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Reflection for Sunday 07/08/12

Readings for This Week:
Ezekiel 2:2 – 5
2 Corinthians 12:7–10
Mark 6:1– 6a

Readings for Next Week:
Amos 7:12 –15
Ephesians 1:3 –14 or 1:3 –10
Mark 6:7–13

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Jesus was not the prophet that the people were expecting. He was Mary’s boy, the son of the carpenter who built their dinner tables. What did he know? Who was he to reach? The citizens of Nazareth start off “astonished” at his words, his “wisdom” and his “mighty deeds” (Mark 6:2). But soon they put all that aside and remind themselves he’s just a local boy. In the end, it’s Jesus who’s astonished, and their lack of faith so clogs the channels of grace within him that he can’t bless them as he has blessed so many others. God’s people — that is, all people — have been a rebellious, stubborn lot from the beginning. God knows us well. And so God tells Ezekiel to go to the rebels and say to them, “Thus says the Lord God!” (Ezekiel 2:4). The rest is up to them. Then God speaks one of scripture’s most memorable lines, one that should haunt us every time we plug our ears and choose not to listen.“Whether they heed or resist,” says the Lord, “for they are a rebellious house — they shall know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5). Give your heart a name and call it Nazareth. Now consider: will Christ find honor in the “home” of your heart or will he, in horror, have to move on to another place?

“They shall know that a prophet has been among them” (Ezekiel 2:5).

SHARING FAITH
Much speculation surrounds the identity of Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7) — a physical or psychological ailment, another disciple, a temptation? What would you name as your “thorn in the flesh”?

LIVING THE LITURGY
Like the people of Jesus’ hometown, many people look for God to do what is outside the laws of nature to prove himself, failing to see that the laws of nature themselves are God’s order in what would otherwise be chaos. Look together at what surrounds you today with new eyes, recognizing all of it for the miracle it is. Allow wonder and awe to fill you, and savor and celebrate it.

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