REJECTED
Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6
In 1960, religious persecution broke out in Sudan. Paride Taban fled to Uganda. There he studied for the priesthood and was ordained. When the Sudan situation stablized, Fr Taban returned and was assigned a parish in Palotaka. His parishioners always had white priests before who gave them clothing and medicine. Fr Taban was like them—black, poor… with nothing material to give them. His people would not accept this poor black man as a priest.
The story of Fr Taban is an example of the rejection every prophet encounters. Prophets in Hebrew history and in Christianity have met with resistance and hostility.
We have an example in the prophet Ezekiel in the First Reading. God calls him to proclaim his message to his people and warns him that he will meet with resistance. God challenges Ezekiel to be a prophet regardless of the people’s response.
The Second Reading is an excerpt from a section called the “letter in tears.” Paul’s appeals to his beloved Corinthians: They have betrayed him by shifting allegiance to the “super-apostles” who have seduced them with their eloquent speech. All that Paul has is a “thorn in the flesh”.
In the Gospel, Jesus’ townsfolk are astonished at his wisdom and at the reports about his miracles. But they know he is the carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph, and they have grown up with him. They see the outward person, but they do not listen to his words. Their prejudice and familiarity make them blind. They reject him.
We are not different from the Israelites, the Corinthians, and the Nazarenes. God constantly speaks to us through people we know. We do not recognize his voice because the message is unpalatable, because the messenger has weaknesses, because the messenger is someone we know very well or someone we dislike.
The Word of God challenges us on two fronts.
It challenges us to receive God’s Word irrespective of the messenger’s status/ power/ origin.
It reminds us that every Christian, because of his/ her baptism, is called to be a prophet. We may be afraid and feel incompetent; God will work through our fear and incompetence.
Will I discover and listen to the prophetic voice of God in ordinary people? Or am I impressed by showy rhetoric but impervious to the grace that comes through weakness?
How will I, a simple and ordinary person, be his prophet?
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