Who Does He Think He Is? Homily for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Ez 2:2-5

Ps 123:1-4

2 Cor 12:7-10

Mk 6:1-6

 

What was the thorn in Paul's flesh?  What was the nagging irritation that kept him from being too elated?  Don't bother with the commentaries.  There is no agreement among scholars, from Augustine to the present, on the nature of that thorn.  Was it a physical ailment?  Suggestions include an eye disease, recurrent kidney stones, or attacks of gallstones. 

 

St. John Chrysostom wondered if the thorn was Paul’s persistent critics and opponents who complicated his struggle to preach the gospel.  Paul’s stated acceptance of weaknesses, insults, and persecutions would support such an argument. Other Church Fathers, and later commentators, suggest temptation.  Was it temptation to power, to pride,  or simply garden variety lust? 

 

Some opine that it was guilt and shame over his complicity in the persecution of Jesus' early followers. This last makes sense.  How often do we cringe at a memory that causes us guilt and shame?  How often do we wish we could forget hurting another  and want to take back the harmful words or deeds?

Those questions lead us to the gospel. 

 

Read through the eyes of believers, the gospel suggests one of the most satisfying and self-destructive of sins: smugness, a form of pride marked by self-righteousness.   Smugness would leads many a Christian to assume that had I been present at this scene I never would have criticized Jesus for being a local kid come back years later.   I never would have felt that Jesus was the boy down the street who is so full of himself. 

 

In reality, chances are that had any of us been in the crowd we would have felt the same thing they did  and would have joined in the chorus of disapproval. “who does he think he is?” “where did he get all of this?”  “a little too big for his britches if you ask me.” While it doesn’t matter whether or not we nurture fantasies of standing apart from the crowd, complacent self-righteousness can impair our relationships throughout life.

 

One of the great challenges we face is that of honoring the “prophets” in our midst, the prophets in our families, and the prophets about whom we think

"I remember him when . . . "  We mutter under our breath,  “I remember when he was a budding juvenile delinquent.” We grumble, “Listen to her she never did finish that degree." 

 

Smugness is destructive pride that is prejudicial in the extreme.  It causes us to call premature closure on something we may need to hear.  It may cause us to reject the truth out of hand simply because we know the messenger.  That was the sin of Jesus’ critics. 

 

They knew everything about him—or so they thought.  In his commentary on this passage, the late Jesuit Father Dan Harrington described the crowd’s attitude as

the “prejudice of familiarity, ”as in the old saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” 

 

“Where did he get all of this?”

“Who does she think she is?"

 

These are not reactions peculiar to the villagers of 1^st century Palestine. They cloud too many of our relationships.

 

To paraphrase Walt Kelly’s Pogo: “We have met the people and they are us.”a

 

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The photos are from my only trip to Ogunquit, Maine around ten years ago.  I generally do not go to beaches during the summer.  Too many people..  All were converted to black and white which is my favorite medium.    Each of them triggers a lot of thoughts, memories, and projections.  

 

Lifeguard was one of the first jobs with serious responsibility for guys my age (we are talking sixty years ago).  I never was one as I was not a good swimmer.  But, it is something like certain specialties in medicine involving a lot of tedium and routine interrupted by moments of pure terror. 

Could never have done this kind of contrast in the color version as it made the colors surreal.

One of my favorite shots.  It is an essay in being a kid, being a dad, the carefree experiences of summer.  I will admit that I removed a girl from the shot.  She was walking in the water with a float board.  Much better photo that way.  

 No homily next week as I will be in Vermont until Sunday.  Not much in the way of internet access. 

 

 Fr. Jack, SJ, MD