Unwavering Conviction

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇 𝟗, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝟐 𝐊𝐠𝐬 𝟓:𝟏-𝟏𝟓𝐚𝐛

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟒𝟐:𝟐-𝟑; 𝟒𝟑:𝟑-𝟒 “𝐀𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨𝐝?”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐤 𝟒:𝟐𝟒-𝟑𝟎

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “..𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧.” (𝐯.𝟐𝟒) 

         “𝐍𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧.” This was what Jesus said as he spoke before the Jews who were present at the synagogue of Nazareth in observance of the Sabbath. Being the God that he is, he perfectly knew the kind of reaction he would elicit at his teachings.

         The same rings true even today as we hear of incidents and experiences of people who have gained success in their fields of endeavor who return home to the place of their birth but who instead of being honored and respected are being ignored and treated with scorn.

         There is no plausible explanation behind all these except envy perhaps. It is the natural tendency among us to envy people who succeeded in their chosen field especially those who rose from the ladder of success through hard work and perseverance. But there are times when others who are envious of the fortunes of their fellowmen will have none of it.

         And what we see in today’s Gospel passage was how Jesus faced the attitude of the religious leaders and teachers of the law who treated him with disdain and disbelief. Instead of confronting this negative frame of mind of the religious leaders, Jesus proceeded with his mission, and he never wavered in his conviction that the Word of God must be proclaimed even at the risk of losing his own life.

         The message rings clear in that the Gospel must be proclaimed not only to one class of people but to everyone without fear or favor. What happened to Jesus may have happened to us at some point and could still be happening now.

         Those of us who are sent to teach or give a talk sometimes find ourselves being contradicted and sneered at even in our own Parishes or Community and that’s perfectly normal. The important thing that we all must keep in mind is that we should never compromise on what we believe in as Jesus himself stood his ground in the face of tremendous pressure from the religious leaders and even from his own kinsmen.

          As we see in this Gospel, the townmates of Jesus, instead of expressing their joy at the healing that took place in their midst, they even went as far as to question not only his persona by inquiring as to his family heritage: “𝐈𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐡?” (𝐯.𝟐𝟐)

        This reaction of his town mates probably stemmed from their familiarity with Jesus who stayed with Joseph and Mary and only left Nazareth when he was already thirty years old. In all those years, there was probably nothing spectacular that he said or did that could have generated the admiration of his town mates.

        Yet his town mates were amazed at the wisdom of his teaching, but what they could not accept was how a very ordinary carpenter’s son could teach with authority, perform miracles, heal the sick and cast out the demons from those possessed by evil spirits.     

         Jews normally receive religious instructions at an early age such that by the time they reach the age of puberty they are already well-versed in the so-called Law of God which was why Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of his town mates.

         Thus, it would be illogical for Jesus to preach where he was unwelcome, but what his town mates didn’t realize then was that they would be missing a lot from the teachings of Jesus and the things that he could do for them. This contemptuous display of arrogance deprived them of learning what God’s Will was for them.

         Today, we could also be committing what the Nazoreans did which is why we need to always check the level of our faith in God. Knowing that our Lord is a forgiving God might push us to abuse God’s kindness and mercy and find the gates closed when the bridegroom arrives if we continue to wallow in sin.

          As he moved out of Nazareth to go to where he was welcome, we might also find Jesus moving out of our presence if we don’t take heed of his teachings and if we don’t reform our ways and stay clear of sin. We cannot afford to be contemptuous because our salvation is largely dependent on our obedience to God’s Will for us.

         Familiarity can work both ways. It can either breed contempt as what happened to the Nazoreans or our being familiar with Jesus can strengthen the ties that bind us to Our Lord. When we reflect on this passage, God is giving us a choice.

         We can either help proclaim the Good News to others as we are obliged to do or reject it altogether. There are no gray areas nor a thin line when it comes to our salvation and we cannot assume that God will forgive us if we repay his kindness and generosity with a contemptible attitude.

