“As Christians it is a part of our greatest hope that our children may surpass us even in wisdom.”
An Uncomfortable Wisdom
February 3rd, 2021
In the next few weeks we will finish up this first section of Ordinary Time in our liturgical year and begin our journey into Lent. We hear a familiar reading today about how prophets are received (not well) in their native land. At a deeper level, we hear the message of how difficult it can be to allow our vision of those we have known for a long time to grow and change.
Today’s reading is the story of those who knew Jesus as a child yet cannot see him as an adult, surpassing their expectations. It is a kind of communal self-loathing that does not believe that our families or our neighborhoods could produce something that we didn’t see coming. In a sense, it is a sin against hope. When we give into this kind of dynamic, we don’t really believe that we (or God, through us) are capable of forming greatness in the next generation.
It takes faith to know that each of us must give over our world to those who will outlast us, not just eventually, but continually. Whether it is our position in a community that has to change or our position in our families, the time always comes when we should pass the torch and maybe even be ready to be impressed and outdone by those who follow us.
I wanted to revisit a song we probably haven’t heard since the spring. This is a recording from our 2010 Lenten concert with one of our young singers, Saron Araya (who is an adult by now!). The song is “Were I The Perfect Child Of God“ and I think it’s a truly helpful accompaniment to the message today. We don’t follow Jesus because we’re perfect, but because we are called. Once we let ourselves off the hook for not being perfect it becomes easier to hope that others might even follow us and do better.
While at first this idea is hard on the ego, eventually it can be life-giving to the heart.
God Bless,
Father Pat
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 Joseph 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.
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 Joseph 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.
"Were I the Perfect Child of God" by T. Alonso & M. Mahler
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