XIV Sunday in Ordinary Time B (7 July 2024)

1. On these Sundays with the evangelist Mark, we followed Jesus who, having left Nazareth, travelled through villages and towns, after being baptised by John the Baptist at the River Jordan.  Preaching throughout Galilee, already accompanied by his disciples, he went beyond Lake Tiberias to the towns of the Decapolis and then came to Capernaum, which was to become his favourite town. In today's gospel we see him return for the first time to Nazareth where he immediately enters the synagogue preceded by the fame that was rapidly spreading to the point that people wondered where he got such wisdom and the ability to perform miracles. The reception he received was negative to say the least from some of his relatives, who even considered him a madman, yet many people were fascinated by his preaching and the miracles he performed. The Pharisees and scribes repeatedly show increasing hostility and some even meditate on how to eliminate him. What is his crime? Healing the sick, forgiving sins and performing miracles even on the Sabbath day. So strong is the opposition that we could consider it a real failure that he cannot perform even one miracle in Nazareth. St Mark dwells on the reaction of his sceptical and hostile acquaintances who recognised Jesus simply as the son of Mary and the carpenter Joseph. If he were a prophet,' they said, 'we would have known it and then when he proclaims himself the Messiah he is blaspheming because it is inconceivable that God could have human origins and moreover such modest ones. And Jesus comments: 'A prophet is not despised except in his own country, among his relatives and in his own house'.   This expression, which we find throughout the gospels (Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; Matthew 13:57, John 4:44) has become common to emphasise that a person's merits are seldom recognised in his own environment where envy, jealousy forces the deserving to seek success far from their country.

2. The reaction of the people of Nazareth makes one think of those who, even in our time, find it hard to accept Jesus and his true prophets, because fixed on their own ideas and prejudices, they are incapable of grasping the novelty of a God with a human face and accessible to all. And so the admiration of many for Jesus true God and true man becomes for others a fake news or even a scandal. St Mark purposely uses the Greek term "skandalon", which evokes the stumbling stone of which the prophet Isaiah writes. When the humble search for truth disappears in the heart, wonder gives way to unbelief and Jesus true God and true man becomes a scandal, an obstacle that prevents even people who claim to be believers from recognising and loving him. This happened in Nazareth where people did not imagine such a Messiah and in the face of prejudice there is little one can do because one is too sure of oneself and one's convictions. The risk of closing oneself off to God's grace is always possible for everyone. Today, the gospel helps us understand that the impediment lies in the attitude with which we relate to prejudice. Only if we look at reality and people with a free spirit are we able to see the richness that dwells in the hearts of everyone, even those we underestimate because we are convinced we already know them well enough.  In life we can be amazed by positive realities, by experiences that change our way of thinking and acting, but we can be scandalised by certain encounters and events that we consider negative when preconceptions dominate in us. Jesus invites us to always grasp the positive in everyone rather than focusing on the negative that exists and which unfortunately always makes more news than the good.

3. If we try to live consistently with Christ's teachings and without compromise, we attract the admiration of some, and at the same time the hostility of others because we become a "stone of scandal", that is, a provocation to those who believe and those who do not want to believe. Those who remain faithful to Christ must prepare themselves to suffer misunderstanding and hostility because the Gospel is salvation for those who accept and follow it, but scandal for those who do not want to accept it. And beware!  It often happens that it is precisely those closest to us who close their eyes and hearts to the word and the wonders that Christ continues to perform in our time. To become an image of Jesus, one risks incomprehension and isolation. It happened in the Old Testament where prophets were often misunderstood, rejected and even tried to kill them, while false prophets had an easy hold on the people. Certainly Jesus did not expect such behaviour from his own and Mark notes his amazement at the lack of faith and hardening of heart of his fellow citizens. Like Jesus, it can also happen to any of his disciples today to be misunderstood within one's own environment. One is confronted not so much with the overt hostility of one's enemies, but rather with the indifference and opposition of those we consider friends. Despite the hostility, Jesus does not stop, and even in Nazareth he performed some healing. He thus helps us to understand that we must never give in to discouragement and the temptation of abandonment, but from trust in God we draw the strength to continue in our prophetic and missionary vocation. This is the testimony of the prophet Ezekiel that we read about in the first reading and also of the Apostle Paul that he recounts in the second reading. Ezekiel will experience all kinds of hostility and will even face exile in Babylon with the king and almost all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He will persevere in his difficult mission, clashing with the harshness of the people, but without becoming discouraged, because he had understood that when God entrusts a mission he also gives the strength needed to carry it out. Full of contrasts is the experience of St Paul.  Like Ezekiel, he had visions and extraordinary revelations along with numerous setbacks that made him mature in humility and trust in God. He always carried, as he himself communicates, a 'thorn' in his flesh, a constant reminder of his frailty - as he writes: 'So that I might not be exalted in pride, a thorn was given to my flesh, an envoy of Satan to strike me' and he adds that although he repeatedly begged God to deliver him, he was answered: 'My grace is sufficient for you, for strength is fully manifested in weakness'. No one has understood what this 'thorn in the flesh' was that martyred him, nor does St Paul specify; although many hypotheses have been put forward. One thing is certain: Paul even gloried in his own sufferings and his example becomes an encouragement to us: our frailties and even sins do not constitute an obstacle to evangelisation, on the contrary, they can help us to better fulfil our mission because they make us aware that our fragile humanity is supported by the power of Christ, if we let him act in us. 

+ Giovanni D'Ercole 

To continue the reflection:

"Faith is not a delicate flower, destined to wither at the slightest hint of bad weather. Faith is like the mountains of the Himalayas, which cannot change in any way. There is no storm that can move the Himalayan mountains from their foundations'.

(Mahatma Gandhi)