Sunday, July 8, 2018

Does our Familiarity Breed Contempt?

Mark 6:2-5 (NLT): Does our Familiarity Breed Contempt?
They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.
Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick.
In last week’s gospel reading, we saw that through the faith of an unclean, hemorrhaging woman, Jesus was able to work the miracle of healing. And through the faith-filled plea of a father, Jesus was able to raise a man’s dead daughter to life. Faith, according to last week’s gospel, is crucial in experiencing God’s healing work in our lives.
This week, Mark turns the tables. It is in the absence of faith that Jesus’ healing and impact are limited. How many times in our experience have we doubted, shut people out, and withdrawn from the healing presence of others? In Mark 2-5, the evangelist begs the question. Frank Doyle, SJ, argues the following regarding this passage:
They do not hear the message because they are blinded by the familiarity of the person. [This is] a perfect example of the saying that familiarity breeds contempt, not just boredom but contempt.
We are not much different from the people of Nazareth. The same thing can happen to us all the time. God is constantly speaking to us through the people we know, through things that happen to us, through situations in which we find ourselves. Again and again we do not recognise his voice, his message because he is speaking through someone we know very well, or someone we do not like, or someone who is a total stranger or a foreigner.
Because of their blindness, we are told that Jesus was not able to do any of his great works there. How often have we too blocked out God’s love and healing power because we refused to recognise him in a particular person or a situation? Yet, it was precisely through this person or experience he was trying to reach us. (“Living Space”)
Doyle’s commentary resonates with me as I hope it does with you. God is among us if we open our hearts and listen to him. If we listen to the person who annoys us -- the one we tend to run from and shut out -- we can find God’s presence there. If we face the situation that makes us uncomfortable, that causes us irritation and pain, God is there. And if we pause in the midst of our rush, we can sense God’s presence in the moment.
Christ is near us, around us, and within us, wanting to be heard and welcomed into our hearts. But we often push him aside, ignore him, or flee from him. Our comfortable familiarity, dismissive attitude, and self seeking can breed contempt in our hearts. Jesus calls us to be people of faith, opening our hearts, minds, eyes, and ears to him through our listening to and love for others.
Loving Father, please grant us the grace to listen with open hearts, even when we are tempted to close ourselves off to your presence in the familiar. We pray to be people of faith, trusting in and radiating your healing love all around us. In Jesus Christ we pray, amen.

Have a Blessed Week!

Stan

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