14th SUNDAY in ORDINARY TIME

Gospel Bullet Points (Mark 6:1-6)

• Jesus was teaching in his hometown’s synagogue. The initial reaction to the preaching of Jesus was very positive. Then, they started questioning his wisdom and wonderful deeds. “Is not this the son of Joseph?”
• So, miracles were not performed in His hometown because of the people’s unbelief and for subsequently rejecting Jesus.
• Now, what are we supposed to learn from the gospel narrative?
• First, Jesus will only perform mighty deeds if we believe in him. Jesus was admonishing and reproving his neighbors because of their lack of faith. His neighbors refused to recognize his wisdom and the miracles he had done because they knew his background. They refused to listen to him.
• Second, the problem comes when we fail to recognize the miracles happening around us. Please think of the many miracles in our lives that we often overlook and fail to appreciate. When you wake up in the morning and feel that your heart has been beating non-stop—isn’t that a miracle? When you find power in your weakness, light in moments of darkness, and the courage to rise above your dark past and live again, are they not miracles? Do we recognize and appreciate them?
• Like the neighbors of Jesus, we can be so blinded by the resistance of the heart that we fail to see the miracles happening around us. Today, we pray that the Lord will grant us the openness to notice and to be amazed at the ordinary and unremarkable ways that God comes to us.