FRIDAY, SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Jer 26: 1-9 Ps 69: 5, 8-10, 14 Mt 13: 54-58
SAME PEOPLE, DIFFERENT REACTIONS
As a seminarian, going for house visits was a difficult thing! My friends would tease me, by asking for blessing, or call me ‘Father! Father!’ While all this teasing was innocent, prompted by the joy of youth, I noticed a stark difference as I progressed in the seminary years, when I would be met with great respect in the different parishes I was asked to serve than in the parish I grew up in! The familiarity in my native place would hinder others from relating with me in my new role as a seminarian!
The readings of today elicit a similar reaction. Jeremiah came from a priestly clan of Jerusalem. After his divine call, he donned the cloak of a prophet and was assigned by God to preach in the courtyard of the temple in the presence of the believers who had gathered at the temple. A majority among them were from the priestly class and perhaps many had been contemporaneous to Jeremiah. To them, God asked Jeremiah to disclose their disobedience to God. His familiarity with them provoked a sharp reaction. In the Gospel too, Jesus faced the same reaction when he preached in the synagogue at his native place. He was hindered from working miracles since the people lacked faith in him.
It wouldn’t be a surprise that most of us would relate to these incidents. Often our ‘dear’ family, friends and neighbours have gossiped about us. Their lack of trust and incapacity to accept our growth must have discouraged us. However, on the positive side, this behaviour of theirs has fired in us the zeal to be the better version of ourselves. Doesn’t the gospel also say the same in these words, “They were astonished and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?” Jesus left his native as a carpenter and returned as a prophet, a miracle worker, a preacher and most essentially a saviour. Let us absorb the negativity around us, convert it for our benefit and use it as a pedestal for our positive growth.
Response: In your great mercy, answer me, O Lord.
Copyright ©2024 ©Springs of Living Water http://springs.carmelmedia.in