Mark 6:1-6

Hebrews 12:4-7

Psalm 103:1-2, 13-14, 17-18a

Mark 6:1-6

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place,

accompanied by his disciples.

When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished.

They said, “Where did this man get all this?

What kind of wisdom has been given him?

What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!

Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,

and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?”

And they took offense at him.

Jesus said to them,

“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place

and among his own kin and in his own house.”

So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,

apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I hope that my lack of faith or weak faith never become obstacles to you acting in my life. Strength my faith and grant me the wisdom of your Word and the charity of your Spirit.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Jesus’ Four Cousins: Who are the “brothers of Jesus”? The Gospels of Mark and Matthew identify James and Joseph, here mentioned, as the sons of “the other Mary” (see Mark 15:37, 40-41, 47; 16:1; Matthew 27:55-56, 59-61; Luke 24:10). After the death of Jesus, James eventually became the leader of the Church in Jerusalem and was known as “James, the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19). The Gospel of John refers to “the other Mary” as “Mary, the wife of Clopas.” Clopas is identified by tradition as the brother of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. This means then that the so-called four “brothers” of Jesus are not his blood brothers, but rather his close relatives. They are his cousins and are the children of Mary and Clopas. Two of these four cousins, James and Simon, became the first bishops of Jerusalem. Eusebius writes: “After James the Just had suffered martyrdom [in A.D. 62] for the same reason as the Lord, Simon, his cousin, the son of Clopas, was appointed bishop, whom they all proposed because he was another cousin of the Lord.” Like his brother James, Simon suffered martyrdom during the reign of the Emperor Trajan.

2. The Lack of Faith: The purpose of the story of the lack of faith in Nazareth is to show that while Jesus’ divine power and mercy are unlimited, people can be hindered from experiencing his power and mercy by their refusal to believe in him (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 111). At first, the people of Nazareth were impressed by Jesus’ wisdom and mighty deeds. But their initial awe and wonder soon turn to stumbling and being scandalized by Jesus. The idea that a simple, hometown carpenter could inaugurate the kingdom of God was scandalous to them. They were too attached to their idea about how God acts, and this became an obstacle to professing faith in Jesus. When Jesus sends out his apostles, they will encounter people who will welcome them in faith and also those who will reject them just because they were simple fishermen and even sinful tax collectors.

3. Endure your Trials as Discipline: The Letter to the Hebrews teaches us that suffering is an unavoidable and indispensable part of Christian life. The author invites us to contemplate and understand our sufferings as discipline coming from our loving Father, who, by permitting us, his children, to suffer and endure trial, is preparing us to share in his divine glory. Jesus was made perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10). “It was Jesus’ filial trust and obedience in the face of unbearable suffering that refined his human nature to infinite perfection. Now Hebrews shows more concretely how Jesus’ perfection relates to us.” (Healy, Hebrews, 262). Jesus leads us and, when we are united to him, brings us to share in God’s glory. God’s fatherly discipline perfected his Son’s human nature, and, in like manner, transforms us into faithful, obedient sons and daughters. In response to God’s discipline, we should neither disdain it nor lose heart. We should highly value our sufferings because they are a sign that God loves us: “For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges” (Hebrews 12:6). “God allows suffering because he deeply cares about his children growing to full maturity” (Healy, Hebrews, 263). We are to endure our sufferings and trials as discipline, knowing that God is using them to perfect us in this life and prepare us for the glory of divine life that awaits us.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you suffered and were perfected in your human nature through your loving obedience. Help me to endure the suffering that comes my way and be victorious in times of temptation and trial.

Living the Word of God: Am I attached to my own ideas about how God should act in my life and in the world? Do I embrace the way of humility and trust marked out by Jesus? Do I see suffering as something God permits in my life or do I think it is something God should always prevent in my life?