The Rejection at Nazareth

Today's Reflections

 

The Rejection at Nazareth 

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Mk 6:1-6

¹[Jesus] departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. ²When 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! ³Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. ⁴Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” ⁵So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. ⁶He was amazed at their lack of faith.

JESUS CAME TO HIS NATIVE PLACE. “Home,” a saying goes, “is a place where, when you go there, they have to take you in.” Nazareth is hearth and home to Jesus. It is his sanctuary, where he can be at his best or at his worst, and still expect his relatives and townsfolk to accept him—simply because he is family; he is one of them.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches in the synagogue of Nazareth, before people he grew up with. They are astonished at Jesus, then they reject him because they know him and his relatives, and to them he looks very ordinary. They know his provenance and cannot accept him in any other mold, definitely not as the long-awaited Messiah.

Jesus grieves, not for the personal slight but for the missed opportunity. He is bringing the people of Nazareth the good news of his Father’s kingdom. Because of their unbelief, Jesus is unable to work great miracles there. His experience at Nazareth presages the Jewish people’s ultimate rejection of Jesus at Calvary.

Do we recognize the presence of Jesus

in the ordinary-looking persons

and events of our lives?