by Fr. Tommy Lane
Mark describes the people of Nazareth in an unusual way in today’s Gospel (Mark 6:1-6). He says they were scandalized by Jesus. That is what Mark says in his Greek (6:3) that we don’t see in our English translation. They were scandalized, that is they lost their faith in Jesus, because they knew he was the local carpenter and they knew his extended family, his cousins, who are called brothers and sisters in the Semitic language of that time. Our Lady was ever-Virgin. In the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4), Mark also says in his Greek that the people represented by the seed sown on rocky ground produced no fruit because they were scandalized (4:17), that is, they lost their faith because of persecutions and trials.
In each case, something prevented the full flowering of their faith. I think we could say that the tribulations or persecutions of the seed sown on rocky ground and knowing Jesus’ extended family are not really the problem. They are only the symptom of the problem. Instead, the problem lies deep within the very people who hear the word of God. There is something in them that prevents them from allowing the faith to come to full blossoming. What could that be? I suggest that it is simply that they do not know the depth of God’s love for them, and the depth of Jesus’ love for them. They know about God and know about God’s love for them, but they do not really know deeply within them God’s love for them. If they did, then a persecution or trial, or knowing Jesus’ extended family, would not cause their faith to be weakened. In today’s world there are other issues scandalizing, that is, interfering with faith: so many people have so much money now that they have no need of God and forget God. For younger people it may be a different issue: sky-high anxiety because of, among other things, the amount of time spent looking at screens. College students have to complete many research projects over the course of their degree by assessing different scholarly viewpoints to arrive at a conclusion but amazingly on the other hand some of them allow themselves to superficially form negative and hostile attitudes about the faith because of listening to one-sided biased and prejudiced viewpoints, even though for their research projects they have to examine all viewpoints, and then persecute those who want to live the faith.
Regardless of who we are or what our own particular issue is, the starting point that we all have to return to again and again is that we are deeply and intensely loved by God. That is the foundation and once we have that foundation, though trials are difficult, we can withstand them like Paul in our second reading who said he was “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and constraints for the sake of Christ.” (2 Cor 12:10) A trial for some in the world of today is being persecuted by family members in their own house with vile and insulting language for living their faith in Jesus or being given the cold shoulder by work colleagues. It is difficult to know how widespread it is because people are embarrassed to talk about it. Some people in this country are being martyred in an unbloody way because they live the faith. You may not know who they are, but you can pray for them. If people don’t want to live our faith that is their right, but why persecute those who want to live our faith? That is discrimination. Obviously, those who persecute do not know God’s love of them.
Regardless of who we are or what our own particular issue is, the starting point to which we all have to return to again and again is that we are deeply and intensely loved by God. In the Parable of the Sower and the people of Nazareth, we can see the symptoms of the problem, but the problem, I suggest, is that they did not know they were deeply and intensely loved by God and did not know they were loved by Jesus. When you start your time of prayer every day, it would be good to spend a minute or two simply remembering God’s immense love of you and thanking God for his love of you and then you can move on in your prayer. If you are disrespected or persecuted, remember God’s love of you. We can feed these moments of prayer by pondering some good Scripture passages:
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (John 3:16)
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. (John 15:9)
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. (1 John 3:1)
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. (1 John 4:8-10)
I kneel before the Father . . . that he may grant you . . . strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:14, 16, 18-19)
Regardless of who we are or what our own particular issue is, the starting point to which we all have to return again and again is that we are deeply and intensely loved by God. When you start your time of prayer every day, it would be good to spend a minute or two remembering God’s immense love of you and thanking God for his love of you.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2024
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Fourteenth Sunday of Year B
Heart open to Jesus 2021
Accepting Jesus into our house and heart 2018
Jesus could work no miracle because they rejected him
Related Homilies on the theme of this homily: Homilies on God’s love for us
Second Reading Carrying our cross
Gospel: Commentary The Brothers and Sisters of Jesus