14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Fr. Francis)

A seventy-year-old widow had a serious heart attack. During her ordeal, she encountered the Lord who said to her: “You are not yet going to die.” She asked, “Lord, how many years more will I live?” The Lord answered, “Thirty years more.” Delighted by the news, she recovered rapidly. Thinking of the thirty years ahead of her, she decided to undergo a series of cosmetic surgeries – facelift and many others. A month after all these surgeries, she looked thirty years younger, and more beautiful. A week later, while crossing the street, a wayward truck hit her, and she died instantly. In the presence of God, she complained: “Lord, you said I will live for thirty years more. Why did I die so soon?” The Lord answered, “Oh, I thought it was somebody else. I did not recognize you!”

For the past two Sundays, the Gospels gave us stories about the great fruits of faith. When there is faith, the hand of God begins to work. Jesus stopped the wind and the waves. Then he reprimanded his disciples on the boat: “Why are you afraid? Do you not yet have faith?” Last Sunday, Jesus healed the hemorrhaging woman and raised to life the daughter of Jairus. These miracles were done on account of the faith of the woman and Jairus. When there is faith, nothing is impossible. Indeed, faith works wonders.

This Sunday, the Gospel gives us the effect of NOT having faith. Jesus went home to his native place, the town of Nazareth. Instead of believing in him, his townmates took offense at him. They looked down on him and even maliciously cast doubts on his power and reputation. They just could not accept him. And the Gospel said: “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.” If faith can move mountains, lack of faith puts mountains to block the hand of God.

Faith is the acceptance of Jesus as true God in the flesh. He is the “human face of God”, the expression used often by Pope Benedict XVI. Believing in him as God and in all the truths he revealed and taught is the way to accept him. On the other hand, not to believe in him is rejection of his divinity and his teachings. This was what happened to the people of Nazareth. But rejecting Jesus does not in any way do harm to him; it is those who reject him who do harm to themselves: “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (Jn 3:18).

The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus for three (3) reasons. First, because they lacked faith in Jesus. We know that faith is a gift from God. Not all people receive this gift. At some point in time, however, a person may have an opportunity to hear and know about Jesus, but many of them choose to ignore him altogether. Nothing is impossible with Jesus. He has the power to do any miracle. But he just could not do any miracle in his hometown because of their lack of faith. He knew that in such a situation, disastrous things could result instead of spiritual benefits for the people. Working a miracle for people who have no faith will do more harm than good. As a quote says, “For those who do not have faith, no miracle is enough; for those who have faith, no miracle is necessary.”

Let us examine ourselves. Have we truly accepted Jesus as our Lord? The Lord invites us now, not just to be familiar with him, but more importantly, to be intimate with him, to enter into a personal relationship with him so that we will truly know and love him. Like Thomas the Apostle, may we be able to say with full conviction: “My Lord, and my God!” (Jn 20:28). And like Peter, may we say: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:68-69).

Second reason for rejecting Jesus is error. The people of Nazareth have already their own set of beliefs and ideas about the coming Messiah. And Jesus could not fit into these pre- set ideas. They wanted God to adjust to their own ideas, to follow what they wanted. They wanted to dictate on God. So they insisted on their erroneous ideas and beliefs. Persisting in error, despite opportunities of learning the truth, is another sin against faith. Jesus came to teach them about the truth. But they would hear none of it, and even tried once to push him down the cliff and kill him. They thought they knew Jesus: that he is the carpenter, the son of Mary, a simple and ordinary guy next door. They were very sure of this because they have known him since childhood. “They took offense at him.” This is the classic example of “Familiarity breeds contempt.” What they did not know was his divinity hidden behind his humanity. This also happens to us. Most of us were baptized since infancy. We are too familiar with the Mass, the rituals, the biblical readings, the homilies and the sacraments. Do these familiarities breed contempt or help us to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus.

The third reason is jealousy. Their words clearly revealed their jealousy: “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and John and Judas and Simon?” They resisted the idea that a mere “carpenter” will come back to them, teaching with authority and performing wondrous deeds. “How can he be better and more powerful than us when in fact he is a nobody in our town?” Basically, this is rooted in pride. Jesus is the prophet par excellence. In the past God spoke through human instruments; but now God speaks through His own Son, Jesus. It is not surprising therefore, that he will be rejected, even by his own town mates, because his message and teachings ran counter to their values and preconceived notions and ideas about God.

And again, this happens to many of us. We reject the messenger because we do not want to hear the message. A man addicted to smoking said, “I read in the newspaper that smoking is dangerous to my health. So now I stopped.” His friend was delighted and asked, “You stopped smoking?” “No,” he replied. “I stopped reading the newspaper.” The truth hurts. And that is why the messenger of the truth is usually rejected. All prophets in the Bible were killed, not by outsiders, but by their own people.

Let us accept Jesus and his teachings because he is our Lord and Savior, Let us ask his help and assistance that we may become his true witnesses.

Amen.

Fr. A. Francis HGN