Sunday July 2015 Homily by Fr. Raymond

Jesus, Hometown rejected, Mark 6:1

 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mass Homily by Fr. Raymond 

“A Prophet has no honour among his own.”  (Mark 6: 1-6a)

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Fr. Raymond

To: Donald ...

Sent: Monday, 6 July 2015, 9:54
Subject: Prophets

14^th  Sunday  Ord.

When Jesus was wandering round the towns and villages preaching, one wonders whether he always had something different to say in his discourses, or whether, in fact, he often repeated himself.  Certainly he did repeat his teaching about the Eucharist at least once.   There was the symbolic feeding of the four thousand with seven loaves and the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves. And then, especially, there was the explicit teaching at the Last Supper about the bread of life. That certainly underlines for us the importance of his teaching about the eucharist,  but what about other things he taught?  Did he develop a stock list of important parables and go on repeating them wherever he went? His time among us was to be very  short and he had a great many things to teach us.  

He even once said to his apostles, when he was leaving this world for good, that he still had many things to say to them, but they weren’t able to grasp them yet until he would send his Holy Spirit to teach them.

However, there is one lesson he taught that was so tied to the time and place where it was taught that it could hardly have been taught in any other context.  This is the scene that’s put before us in today’s Gospel.  The setting is Jesus very own town of Nazareth where he had lived with Mary his Mother and Joseph; where he had settled after his return from Egypt; where he had grown up and where all his relatives and friends were; where he had worked among them as a carpenter.  These people knew him just as one of themselves.  

They knew he hadn’t had any special education or training as a Rabbi.  Yet here he was, just a young upstart, posing to be better than them and claiming to be able to teach even his elders.  Certainly there were these amazing gifts of healing he had, but that should go hand in hand with a due understanding of his humble place among them.

These were the sentiments that drew from Jesus that phrase that has become so proverbial in our culture: “A Prophet has no honour among his own.”  (Mark 6: 1-6a)

There is a lesson in this teaching that should play a large part in our every-day lives.  We must have the ability to appreciate the gifts and talents and qualities of those whom we associate with most closely every day.  

Above all this is true of the other members of our own family and household.  We can often take them so much for granted. 

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