There’s one custom based on the first half of today’s gospel lesson which still continues to be kept in regard to clergy deployment. That is, a newly ordained person does not go back to one’s home parish as a priest. I’m not sure if there are any theological reasons behind this custom which I believe is kept throughout the Anglican Communion except some unusual cases. But I have heard from other priests that one of the many reasons is what Jesus says in today’s gospel story: “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” I personally resonate with this saying of Jesus.
With my family members, I’m not their priest. I’m my mom’s son who probably will be her baby until I become 80 years old. I’m my sister’s younger brother who she probably remembers as someone who is somewhat juvenile, rebellious, or annoying. With my friends who I grew up with, I’m not their priest. They see me as how I was with them in my childhood and adolescence. Sharing my personal story, when my friends heard that I was going to become a priest, they really believed that I went mentally insane or I had some traumatic event which completely changed my life. They just couldn’t believe that I would become one. It does make me wonder time to time what they were really thinking of me and how badly I looked in their eyes! I’m sure we all have similar experiences like this. Imagine your high school reunion. You have changed so much, but your high school friends who you haven’t met for years simply see you as how they used to see you in high school. They treat you like how they used to treat you back in high school. It’s like going back to that high school adolescent cliche that judges who’s cool, who’s pretty, and who’s popular. If you haven’t been to your high school reunion ask yourself why not. There may be many reasons but then one of them would be that we kind of don’t want to be seen as how we used to be seen in high school. We don’t want to engage with others if they’re only going to remember me as how they used to remember me back in high school, not being able to see me as who I am becoming. The heart of this psychological dynamic between the person who’s changed and those around that person who don’t see that change is a matter of openness. Do these people of Jesus’ hometown have this openness towards Jesus? Are their hearts open enough to see Jesus as who he is at that very moment when he begins to teach in the synagogue in today’s gospel lesson? No. Their hearts are simply cloistered. They hear him and do get astounded by his teaching. They say, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and are not his sisters with us?” Then they take offense at him, reports St Mark. Their immediate reaction to Jesus is quite harsh and even condescending. They see how wise his teaching is and how powerful his deeds are. They are impressed with his wisdom, particularly his preaching on the coming kingdom of God, the coming reign of God. They hear how he heals the sick and casts away demons. But they just cannot accept all that. They just cannot open their hearts to this Jesus who is proclaiming the gospel and bringing God’s healing to the world. They just cannot see him as who he is right now. What they go back to is their memory of him, how they remember him, the one that they’re used to. Notice that these town people call him ‘the son of Mary,’ not ‘the son of Joseph.’ This identification of Jesus with Mary is quite unusual in Jewish culture. Do they want to say that he is raised by a single mother? Who knows what they’re thinking, but this is not normal. They also go on to say that he is a carpenter, a craftsman, or a handyman who is expected not to have any God-given wisdom. And these people know Jesus’ siblings. They are not that special. They’re just like any town people. What they’re saying about Jesus is really about how they see Jesus and who Jesus is to them. To them, Jesus cannot be the Messiah. He cannot even be the prophet. He cannot be anyone respectful or admirable. He’s just one of them. These town people have no openness in their hearts towards who Jesus can be. But this doesn’t end here. Their lack of openness to who Jesus can be also means their lack of openness to who they can be too. There’s a saying from the Talmud: “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.” In other words, if I may paraphrase this saying, we do not see people as they are, but we see them as we are. Jesus’ hometown people see Jesus not as he is, but as they are. They haven’t been changed or transformed. So Jesus can never be changed or transformed or any different from them. This cloistered mind prevents them from seeing Jesus as he is and seeing them as who they can be in Jesus. This lack of openness is also prevalent in other villages. Jesus’ disciples are now sent to others as they’re given authority over the unclean spirits. Jesus warns them what to do when they are not welcomed. Let’s listen again to what he says: “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on. Your feet as a testimony against them.” Jesus is very much aware that his disciples who are sent out in his name will be rejected. The lack of openness that his hometown people show will be with those people in other villages. And what they are actually rejecting is the message of repentance. This concept of repentance has been misunderstood, misused, and miscommunicated over and over throughout history. It’s not a dogmatic mechanism to impose fear on people and thus make them feel guilty and eventually ashamed. This is not simply an indoctrinating tactic to keep people coming to church on Sundays and make them volunteer and give more alms to the church. What it really requires from us is not this feeling of guilt or shame, but our inner and outer movement of turning away from how we think of ourselves and others and how we behave to ourselves and others. It’s the change of heart. But in order to make any change, we first must be open to the one who is actually telling us to change! That sheer openness to the one who himself is the source of change and transformation comes first. This is what the message of repentance is essentially about. Be open to how you can change yourself and turn things around in your life by embodying yourself in the body of Jesus Christ. Be open to your new self. Be open to others who also can be new selves in Christ. I must admit that I wouldn’t be too different from Jesus’ hometown neighbors. Frankly speaking, I confess to you that I’m not sure if my heart would’ve been open enough to see Jesus as he is. Probably I would see him as I am, as the one who has no expectation of becoming a completely renewed, restored, changed, and transformed self. To me, Jesus is just a handyman who is out of his mind, manipulating people with his know-it-all gibberish. But at this point, I’m not so hopeless. I’m not in despair though I’m shaken by being quite honest about my tendency to close my heart. I’m rather hopeful because I believe the Holy Spirit is at work, opening my heart, and not just mine, but yours. As much as the Holy Spirit can open my cloistered, stubborn heart, yes, she can certainly open yours. This sheer openness that the Holy Spirit brings challenges us every Sunday when we partake in the Eucharist. Without this openness, how do we possibly encounter the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine? Without this openness, there’s nothing special about the morsel of bread. But with this God-given openness, we can see the presence of Christ hidden and revealed at the same time in the bread and wine as his body and blood. In this mere morsel of bread, God is present with us, which tells us if we can see God’s presence in it, God is really with us wherever we are, especially when we are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. With this sheer openness, I would like you to look at yourself. Be open to yourself. Be open to who you can become through Christ. With this gift of openness, be open to others. Be open to who they can become. With this openness, we are sent to the world. Fear closes us in, but love opens us up. This path to openness is sacred and is nothing other than the way of love all of us are called to live out. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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