SUNDAY JUNE 9, 2024
SUNDAY OF THE TENTH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
Genesis 3:9- 15
2 Corinthians 4:13-5: 1
Mark 3:20-35
CHRISTIAN ATTITUDE TOWARDS REJECTION AND BEING MISUNDERSTOOD
The life of Jesus was a total contradiction to the world. From the moment of his conception to his death, he appeared as an enigma to the world. For this reason he was misunderstood and obviously and outrightly rejected. By his reactions and attitudes, Jesus teaches us the model to follow in moments of rejections and misunderstanding which must come our way in life from friends, relatives and even colleagues.
In the case of Jesus, he had multiple misunderstandings from family relations and even worse from the authorities of the Sanhedrin, the scribes and the Pharisees. From the family members, their misgivings against Jesus was understandable because for them, he had overstepped his bounds. Instead of undertaking the simple task of a carpenter job following his father’s trade, he went about as an itinerary preaching, gathering supposed “miscreants,” sinners and tax collectors, and people who had no pedigree. His lifestyle was austere. No stable home, no means of livelihood and no steady income to even finance his daily needs and those of his followers.
Most worrisome is his confrontation with the ruling class, the leading religious people, the scribes and the Pharisees. Even though Jesus tantalized them with his many miracles and wonders which depicted him as a messiah and of which he laid claims to, he even went further to attribute to himself the expected messiah or the awaited messiah of the Jewish people. Notwithstanding, His manifestations pointed to that role by his acts of pronouncing forgiving sins, his claim to be the Son of God adding to his mighty works.
All these were points of misunderstandings arising from both his family and the religious leaders of his time. While the family feared his death in the hands of the ruling class, some supposed him to have lost his mind. So they came innocently to his rescue.
In the case of the religious people, they tried to twist all his good action by giving him a bad name, denying the powers in his miracles and attributing all to the devil or prince of the demons. These religious people invariably were trying to protect their class and status in the society because the know that something supernatural is with them and they feared Jesus the more. But their reaction was to reject him and kill him.
In all these, Jesus teaches us how to handle rejection and misunderstanding that may arise from people and situations. First, we must be firm in our resolve. Jesus never faltered but stood his ground. He did not want to convince anyone but to continue his life of impacting in the society. His consistent lifestyle and teaching speaks eloquently for him. We must never be deterred in our convinced life.
Second, Jesus uses the opportunity of his rejection to correct misgivings, call attention to the ideals in life. First example, He let the people know how ignorant they were about life in his argument of devil driving out devil through the prince of devil. He argues that a kingdom divided in itself is heading for ruin and will eventually fall.
Again he demonstrated to them how unrepentant they were and such unrepentant spirit will lead them to hell. For in fact, the sin against the Holy Spirit is obstinacy, refusal to repent, and refusal to accept forgiveness. That though sin came through disobedience as we find in the first reading but greater sin that can lead to hell is obstinacy, unrepentant spirit.
We need as Saint Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, our second reading reminds us to always renew our inner minds and never focus on our outer mind or the visible self. He speaks of our spiritual life which must be purified and kept safe from the poison of sin and evil.
Jesus goes ahead to restate the ideals that leads to good life, which is doing the will of God our Father. As he says, “Here are my mother and my brethren! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
So in our struggle for goodness and virtuous life, we must seek to be steadfast, consistent and ever resisting all forms of rejections and misunderstanding from friends, colleagues, family members and the world. This is the greatest struggle in our times. We experience such from peer group pressure, lifestyle enticement, materialistic values and all forms of social interaction that are inimical to our health and wellbeing. Let us learn to stand with Jesus always.
Heavenly Father, grant us the strength, desire and grace to struggle against modern trends that goes against our faith, morals and beliefs. Give us grace to overcome tensions, misunderstanding and rejections from any one in our lives. Bless this new week and keep us safe from all harms of body and soul through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
