Fourteenth Sunday
in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 2:2-5
2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Mark 6:1-6

Occasionally, when I am speaking in parishes or attending an event, someone will tell me that they read my column every week. Even better, once in awhile someone will write to say that a particular column has actually made a difference in their lives.
But there is another side to the experience. I also know that some whom I would most like to connect to the word of the Lord have great difficulty in hearing those words from me. They know me too well. They know my failings and frailty. I might resort to the words of today’s Gospel, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own country,” but nobody would ever confuse me with a prophet.

It is important to remember that prophets do not have a history of being honored anywhere. They were rejected, despised, stoned and killed. Why?...because the truth revealed is hard for us to accept.

The Gospel story beckons us to listen for the true prophets of God, whether or not they are familiar to us despite who spoke the word, despite how difficult the message may be for us to take. This is a call for us to be courageous enough and open enough to listen to the prophets among us and to heed the word of God they reveal.

Today’s Gospel usually makes us consider how much was lost by those in Jesus’ own part of the country who did not hear his words and did not feel his healing touch.
There is another side to the Gospel, too. It is the story of the pain that Jesus must have felt in not being able to speak to and reconcile those he most loved. Perhaps some of these people were from Jesus’ own family and, yet, they could not hear him with the ears of faith. They could not follow him because they remembered only that he was the son of a carpenter and that they had known him since he was a child.

In contrast, the first reading speaks of sending a prophet to those who had rebelled against the Lord….to aliens, with the assurance that these rebels would know the prophet who was sent. I wonder if Ezekiel saw rejection in his family and among those with whom he had been acquainted all of his life. I wonder if Ezekiel’s and Jesus’ acceptance by strangers lessened their pain when they were rejected by those they knew best.

The Epistle speaks of the weakness inherent in each of us. One of the sorrows we share is that of loving those who will not return our love, reaching out to those who will reject us. Today we are asked to accept that powerlessness and allow it to strengthen us. We believe that this can happen because the Lord has walked in this situation before us. He moved beyond his hurt to reach out to others.

At this Eucharist, we move to the altar with people who offer us friendship even though they might not yet be able to call us by name. We accept that friendship in the name of the Lord. We give thanks for those who listen and hear even as we pray for those who cannot hear us. With confidence we rejoice in the Lord who will send strangers into our midst so that the words of faith can be heard.