Mark 6:1-6
When I first became a deacon I went
back to Montana for a summer vacation. While I was visiting my
relatives who live around the little town of Belt, they had talked
with the local pastor about having a Mass of thanksgiving where I
would assist and also preach. I think my mother engineered the whole
thing. So the day came and I walked out with the priest in an alb
too small for me, and as the mass progressed it was obvious that he
had not celebrated with a deacon ever, so we kept stumbling over each
other. When I gave my sermon, my uncles sat there with their arms
crossed, looking hostile and upset that they were missing a whole
morning working on their farms, and my two aunts were making
whispered comments to each other. When it was all over we went to a
local restaurant where we sat around a large table and had breakfast.
The conversation was mostly about the weather and crop prices –
nothing about what we had just experienced. So I kind of identified
with Jesus in today's gospel. It says “They took offense” at
him. The Greek word is Skandalon, or stumbling block – He was a
stumbling block to them. After all they had watched him grow up;
that had seen him play in the streets. He probably ran errands for
some of them. They remember a fairly ordinary kid who was learning
the carpentry trade. And here he was, preaching with authority,
quoting scripture, rumors of miracles in his wake. And he didn't
seem to be able to work many miracles here, at least for anyone who
was watching. They always thought old Levi was healthier than he
looked, so when he got up and walked around, no surprise.
The villagers of Nazareth were
scandalized by Jesus. They prejudged him based upon their
familiarity with him. And because of this they turned their backs,
they didn't listen; and if we were to read further, they eventually
decided to throw him off of a cliff. After all, he was blaspheming.
And because of their prejudging, they did not recognize that God was
moving among them.
There are a lot of stumbling blocks
that keep us from experiencing God in our midst. Perhaps the first
and foremost is the doctrine that Jesus is at once God and Man, that
God walked around not just in a human body, but as a real flesh and
blood human being. Not a disguise, a reality. We don't have much
trouble with God being the creator of the universe, or the source of
the Moral law. What is a stumbling block is the idea that God is a
human being and that means that every human being looks like God.
Another stumbling block is the teaching that we are to love our
enemies. Biblical love is not just an abstract good feeling towards
someone. I can do that. Biblical love means we do something because
of our love. How do you and I love our enemies? Jesus told us that
if we were forced to walk a mile with him we should walk two. He
told us that before we approach the altar, we are to seek
reconciliation. And I could go on. Christianity is full of
stumbling blocks,
I don't know how many times someone
has said “I wish God would just tell me what to do!” Had Jesus
appeared in Nazareth like he did at the transfiguration, clothed in
light, so obviously God that his apostles fell on their faces, you
can bet the Nazareans would. have hung on every word of His
teaching. But God is not going to speak to us like that.
Nevertheless, he does speak to us, all the time. Our problem is
always that we don't hear him because of stumbling blocks.
He speaks to us through other people.
Do you know that in every Mass he has something to say to you?
Matthew Kelly suggests that we keep a mass journal, and at the end of
Mass we write down one thing that struck a cord – just one thing –
and make it the subject of our prayer and mediation that week. And
you may believe a little bit that he speaks to you through a figure
of authority – the pope, the bishop, the pastor – but he might
also be speaking to you through one of your children or a neighbor
who has nothing good to say about anybody. You have to listen.
He speaks to us in nature. Take a
walk on a beautiful day and see how God speaks to you through beauty.
Be sensitive to what is going on. Saint Francis learned this
lesson; he would stop and listen to the birds, he would marvel at the
sun and the moon; he even referred to death, natural death, as his
sister. My heart is always gladdened when I see a beautiful flower,
or a hummingbird. For some reason they always seem to lift my
thoughts to God.
He speaks to us through scripture.
You know this as well as I do. Do you do anything about it? We
deacons like other clergy are obligated to read some bible every day.
And even there, the very word of God that is passing from the page
to our minds is sometimes skimmed over because our minds are busy
with other things. If God speaks through the scriptures, it would
seem logical that we would find time to sit for a few minutes, at
least, with the scriptures every day. But I suspect most of us
don't.
And finally, God speaks to us through
the poor. Jesus himself said, “What you do for the least of my
brothers you do for me.” If we truly want to meet Jesus we need to
actually meet the poor – and I mean by that not just people who are
deprived of material goods, but people who are deprived of the things
we take for granted. Much of my own ministry involves people who are
extremely old and have lost physical and or mental capacity. They
are poor, but if we believe Jesus, this is where we can encounter
him, where we can learn from him.
Stumbling blocks. The terrible thing
is that if Jesus is among us, and he is, we are not recognizing it
because of stumbling blocks. And it would be terrible if we got all
the way through our lives and never recognized that he has been with
us, speaking to us all the time.
