Homecoming Blues

Jesus was too familiar to the hometown crowd: one translation says they “took offence” at him, but another says they “stumbled.” How can we unplug and uncover the ears and eyes of our heart to hear the good news of Jesus through the hidden, the overlooked, the too-familiar? (Image: https://pixabay.com)

How is the conversation between you and God going?

By Ryan LeBlanc

Summertime often brings vacations, and vacations often bring us back home, to reconnect with those friends and family we have history with. How is that going for you?

Jesus had it kind of rough. After a fairly successful tour of completely wowing the Gentiles with a spectacular exorcism, and saving not just the synagogue leader’s daughter, but also a daring woman in the crowd (all in Mark 5), he finds his hometown a difficult venue.

Accompanied by his disciples, Jesus does his thing of preaching the Kingdom of God, and it totally bombs. His neighbourhood, his relatives, the people he was closest to and had the most history with – and not a whiff of enthusiasm (Mark 6:1-6).

Jesus was too familiar to them. They thought they knew what they were looking at. One translation says they “took offence” at him, but another says they “stumbled.” I think I understand. My daily routine is tripped up when someone suddenly goes off script.

This gospel story gets me wondering. Who am I in this story?

Maybe a little too easily, I identify with Jesus. Unrecognized genius is, after all, how I make my way through the world. If all y’all would just pay attention to me, you’d see you’ve got solid gold standing right in front of you! But, no, it’s always, “What are you muttering about?” and “Are you sure you want to do that?” and “You can’t park your van on the sidewalk.”

The tendency for each of us to identify with a misunderstood and rejected Jesus points to a human truth. It hurts to be misunderstood and rejected, especially by those close to us. It happens that we discover a powerful truth, and bringing it forward from within ourselves makes us vulnerable. We want the benefit of the doubt, or even a sympathetic ear from those who know us the best – which we don’t always get.

For that matter, each of us can also call to mind someone who offered a word of goodness and encouragement, like the words of Jesus, and were written off because of their social profile. There are voices among us that are not taken seriously, even when they are giving away gold, messages of truth and beauty and consolation. I’m not even talking about the tough love of Jesus that invites us to put away what we hold on to that does not give life.

Jesus’s message is that God’s love is breaking into the hurting world and in his hometown: ain’t nobody got time for that.

Who do we know of who speaks love and compassion into the world, only for those around them to not pay any attention at all? If you can identify someone like that, you have found Jesus in the world today. Not just the radical message of unconditional love for every single person, but also in the medium of a gentle voice, clothed in humility, unconcerned about presentation and production value and starred reviews.

Jesus has always spoken from this vantage point, through the forgotten and overlooked. If we want to hear his gospel, we need to turn and tune our ears to the weak and marginalized and grieving and simple. If we ever feel far from God’s love, burdened and weary beneath our too solid flesh, we will only receive the freedom and light of the gospel when we set down the voices of wealth, power, influence and indulgence. It’s always been this way.

When we identify the voices and messages which bring us to goodness, then we can return to ourselves and ask, when have I been a prophet of God’s love – and how has the lack of recognition actually confirmed that I have been this? Rather than discouraging us, rejection and unresponsiveness might indicate we are on to something that needs to be held in the heart, something that needs to be said gently again and again about God’s love in our time and place. Only through committed and trusting prayer can we accept rejection with the detached peace of Christ – who keeps seeking those who reject him.

But let us be real. Who in this story am I the most often? Of course, I am the doofus crowd who doesn’t have time to see a miracle in their midst because I’ve convinced myself I already know everything!

I’m the one with blinders on my eyes and plugs in my ears. I’ve got my magic rectangle dazzling me with new purchases and bad news and pixelized personalities. I’m the one paying rapt attention to those promising side hustles, lonely singles, and viral shares. No wonder that – when Jesus stands right in front of me and speaks exactly the words that give me life – I respond without looking up, “Uh-huh. Wow. Crazy.”

What a powerful conviction this gospel story offers us, that it is the supposed knowledge of Jesus’ family and social standing which obstructs true understanding and acceptance. How often do we reinforce our labels of people instead of listening to them! Especially when they have something important, profound or confronting to say. Especially when they speak some truth from within that we have not made our hearts ready for.

It’s pretty easy to judge the hometown crowd in this gospel story, but in fact their response is among the most realistic and believable details in the Bible – because it is our response too!

In this moment, how can we unplug and uncover the ears and eyes of our heart to hear the good news of Jesus through the hidden, the overlooked, the too-familiar?

The final puzzle that presents the most difficulty for me has to do with why Jesus comes to speak at all.

Shouldn’t Jesus be more efficient and only go to places that will listen? Why does Jesus go back home if they are not going to accept him? Why does he go to any dusty Galilean town at all? Why does God send him to Earth in the first place, if he’s going to preach a word that will be ignored?

We see in the life of the prophet Ezekiel, that God sends him to speak to a rebellious and obstinate people. Same question: why send Ezekiel to those who won’t listen? God says that no matter how the people respond, at least they will know God has sent a prophet, a spokesperson.

God never walks away from the conversation, no matter how much we misunderstand and reject him. He is always speaking words of love and compassion, even when we prefer, too often, to ignore them.

In this God is higher than us: no matter how badly the conversation goes, God will always be there to take it up again, to explain how much he loves us until we finally accept it.

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Ryan LeBlanc is a teacher at Bethlehem Catholic High School in Saskatoon and a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Holy Family.