February 6, 2019
Wednesday of the 4th Week in the Ordinary Time
Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15 ;
Psalm 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18;
Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, "Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?"
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
"A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house."
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
He Wondered at Their Unbelief
There is a story of lion and Jackal. Jackal saw that lion was the king and all animals were afraid of the king. The jackal wanted to be friend of the lion so that he would also get some respect from his fellow jackals. One day the jackal approached the lion and standing very far asked the lion if he could be the friend. The lion was in a good mood and gave his consent to be a friend. The jackal was happy. The next day jackal came in the morning to lion and greeted him, ‘good morning’. The lion greeted back. Now the jackal felt much comfortable, and came closer, but still stood at a respectable distance. Jackal went and reported to everyone that he and the king lion were friends. He had only praise for the lion. The lion is powerful. The lion is strong. He is king. He is majestic. He could not stop praising the lion. Slowly the jackal came closer and closer to the lion. He started to walk with lion, asked about his family. Still later jackal was walking hand in hand. But now as he came close to the lion, he realized that lion the king had foul smell in the mouth. Now the jackal went to his friends and said, the lion is not good, his moth smells, he sleeps more hours; He does not take shower; he eats even the rotten meat. Now lion had only negatives. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus came back to Nazareth, his home town where on a Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue. Many listeners were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this man get these things? And what is this wisdom given to Him? And such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?’ And they took offense at Him.
In fact the reaction of the people of his hometown, it seems was a surprise to Jesus, because the Gospel tells us that Jesus was surprised or wondered at their unbelief”. Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honour except in His hometown and among His own relatives and in His own household. And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.”
The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus wondered, or was astonished, or was amazed except for two times. One is here, and the other is on the occasion when He was amazed at the faith of a centurion. The centurion was not a Jew, still his faith that only a word from Jesus could heal his servant, amazed Jesus. Here the people of his home town knew him well, but even after listening to him and hearing about the miracles he performed, they could not believe him. This too amazed Jesus. The Bible tells us the people were constantly amazed at Him. They were astonished at Him. But only those two times was He amazed at them. Once with the centurion He was amazed at his faith. Here He is amazed at the unbelief in His own hometown.
We think about faith as powerful. Faith moves mountains. But I want you to understand that unbelief is powerful as well. The power of unbelief is so great that it extends throughout all eternity. It is so powerful that even God does not override it. The Pharisees and the scribes were unbelievers to the very end with few exceptions. And like all other unbelievers, their unbelief resulted in rejecting Jesus. The New Testament has a lot to say about believing. It has a lot to say about faith. But it has an awful lot to say equally about unbelief.
Fr .Cyril Kuttiyanickal CMI
