Deacon Tom Anthony

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 101

Reading 1 Ez 2:2-5

As the LORD spoke to me, the spirit entered into me
and set me on my feet,
and I heard the one who was speaking say to me:
Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites,
rebels who have rebelled against me;
they and their ancestors have revolted against me to this very day.
Hard of face and obstinate of heart
are they to whom I am sending you.
But you shall say to them: Thus says the LORD GOD!
And whether they heed or resist—for they are a rebellious house—
they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4

R. (2cd) Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
To you I lift up my eyes
who are enthroned in heaven —
As the eyes of servants
are on the hands of their masters.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
As the eyes of a maid
are on the hands of her mistress,
So are our eyes on the LORD, our God,
till he have pity on us.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.
Have pity on us, O LORD, have pity on us,
for we are more than sated with contempt;
our souls are more than sated
with the mockery of the arrogant,
with the contempt of the proud.
R. Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy.

Reading 2 2 Cor 12:7-10

Brothers and sisters:
That I, Paul, might not become too elated,
because of the abundance of the revelations,
a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan,
to beat me, to keep me from being too elated.
Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,
but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for power is made perfect in weakness.”
I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses,
in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Alleluia Cf. Lk 4:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Mk 6:1-6

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 Joses 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.

My Brothers and Sisters,

 God tells us that power is made perfect in weakness. He also demonstrates this to us through the choosing of His prophets and those who are selected to come forward to profess His word. The ones whom God enters into a special relationship with throughout Sacred Scripture are those who have been rejected by society, are from a lowly class, or have some sort of defect which society has deemed them unworthy. This offers us hope and consolation. It doesn’t matter where we come from or what we have done in the past; only that we love God. It is through our reaction to the presence of God’s love that we are then transformed by our relationship with Him into that which He wanted us to be all along. There is no required test to earn salvation or a relationship with God. These are given freely. It is what we do with it that counts.

When we immerse ourselves into a life with Christ, there will be those who judge us and ultimately cannot accept what we have become as a result. To those individuals, the memories of the past cannot be forgotten. It is through the past that we are judged and found not worthy. Christ specifically tells us to stop judging and to focus exclusively on the present moment and the gifts that it brings. It is through Christ that the desolation of the past and the burdens of guilt that they bring are ultimately destroyed. The past is exactly what it is perceived to be: the past and something that cannot be changed. Those who judge based on the past are doing exactly what Our Lord and Our Savior told them not to do:

“Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.”

This command is pretty specific and straightforward but is one that is often ignored. How can one expect to be transformed through Jesus Christ if some of the most basic things that He asks and says are ignored?

Ironically, the simple fact that there are those who tend to ignore the teachings of Christ in favor of judgment by their own standards, offers us joy. Jesus Christ accepts us as who we are and calls us forward to enter into a relationship with Him. I think that what the Son of God says outweighs anything that anybody else says in comparison. In other words, anyone who speaks against what Jesus says should be ignored and dismissed. As long as Jesus loves us, nothing else should matter. Isn’t it better to conduct ourselves in the likeness and actions of Jesus instead of those who refuse to listen to what He has to say?  We are all in a constant state of transition when we start living the Christian Life. This process never changes. Because of this fact, there will always be something to change and correct. It never ends. Perfection is never reached until our death.

Paul speaks about his own short-comings in his letter today. Whatever present burdens he was struggling with and was causing him so much turmoil was being experienced with Jesus. He wasn’t rejected because of it but was actually loved all the more. He was reminded that it was through the love of Jesus that he was able to suffer through it and all the while his faith was to be strengthened more because of it. If we are truly living the Christian Life then there should always be openness for change and transformation. We should want it and work for it. That doesn’t mean everything to going to happen immediately. Jesus does not want it to happen that way. Our lives should be a constant revelation and experience. It is through these experiences, with Jesus, that the changes come about. Through this process, there are those who will be watching, judging, and laughing at us; just as there were those in Nazareth that did the same to Jesus. Do we want to be the ones laughing and judging or do we want to be the ones walking with Jesus and being laughed at?

Deacon Tom