Friday, August 1, 2003
17th Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Lev 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34-37
Gospel: Mt 13:54-58

Jesus went to his hometown and taught the people in their synagogue. They were amazed and said, "Where did he get this wisdom and these special powers? Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother and aren't James, Joseph, Simon and Judas his brothers? Aren't all his sisters living here? How did he get all this?" And so they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them, "The only place where prophets are not welcome is their hometown and in their own family." And he did not perform many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Commentary

"They were amazed and said, "Where did he get this wisdom and these special powers? Isn't he the carpenter's son?" It would have been completely understandable if these were merely expressions of surprise and amazement coming from Jesus' townmates. Sadly, they were more than that. For behind the surprise, was really a much more deep-seated disbelief. "How could this man, who is no more than a carpenter's son, be lecturing us about these things?" What was even more sad was the fact that these biased and prejudiced words were spoken by individuals who would most likely have known Jesus since boyhood. The very familiarity which should have made them appreciate him, made them blind to him instead. The very knowledge they thought they had of him led them to put him in a box with the label "carpenter's son," "Mary's son," "brother of so and so." That was the saddest fact of them all. There are many times in our lives when we do the very same thing. We put people in boxes and label them in ways that make it easier for us to categorize them: "good," "bad," "annoying," "uninteresting." And if that's not tragic enough, we even put ourselves in boxes as well. The challenge of the gospel reading today is simple: We must approach life for what it is, and not put others, ourselves, and even God, in neat and tidy boxes with labels.

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