All Bible Readings for Sunday, February 1st 2009
[Fourth Sunday after Denaha, the Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Does anyone remember the key takeaways from last week’s reading? John 3:1-12
We all have the Holy Spirit within us, when we are born again through Baptism. But we may choose not to listen or obey. The Church teaches us that one of God’s blessings upon us is that of free will, we can choose to do right and wrong … and because of that loving gift we can choose (and we should) to listen to God’s teaching.
With that in mind, let’s listen to today’s Gospel Reading from Mark 6:1-6, i.e.,
Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given him that he even does miracles!
Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Let’s think about the reaction of the people of Nazareth – first amazement, then ridicule .. anger ..
Even prior to the Resurrection, many believed that this man Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the Messiah .. people marveled at His teachings and miracles, but here in Nazareth they rejected Him since they “knew better”. In the Book of St Mark, this story happens at the time at a time when Jesus is becoming famous … huge crowds are following Him and amazed at his teachings and miracles (Remember the miracles where Jesus fed 5000 men with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish – not counting women and children! Another story he fed 4000 men with 7 loaves of bread and a few fish).
Luke 4:16-30 also talks of this event in more detail, but it is given before the great miracles … some good men like Simeon who saw Jesus as a baby understood that this was the Savior.
Does this remind of a parable Jesus used to teach? The Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-8). Some seeds fell on the road and was stepped on, some fell on rock where it grew initially but then died, some fell among thorns .. but some fell on good soil where it grew hugely.
(The Seed is the Word, Sower is the one who spreads the Word of God and Soil is the heart of man). The people of Nazereth were like the rock, the road, the thorns …
As we said last week, the purpose of sharing the Gospel reading now is to help us be more ready to understand the Gospel reading when it is read during the Holy Qurbana and spoken about in the sermon.
First point:
- Remember as Christians we have free will. The Church teaches this emphatically, and even in the story of Genesis we see that Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and gain knowledge without Him. The people of Nazareth chose not to listen, and that’s why Jesus left … not because He needed the people to believe in order to do miracles, but because their hearts and minds became clouded (maybe anger, or jealousy or just ignorance)
Second Point:
- What we must learn from this story in particular is never to come to conclusions in our head that may actually be against Christ’s teaching.
Who would better know Jesus Christ than those who grew up with Him? The people of Nazareth, right?
But, even when Jesus taught with clarity, performed miracles and fulfilled all the Scripture prophecies … even when St Simeon and Anna testified of Him even as an infant … they chose to ignore because it just did not make sense.
This happens to us everyday, and again when in doubt reach out to your parents, teachers, Achens, elders, … the Church.
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