Friday Gospel Recharge
A Reflection on Matthew 13: 54-58
(Friday Week 17, Year A of the Liturgical Calendar, 2023)
Rejection of a commoner: Jesus
According to St Augustine, the greatest act one could do for another is to lead them to the truth. Truth in the usual sense is something that is in accordance with a fact or reality, definition (provided by google). This truth is not what Augustine means to say, but instead, he means God. God in general is truth because all things that is true which entails the good things in life, beautiful things, love and everything that is true proceed from him. As for us, who shouldn't only be lead to the truth and thrive on it, always have a tendency to share it and sometimes, when sharing it, are faced with hostility. You see, truth, while it can be a reality or fact that is positive in nature, can say something negative about someone else. For example, this behaviour or lifestyle is morally questionable, and as a result reconsider your actions and outlook in life. People don't like being told what to do and as a result don't want to hear it, expressing it by dismissing what you have to say or rejecting you all together, known as the cancel culture.
In this week's Gospel, we read that Jesus is faced with some hostility by his own Nazarene kinsmen. If you are attentive to the reading, you will realise that the hostility brought upon him is due to what he knows and the things he said. The nature of Jesus's sayings isn't exactly fire and brimstone, but that his words are rich in wisdom and insightful in the mystery of God. It isn't so much that the people can bare the wisdom he has to share, but the fact of his social status among them: isn't this man a bastard Nazarene? Where and how has this man acquired this knowledge and why are we being addressed by such an insignificant figure like this man?
You might be wondering where in the text does it offends and likens Jesus as an illegitimate son. thanks to scholarship, the fact that Matthew addresses Jesus as a son of a carpenter and not the son of Joseph raises suspicion of Jesus not having proper status nor is worthy of honour. To heighten Jesus’ insignificance and being without distinction among his own, Matthew also names each and every one of Jesus’ step-siblings which stresses the fact that his whole family is well known in the village. So, the narrative tells us then that the people are hearing wonderful things about God but from a commoner who according to custom should know less and ought to think and behaviour like a commoner.
Jesus however addresses the people after their dissatisfaction and apostasy by saying that no prophet is welcomed in his home town. We can say that the people apostasies because the Greek verb for turning their backs conveys something close to the idea of apostasy or the renunciation of faith. It is incredible to think that people would turn away from God therefore, because of individuals who are chosen to represent God and his God’s teaching because they see that individual as insignificant and unworthy of speaking with this authority.
Prophets according to Holy Writ were sometimes subject to violence from the people. A prophet is a messenger of God who often came with a message condemning the people’s wayward behaviour, and so no wonder why they were not welcomed at times. However, these chosen individuals were sometimes ordinary in the eyes of the people such as Moses, and others having high social and religious status such as Jeremiah, a man who first spent his career as a temple priest before his calling as a prophet. We get a general feel then that a professional career as a prophet is not acquired through rigorous learning, having social status nor attaining qualifications to meet the job requirements. Instead, God chooses the person for the task irrespective of his standing in society and equips him with the words required for the job.
Prophets in the Old Testament sense do not exist anymore. With the revelation of God made fully known in the person of Christ as God’s last word, there is no need for further revelation nor a need for prophets acting as the mouth piece of God. Although, God’s message found in scripture is still important to us and to those after us to hear so the urgency of having the word proclaimed remains.
As baptised Catholics we have the duty to proclaim the Word of God. The church states that after baptism we share in the threefold mission of Christ as priest, prophet and king. Like the prophets of old, we are sent by God as his messengers to speak for God by word and deed. Whether we find ourselves capable or not, we are required by virtue of our baptism to say something about Christ and about his teachings we are called to observe. For example, to say Jesus is God is an example of our sharing him with others. Saying there is no salvation outside Christ is an example of sharing teaching of his.
We are still called to be a prophet of own time amongst family and friends, but like Jesus, we face being rejected. If you think you’re an insignificant figure representing Christ and have nothing to offer, Jesus sympathies with you because of his own rejection from his kinsman who saw little of him, though their understanding of who he was, indeed was superficial and lacking true insight of him.
However, we need to stand in the truth of who we are in Christ through our baptism as Jesus saw who he was in God, and take the message of the Gospel among the many who are yet called to also know, love and serve God. We need to continue to preach the Gospel, face rejection from others, because in their eyes our social status does not count.
· How important is preaching the Gospel to you?
· How much are you prepared to suffer when you preach it?
·
What strategies will you employ to ensure that
God’s word is heard?
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