| What
exactly was wrong with Jesus
in the view of his fellow Nazarenes?
He
was just too ordinary. They knew him, his
seed, breed and generation as they say.
Initial cheers turned to jeers and violence.
Wouldn’t happen today; we sniff. We’d
recognise the Messiah. Really? Think of
some comments we may have often made; ‘the
get up of her’; ‘who does he
think he is?’ ‘She’ll
be saying Mass next.’ ‘they’re
in everything but the crib.’ It has
been said of the Irish that we are truly
a very fair race, we never think well of
anybody.
The
Nazareth locals had formed an impression
of Jesus that blinded them. They laid violent
hands on him. You don’t have to be
a detective to know that we leave fingerprints
on whatever we physically touch. Today’s
second reading asks us to leave heart prints.
The ones that are marked by understanding,
love, kindness and genuine concern. It is
still hard to accept that God can speak
to us through those around us – directly.
But not through our teenage daughter who
tells us ‘you’re getting just
like Granddad.’ Or when our neighbour
(for Pete’s sake) tells us you what
you need to do.
Since
the incarnation, when God became flesh in
Jesus – he’s been doing it all
the time – working through people.
We still don’t like it. Neither did
the Nazarenes.
Copyright:
Fr. Tom Cox (Intercom)
|
