14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I’m sure that all of us can relate to that wonderful feeling of  home-coming. That nearly-indescribable feeling that we all get upon returning home after a long time away.  Whether for school, business, or any other of the millions of reasons, at points in our lives we all experience time away from those places that sustain us, those places where we can freely be ourselves without any fear of criticism, where we feel safe and secure and can let our guard down a little, those places filled with people who love us for who we are.
 
Home.  We are truly blessed indeed if there is a place like this in our life.
 
In the Gospel today, Jesus is experiencing a homecoming.  After a long, tiring journey in his ministry of healing and evangelization, he finally returns home to Nazareth.  I wonder what he was expecting.  I imagine he was hoping for a warm welcome, being sincerely greeted by familiar faces and a chance to rest.  I can’t help but imagine the satisfaction that he must have felt to finally be in that place where he could let his guard down a bit and experience all of those good things of home.  
 
But, as we heard proclaimed in the Gospel today, this was not the case for him.  After teaching in the synagogue upon his return, those who heard him were shocked and astonished; they were incredulous. Instead of a warm welcome home he was mocked and ridiculed.  Instead of warm words from smiling faces he was greeted by people who took offense.  Instead of acknowledging the wonderful healing he was bringing about, his prophetic voice, or his profound teachings the people minimized him.   “Surely,” I could imagine them saying, “things like this can’t be coming from someone like him, we know him, he’s just Mary’s son, a carpenter.  A nobody.” I can’t even imagine how he must have felt.
 
And although we cannot know how Jesus felt at that reception, What we do know is that he couldn’t do any of his miraculous works there.  Recall the ending of today’s Gospel: “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.”
 
Because of this it’s understandable if we are a bit unenthusiastic about the Gospel today; there are no great miracles or profound parables, after all. But I think if we look at it a bit more closely we might be able to learn a couple of essential things, first about ourselves, and second, about our relationship with God.
 
First, I think it is awfully tempting for us to do the same thing to each other that the crowd did to Jesus.  Human nature - coupled with the familiarity that we gain with those we are often around -makes it very easy for us to miss or dismiss that person’s greatness; that person’s gift.  Oftentimes it is easy to forget that those we pass in our home, on the streets, or in the grocery stores are beings crafted in the image and likeness of an infinitely loving God.  Everyone we meet is utterly and completely loved by God and gifted with totally unique gifts.  Everyone.
 
I love CS Lewis’s idea regarding this.  In his book Weight of Glory Lewis describes each one of us as God sees us, as we truly are with all of the beauty God sees in us.  He says:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship…  It is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.”

Secondly we learn something of our relationship with God.  And it is expressed in the dynamics of the encounter between Jesus and the people in the Gospel today.

Recall again that Jesus could not do many works there because of the everyone’s dismissive attitudes. Recall that when the people shut him out and disdained him he was not able to heal there.  This is telling. It reminds us that we must participate in God’s love for it to bear any fruits in our lives, or to make it a reality in the world.  
 
It reminds us that in order for us to grow in God’s love, or to heal from the various wounds and hurts that we often receive throughout life, we must accept God’s love, be open to it, and recognize it’s priceless value for each one of us. We are called to participate.
 
And it is in this participation that the two points come together.
 
Because when we realize and accept the boundless love that God wants to share with us, it will be so much easier to recognize that God wants to share this love with everyone.  And because God loves each and every one of us infinitely, each one of us must be uniquely priceless indeed.
 
Let us never forget that we never journey to God in isolation.  Let us never dismiss or disregard the dignity and worth, the Christ, that we encounter in every one we meet.
 
And then we will be able to see that indeed, there are no ordinary people, we have never talked to a mere mortal.