, whom is God
truly. Our knowledge about Jesus has
helped us to grow in faith, deepening our relationship with him?
This text mentions the brothers, sisters, father and mother
of Jesus, emphasizing his human dimension. Jesus is man truly. He had a family
and was a worker. Nazareth was the place where he lived and worked as carpenter
until he starts the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, the message and time of
salvation. Of course that the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned here
didn’t come from the womb of Virgin Mary and aren’t Joseph’s sons and
daughters, but extension of his family, because of cultural aspect as it
happens in many tribes in Africa. So, they were relatives of Jesus. In another
passage Jesus extends this familiar dimension to those who listen to the Word
of God and put into practice. Because the same faith, in Jesus we are brothers
and sisters and we are called to grow in familiarity with him. The synod for
Africa stated that the Church is “Family of God” and everything which doesn’t
contribute to the up building of this brotherhood must be eliminated.
Jesus stayed scandalised with the lack of faith of the people
of his hometown and couldn’t to do miracle among them. The faith is important
condition to allow Jesus to perform miracles in our life. Let us take the
example of Jairo and the woman of the gospel of the last Sunday. In these two
miracles it was very important the attitude of faith of these two people which
was recognised by Jesus and put as fundamental criterion so that the action of
God may be effective in our life. Especially in relating to the woman, many
people were around Jesus, but only that woman touched him with faith. This
reality makes us to reflect about our identity as Christians, who live near the
Lord, participating of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, but without
faith or with little faith. Like this, we are prevented to reach the transformation
which is expected and we need for our life.
Jesus was rejected in his hometown because assumed with
fidelity his prophetic mission. Treating the prophets with contempt wasn’t
newness in the time of Jesus. In the Old Testament many prophets were despised
and killed. It represented resistance to the appeals of God. But in his care
for his people God never ceased to call people to be his/her messengers. From
the experience of the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading, we realise
important aspects of the identity of this messengers of God: Firstly, God wants
to talk and take the initiative to meet the person; secondly, the Spirit acts
internally in order to motivate the person to answer well to the appeals of
God; thirdly, the person is sent as messenger in order to speak only the Word
of God, not his/her own words. As messengers of God, the prophets are a threat
for the society because they denounce injustice, disrespect to life, lacking of
brotherhood and announce the plans of God. “They tend to be on the side of the poor and powerless
because they know that God himself is on their side.” St Paul is another
example of prophet who realised that he didn’t need anything else but the grace
of God, which strengthened him before insults, persecutions and difficulties.
May the example of Jesus, Ezekiel and Paul motivate us to stay attentive to the
appeals of God and to assume with faithfulness and enthusiasm the mission he
entrusted to us.
Fr Ndega
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