July 29 Lectionary # 405

Scripture: Lectionary # 405: Leviticus 23:1-4.4-11.15-16.27. 34-37. Psalm
81:3-4, 5-6, 10-11 Matthew 13:54-58:

Familiarity breeds contempt. We see this from the towsnfolk from which
Jesus comes. They are stupified that one with whom they grew up is now
teaching and preaching like a rabbi. This is Jesus. After all, they think,
he is the son of a carpenter and we know his mother and his family
relatives. What gives? Jesus teaches with authority and attracts many by
his wisdom, yet, there is this doubt among his own friends and relatives.

John has the same opposition to Jesus from those who know him and all the
moreso from those who feel their own authority challenged by his teaching
on the Torah. They really think they know who he is but really do not have
any true insight into why he is able to teach and to heal. We learn about
John's narratives that are filled with irony when it comes to speaking with
those who think they know Jesus. "Is this not Jesus, whose father and
mother are well known to us? What does he mean by saying, I have come down
from heaven? Jesus answered them, Do not whisper thus to one another.
Nobody can come to me without being attracted towards me by the Father who
sent me, so that I can raise him up at the last day." (John 6: 41-45).
"And his said to him, This is no place for thee; go to Judaea, so that thy
disciples also may see thy doings. ...For even his brethren were without
faith in him." (John 7: 1-9).

We sense the pain he felt in hearing these remarks and this lack of support
from his relatives, and the great opposition of those who were learned. We
often may feel some of this ourselves when a friend makes a remark that
hurts us or that keeps putting us in a box according to their judgments and
feelings about us. We learn from Jesus that he continues on with what God
has asked of him in his mission to bring the Good News of God's revealing
word to those who are open to receive it.

We pray for those who misunderstand us and for those whom we misunderstand.
Our conformity with Jesus in his ordinary sufferings as well as in his
greatest ones, helps us to be one with him through the human nature we
share with him. We depend upon his divine authority and power to help us
to forgive and forget while moving on to do the will of God as he did. And
we ask God for the humility and honesty to take a good look at those things
that may have caused us pain but also can help us grown in Jesus' likeness.
Amen.