          When the people of Nazareth treated Jesus with contempt, what happened was that they missed their opportunity to be on the caravan to salvation. In fact, they did not only miss the benefit of being saved from eternal damnation, but Jesus took his message and his blessings to places where the people will receive them (𝐌𝐤 𝟔.𝟔). As what 𝑺𝒕. 𝑨𝒖𝒈𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆 said about this Gospel: “𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”          

          We may not be aware of it, but we will certainly experience the same tragedy if we persist in turning a deaf ear to the Word of God. Familiarity is not at all bad because it is also the key to salvation and our familiarity with Jesus should motivate us to listen, study, live and share the Word of God. Then and only then can we expect blessings upon blessings from the source of life and light.

          By paying close attention to his Word we can be assured of the promise of Jesus in 𝐉𝐧 𝟏𝟒:𝟐𝟑 “𝐈𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐌𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦.” And in this life, there are only two choices that we can make. It’s either we are for him or against him.

         We read from Scriptures that “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬, 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐝; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠.” (𝐋𝐚𝐦 𝟑:𝟐𝟐-𝟐𝟑). This is an assurance that God readily gives Grace to those who will seek him with sincerity, expectant faith and a repentant heart who desire to be made whole and clean again.

         This was what happened to Naaman who was instructed by the prophet Elisha to bathe seven times in the Jordan river to cleanse him of his leprosy. Though he was a king, Naaman humbly followed the prophet's instructions and was immediately restored in body and spirit.

         When Jesus proclaimed the Gospel to his own people in Nazareth, he minced no words to confront them of their sin of indifference and unbelief, and he went to rebuke them saying that no prophet or servant of God can receive honor among his own people.

         The Jews believed that they were truly the chosen ones and they were angered when Jesus said: “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐝 – 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐍𝐚𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧.” (𝐯.𝟐𝟕) What Jesus was trying to impart was that God’s Grace also flows to both Jews and Gentiles alike and that God was not selective in whom He will apportion his gift of salvation.

         Today, this blindness and indifference of the Pharisees to the new message that Jesus brought has assumed different forms and shapes and is no longer limited to the reception of the Word of God. Many of those in the Church and or Community for that matter have become Pharisaical in their ways especially those who exercise governance functions.

         Love of God and neighbor through the proclamation of the Word has either been relegated to the backseat in favor of rules, programs and projects such that the primary mission of the church and or community which is to proclaim the Word of God has been set aside.

         Worst is when churches and communities don’t thrive and when the lack of commitment by members is blamed on organizational flaws as if conversion and transformation is the fruit of the organizational structure and not of the heart and an encounter with God.

         There is nothing wrong with having policies and rules to put a structure and order in the church and or community for that matter, but such policies and rules should not be looked upon as the be-all and the end-all of church and community life.

         The goal of bringing others to reconcile with God should be premised on the love we have received that we also must share in love. This means that we cannot convert an unbeliever, a marginalized Catholic, the unchurched and or bring light to those who live in darkness by reading to him a list of policies and rules. Rather, authentic evangelization is founded on the Gospel of salvation that Jesus Christ himself preached and which we are also commanded to do.

         Conversion comes when people hear the Word of God being proclaimed to them. Thus, to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth is the be-all and end-all of the purpose for which we have been created.

        When we were introduced to the renewal movement in 1989 through a charismatic community the first thing that caught our attention was that members always have their Bibles in their hands not only during the prayer meetings but in every activity of that community, especially during the teaching sessions.

         But many communities and ministries have fallen by the wayside as politics and quest for power crept in. Attendance and the level of commitment in these ministries have dramatically dipped and the usual blame-game followed and different assumptions were professed.

       The whys and the wherefores filled the air and the ‘midnight’ experts in community building looked everywhere to determine what seems to be ailing the community, but they left the one important thing that contributes to the growth of a spiritual community.  These ministries simply forgot that more than anything else, it is the Word of God upon which any community should be anchored in.

         In this Gospel passage, Jesus shows that God heals and pardons all who will humbly ask for his mercy and help, and he will set us free from every sinful habit that makes us indifferent to our neighbor and God alone can restore our disfigured nature if we will allow him to cleanse us and heal us. To be free is to grow in love and holiness fueled by the Grace of God. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 9, 2026)