XIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Mark 6:1-6
Prophets never had an easy life. Time and again, they were ignored, ridiculed and despised. We may have the idea that the prophets were nearly super-human, who excelled in everything. However, that was not so. The prophets were common human beings like ourselves. In the first reading, listening to Ezequiel’s call, we become aware of that. God addresses him saying: “Son of man”. The prophet is a “son of man”, that is he is a human being, a common human being sharing the human condition like all the others. But God chose him and is going to speak through him so that they “shall know there is a prophet among them” (Ez 2:2-5). The glory, the power of God and His word are mediated through the prophet, who will be a witness to God’s presence and action in the middle of the people.
In the second reading (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), speaking of himself, Paul tells us about his weaknesses and shortcomings and he boasts about them because they are the proof that everything he does is done through the power of Jesus Christ. According to Paul, there is no reason to glory in his achievements because the weaknesses of his human nature are the proof that his work is done through the grace of God. And Paul concludes: “For it is when I am weak that I am strong.” God reveals his power in our weakness as he told Paul: “... my power is at its best in weakness”.
In the Gospel, Mark presents a narrative of Jesus’ visit to his home town and the reaction of his fellow countrymen to his teaching. They were astonished, but not happy. Their astonishment led them to be annoyed and to feel offended. Knowing his family, they thought they knew Jesus, and so they despised him, instead of believing in him. Due to their lack of faith, Jesus could not work miracles there. Despite all the history of salvation, they could not accept the presence and action of a God who assumes the human condition to manifest his power and his glory. And Jesus “was amazed at their lack of faith.”
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