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| Mark 6:1-6 |
Have you ever found it easier to
do something kind or loving for a new friend or a stranger than for someone in
your own family? As a child (and still today) I was far more willing to help
someone clean their house or to help them out with a chore than I was to clean
or help out at home. Oftentimes our hearts are hardened toward those people
whom we know well. It is easy for hurts to build up and resentment or pain to
grow.
When we love someone without
expectation or condition, when we have soft hearts, we have an insight into
God’s own love for us and for how He created us to be and love. In today’s
Gospel we hear how Jesus is not welcomed as a teacher in His hometown. People
saw Him grow up, knew His family, knew Jesus. Yet this thin knowledge of the
person of Jesus covered their eyes and hardened their hearts to a real
relationship with Jesus as their Teacher, Savior and Lord. When we box people
in or build up walls of expectation or fear we limit our ability to see the
miracles of daily life that have the ability to transform our hearts and our
world.
The process of loving through
our expectations, hurts and fears is not easy. St. Paul identifies with this in
today’s Second Reading, reminding the people that God never promised that the
Christian life would be pain-free but that the love and grace of Jesus is
sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness. God is always near to us and is stronger than
what we are dealing with, even stronger than death! By dying on the cross Jesus
shows us that true power is not wielded or lorded, but with a soft heart, freely
broken open and given to others to transform the world.
This week: Go out of your way to be more vulnerable and
loving to those whom you know best or find it hardest to love.
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