Dear Friend of Carmel Mission,
There is a saying, “you can never be a prophet in your own land.” Jesus says much the same in the Gospel today after his very disappointing homecoming. We can well imagine that He likely looked forward to returning home, to being with those who knew Him best, and had watched Him grow up. He is amazed at their lack of faith, and likely saddened that He was unable to share with them His true nature.
Why did Jesus’ community turn on Him? He could have been welcomed home as a hometown hero, the local boy who made good. No doubt news of His miracles and teaching had reached them. Jesus had been healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and commanding the wind and sea all around the Galilee. When the people first hear Him teaching in the synagogue, they are astonished at His wisdom. But this quickly turns to offense and outrage due to an all too common human failing. They failed to see the extraordinary in the ordinary.
To them Jesus was just a carpenter’s son, an ordinary guy. Certainly He could not also be the Messiah, the Son of God, the giver of life and health. Surely such a person would be extraordinary in ways large and small, nothing like themselves at all. That it would be a local craftsman, a man whose family they know well, who has shared the banalities of day to day life with them does not seem possible, and so they are offended by and reject Jesus. In this way they are thinking like people do, not as God does. God continually puts the extraordinary into the ordinary. We need only contemplate the natural world to be amazed by God’s creative genius.
In our world today, we continue to be drawn to the outwardly extraordinary, to the powerful, the wealthy, and the famous. I invite you this week to join me in looking closer to home as we seek wisdom and a better understanding of God’s truth. We may be surprised by the extraordinary nature of those we might otherwise overlook. Our own St. Junipero is one such example.
I wish you and your loved ones a very happy Independence Day and continued blessings of good health, new hope and great peace,
Fr. Paul
Please take a moment to read our Carmel Mission Weekly Bulletin.