DAILY SCRIPTURES
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SUNDAY SCRIPTURES
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GOSPEL AND REFLECTION
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR B
First Reading – Ezekiel 2:2-5
The people are rebellious; they shall know there will be a prophet in their midst.
The spirit came into me and made me stand up, and I heard the Lord speaking to me. He said, ‘Son of man, I am sending you up to the Israelites, to the rebels who have turned against me. Till now they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me. The sons are defiant and obstinate; I am sending you to them, to say, “The Lord says this.” Whether they listen or not, this set of rebels shall know there is a prophet among them.’
Responsorial Psalm
(R.) Our eyes are fixed on the Lord,
pleading for his mercy.
Second Reading – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
I will glory in my infirmities so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, ‘My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.’ So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
he sent me to bring Good News to the poor.
Alleluia!
Gospel – Mark 6:1-6
A prophet is despised only in his own country.
Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him. With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’ And they would not accept him. And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Gospel Reflection
Being Open to an Alternative Wisdom
Reflection on the Gospel – 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
(Mark 6:1-6)
Most of us have known the experience of feeling powerless in the face of rejection, especially when it is rejection from those who are closest to us, from those who might normally be expected to understand and affirm us. Mark presents such rejection as the experience of Jesus. Earlier in the gospel (3:20-21), we find that Jesus is misunderstood by his family who consider him to be out of his mind. Members of his family try to take responsibility for him, to take hold of him and to save him from himself. When they come to take him away, he leaves them outside and continues to teach those gathered around him about a new sort of kinship, kinship that is based on doing God’s will.
In today’s gospel reading (6:1-6), we find that the neighbours and friends of Jesus’ family have trouble coping with him. They admit that his teaching demonstrates considerable wisdom. They also acknowledge his extraordinary power as a healer. From their perspective, however, something does not add up. After all, he is basically just one of them, “the craftsman”.
Jesus’ hometown people do not simply puzzle over his extraordinary powers. They are actually “scandalised” by him. He experiences their response as rejection and tells them how he feels. In so doing, he identifies himself with the rejected prophets of old. The townspeople’s lack of faith renders Jesus, the prophet in their midst, powerless: he is simply unable to perform any mighty deeds among them. There is a hint in the text, however, that some few do have faith: “he cured a few sick people.” He cures these people “by laying his hands on them”. We have seen, in the request of the man with leprosy (1:41) and the action of the crowds (3:10,) some people’s well-founded faith in the healing power of touch, of bodily encounter. Touch is once more the agent of healing.
At times, we may be like Jesus, bringing the wisdom and power of God to our families or friends or local communities, only to meet with rejection. Sometimes, we may be like the few who come in faith and experience a healing touch. At other times, we may replicate the behaviour of the opponents of Jesus and discount the achievements of those who excel or whose message challenges us or our lifestyle. To refuse to listen to a prophetic message because the messenger fails to meet our preconceived ideas about prophets may have something to do with a lack of faith. It may actually stymie the power of God. Finally, the emphasis on healing in this reading invites us to pause and consider what is happening in our world, presently beset by needless violence and suffering. It invites us to affirm the intrinsic value of all, human and other-than-human, so often denigrated and devalued by attitudes that dichotomise the material and the spiritual with dire consequences for the Earth community.
Sr Veronica Lawson rsm
© The scriptural quotations are taken from the Jerusalem Bible, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday & Co Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. The English translation of the Psalm Responses, the Alleluia and Gospel Verses, and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, and the Titles, Summaries, and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass © 1997, 1981, 1968, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.