Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 7/4

Today we see Jesus returning to his hometown of Nazareth, where he is met with incredulity by the townspeople who watched him grow up from humble origins. When they observe his wisdom and holiness as he preaches in the synagogue, they “take offense at him,” “astonished” that this carpenter’s son from little old Nazareth could possibly be a great prophet of God. Perhaps some of us have been met with similar skepticism when we’ve come home after a time away that has changed us: maybe at a Christmas dinner after studying abroad, or at our home parish after a period of missionary work. I remember coming home after a year as a FOCUS missionary, where God worked a profound transformation in my heart, and feeling like my family didn’t quite know what to do with the new me. But Jesus’s icy reception in Nazareth is much more serious than someone home from a semester in France who won’t stop saying j’adore to their cousins at Thanksgiving. Because we see in the Gospel that, because of their lack of faith, Jesus actually can’t freely offer the miracles and graces that had been received so gratefully elsewhere.

When I was praying with this Gospel this week, I was struck with a sobering thought. What if I am like these skeptical Nazoreans? What if I feel so at home with Jesus, so used to following him, so sure that I know what he’s like, that I actually doubt that he can work miracles in my life? For those of us who have been pursuing our faith for a while and coming to Church since childhood, it can be easy to feel such a sense of comfort that we forget where we actually are, and who it is that we are encountering. When we step through the doors of the Church, we are on Holy Ground, and when we show up at Mass we are participating in the most profound, supernatural mystery in the history of the universe. But does our casual familiarity with Jesus and his Church actually dull our faith and prevent us from receiving it in its fullness? What a shame that would be!! Let’s allow this Gospel to sharpen our awareness that Jesus is not just some guy we know--he is the God of Miracles made man, and our faith in that can truly save us.

Jule Coppa, Penn Campus Minister