First Reading
Ezekiel 2:2-5
As the Lord spoke to me, the spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one who was speaking say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day. Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you. But you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God! And whether they heed or resist–for they are a rebellious house–they shall know that a prophet has been among them.
Second Reading
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Brothers and sisters: That I, Paul, might not become too elated, because of the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan, to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
Gospel Cycle Cycle B
Mark 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.
There is a prophet among them! This phrase from Ezekiel ties the first reading to the Gospel today. Ezekiel was a highly educated Jewish priest. Ezekiel suffered the lot of many people in our time: exile from his own country and trying to keep the spirits of the other exiles strong so that they could maintain their faith. Ezekiel was taken into the Babylonian exile.
Jesus, in the Gospel, simply comes to his own home town, his native place, and the local people cannot believe that such an ordinary man could have such gifts. The local people are astonished—but they don’t accept him. Instead, they take offense at him.
Most of us do not like to hear others tell us that our way of thinking is wrong, that our understanding of God is wrong. When people from other faiths and beliefs begin to argue with us, we don’t usually listen very well.
Saint Paul, in the second reading today, tells us of his thorn in the flesh. We have no idea what that was. But we do know that Paul was always happy to argue with others, Jews and pagans, about faith.
Many of us Christians are far too polite to disagree with anyone else when we are challenged, or we change the subject or we just ignore the differences. We do not want to be prophets nor to suffer shame or worse for what we believe.
This Sunday is a good time for each of us to think about what we do believe. We can ask ourselves if our beliefs are strong enough within us to speak about? Are our beliefs just comfortable thoughts for us or do they really mean so much to us that we are willing to speak about them?
When we really love another person, we rarely allow others to speak badly about them. Perhaps Jesus has become just too common.