Are you ready for your world to be rocked?
It’s remarkable how resistant we can be to what’s right in
front of us. When Ezekiel is called to
be a prophet in the midst of exile, the people of Israel don’t like his
message because it threatens to rock their world:
first, that Jerusalem – the center of their universe – will be destroyed in their
absence; second, that consolation will come, if only they have faith. So the people of Israel, a rebellious house, reject Ezekiel, and Ezekiel must therefore fall
to his knees, go to his weakness, and ask God for the strength to
continue. The spirit that sets him on his feet makes it possible
for Ezekiel to hear the word of God and proclaim it, so that, one day, others
might also come to hear, and believe.
Jesus is faced with a similar situation in Mark’s
Gospel. In his native place, everyone thinks they know him: he is only the carpenter, the son of Mary. Setting up their own parameters around Jesus’
identity, the people aren’t able to acknowledge that God is speaking to them: they are not open to Jesus the Word, and
therefore refuse to believe. To believe,
after all, would rock the world as they know it. And they’re not ready for that: they embody the mockery of the arrogant to which Psalm 123 refers, and the contempt of the proud. They are unwilling to show their weakness,
unwilling to admit their limitations.
Jesus is amazed at their lack of
faith.
Is it so important that the world be defined the way we
think it ought to be? Or might we not
benefit from being open to God, open to God’s ability to rock our world? Our Christian journey is about letting go of
arrogance and going to our weakness, which is what arrogance is usually
protecting. Paul knows this when, in his
letter to the Corinthians, he mentions his thorn
in the flesh, a constant reminder from God that God’s grace is enough, because power
is made perfect in weakness: it is
the Christian paradox. To accept the
cross is to allow God’s love to touch us; to reject the cross is to hold God’s
love at bay. The people of Israel reject Ezekiel, but God pursues them
up to their point of weakness… at which point their world is rocked by God’s
love. Our challenge is to allow the
grace of God to be sufficient for us, to accept the difficulties, to embrace
the cross, to allow God to rock our world in ways we can’t anticipate or
control. It is there that we meet God, where we will
find our strength… and it won’t be in ourselves, but in God.
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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