Happy Fourth of July to all of our readers in the United States. This is a day, or even a weekend, to celebrate the birth of our great nation. We were founded under many solid principles, including the freedom to practice our own religion, or choose not to. For this holiday, many people travel to the homes of friends and family. The return home raises a question…Can you come home?
Jesus Comes Home
In today’s Gospel, Jesus and some of his disciples return to Jesus’ home town. We don’t know why he picked the date and time, but home he came. He had already gained some notoriety, as he had disciples with him. When he came home, as was custom for learned Jewish people going to Jewish towns, he was allowed to read the Torah in the local synagogue. However, he didn’t just read, he blew the attendees away. They were astonished by his presentation, his wisdom, yet he was only in his early 30s. Who was this guy?
Jesus is Back
Slowly, the attendees figure out who he is. Jesus is back! My gosh, he was just supposed to be a carpenter like his dad. They knew his buddies and family, and they were just normal folks. This makes the attendees begin to boil with rage. They were offended that this “nobody” comes back, and he’s better than them all. Rather than rejoicing in his skills and success, they want him gone. So much for a hero’s welcome.
He is treated without honor. He lets them know that it is nothing new for special people, who are treated with honor among strangers, to be treated without honor by familiar people. Jesus does not do any major miracles for them. My opinion is that he didn’t want to get “in their face” with the wonders that he could do for the faithful. They would probably not buy in to the fact that his earthly father, the carpenter, was really his foster dad. His Father was in Heaven, and Jesus was part God, part man, and that was a whole lot of baggage to explain to the locals, especially doubting locals without much faith.
Moving On
Jesus was amazed by their lack of faith, and his disciples saw the entire chain of events unfold. Later in their careers as disciples, they might be treated in the same way when they go to their home towns. But Jesus was Jesus, and he healed a few folks on the way out of town. That’s how he rolls!
In our own lives, we can feel that our own families can be the most difficult to deal with, in a religious sense. Today’s society is falling away from organized religion, and many feel less and less comfortable about speaking publicly about religion and religious truths. This change happens in families across the world. Most would agree that evangelizing to strangers is easier than evangelizing to a fallen away Catholic in your family or close knit group. If you don’t have any miracles up your sleeve, perhaps quiet prayers for our families will help them come home.
[Readings: Ez 2:2-5; Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Mk 6:1-6]
