Faith builds bridges to connect us with God: Not having faith builds walls to separate us.

For the past two Sundays, the Gospels gave us stories about “the great fruits of faith”. When there is faith, the hand of God begins to work. Jesus stopped the wind and the waves. Then he reprimanded his disciples on the boat: “Why are you afraid? Do you not yet have faith?”

Last Sunday, we saw the faith of Jarius who went to call Jesus to save his dying daughter, as well as the faith of the woman who had suffered from the issue of blood for twelve years. In such an atmosphere of faith, Jesus healed the hemorrhaging woman and raised to life the daughter of Jairus. These miracles were done on account of the faith of the woman and Jairus. When there is faith, nothing is impossible. Indeed, faith works wonders.

If last Sunday was all about faith in God’s ability to do even the impossible, today appears to be the very opposite.

The Gospel gives us the effect of NOT having faith. Jesus went home to his native place, the town of Nazareth. Instead of believing in him, his town-mates took offense at him. They looked down on him and even maliciously cast doubts on his power and reputation. They just could not accept him. And the Gospel said: “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.” If faith can move mountains, lack of faith puts mountains to block the hand of God.

Faith is the acceptance of Jesus as true God in the flesh. He is the “human face of God”, the expression used often by Pope Benedict XVI. Believing in him as God and in all the truths he revealed and taught is the way to accept him. On the other hand, not to believe in him is rejection of his divinity and his teachings. (Pope Benedict XVI)

We can identify three reasons why Jesus’ townmates did not recognize and accept him. First is error; they were in error. The countrymen of Jesus rejected him because he did not conform to their mistaken idea of a true messiah. They thought they knew Jesus: that he is the carpenter, the son of Mary, a simple and ordinary guy next door. They were very sure of this because they have known him since childhood. More so, they thought they knew what a Messiah should be. They have already their own set of beliefs and ideas about the coming Messiah. And Jesus could not fit into these pre- set ideas. Hence, they insisted on their erroneous ideas and beliefs. This is the classic example of “Familiarity breeds contempt.” What they did not know was his divinity hidden behind his humanity. They were familiar with him, but it was only on the superficial level. As it is always said, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.” It is always prone to errors, prejudices and misconceptions.

Second reason for rejecting Jesus is jealousy. Their words clearly revealed their jealousy: “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” “How can he be better and more powerful than us when in fact he is a nobody in our town?”

And finally, the countrymen of Jesus lacked the most important element to be able to accept Jesus: the gift of faith. The Gospel said: “He was amazed at their lack of faith.” If faith can move mountains, lack of faith builds mountains that block the hand of God. Nothing is impossible with Jesus. He has the power to do any miracle. But he just could not do any miracle in his hometown because of their lack of faith. As a quote says, “For those who do not have faith, no miracle is enough; for those who have faith, no miracle is necessary.” When we have faith in God, there is no limit to what we can expect from God but when we reject God, when we despise God, we place a barrier between ourselves and a free flow of God’s blessings. It is not the case that God’s power weakens when we lack faith, it is rather the case that we prevent ourselves from experiencing it.

What lessons can we learn? The first lesson of our readings in general and our gospel in particular is that: Faith in God is never forced. God will never force his way on us. Why? God takes us as His Children not His Slaves. The only word to describe God’s relationship with humanity is LOVE. And as St. Paul would say: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not… arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5. True love does not force its way on anyone. It is from this perspective that God instructs Ezekiel in today’s first reading: “whether they hear or refuse to hear, they will know that there has been a prophet among them.” Ezekiel 2:5. God loves us so much that His decision to speak to us doesn’t even depend on our readiness to listen to him. God told Ezekiel that the people’s reception does not matter, what matters is Ezekiel’s obedience to his call.

The second lesson comes from our second reading: Maintain a positive attitude to rejection. St. Paul tells us that he is content (happy, satisfied, not- complaining, not feeling bitter or resentful, carrying no grudges, keeping no enemies) with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities which he has to endure for the sake of Christ. In doing God’s work, we cannot escape insults. No matter how good we are, we must have enemies, detractors, and persecutors. Nevertheless, if we allow bitterness in our hearts, we simply spoil the message.

The third lesson for us is to avoid over-familiarity. Like the countrymen of Jesus, there is the danger of becoming too familiar with Jesus, the Mass, the priest, the rituals, the readings, the homilies and the sacraments, to the extent of failing to see Jesus in them. And sadly, though familiar, we do not have a basic understanding of the meaning of the celebrations, and we do not give serious attention to the Word of God; above all there is not the smallest amount of intimacy with Jesus and his Church. Hence, we long for something new, something exciting, but we make no effort to discover the dynamic beauty and boundless treasures behind those ordinary and simple things of our faith. It becomes so easy, then, to reject Jesus in favor of something new and exciting.

Points of Reflection:

Am I a person of faith? If so, what do I believe and how do I live it? Am I aware of my beliefs? Can I identify them? What do they mean to me? How does my daily life reflect them? Am I willing to act on them? Am I willing to die for them? What do I truly believe? What shapes my actions and gives meaning to my life?