How do we know
where grace is going to come from next?
When God calls
Ezekiel to be a prophet after Ezekiel has been exiled to Babylon, the people of
Israel are not only hard of face and
obstinate of heart – they are incredulous.
Indeed, God warns Ezekiel in advance that they are a rebellious house. Yet God
also reassures Ezekiel that in the end, they
shall know that a prophet has been among them. They will not be able to deny that Ezekiel brings
to them the word of God – a powerful occasion for grace. Only when they can pray, as the psalmist does
in Psalm 123, lifting up his eyes to heaven and asking, Have pity on us, will the people of
Israel be able to recognize that grace, however, and experience the Lord’s
abundant mercy.
Likewise, in Mark’s
Gospel, when Jesus comes to Nazareth, his
native place, the community refuses to believe in him. They have heard stories of his great deeds,
but they can’t believe such deeds are possible because Jesus is just the carpenter, the son of Mary – and they
don’t want to hear another prophet with a message they can’t swallow. The people of Nazareth seem to have no
capacity to open to the grace that is right before them; their lack of faith seems to make it impossible for
Jesus to perform almost any miracle in their midst.
We can all be
obstinate when confronted with God’s grace, refusing to open to what is
possible in our lives. Faith requires
that we step beyond the boundaries of what we know; to recognize grace, we must
be aware of our own human limitations and open to God’s surprises. Why is so unthinkable that the likeness of
God might appear in someone we know? How
do we know where grace is going to come from next? What keeps us from recognizing that grace? Paul learned this on the road to
Damascus: My grace is sufficient for you, the Lord told him. Often, however, we tend to be like the people
of Israel or the Corinthians, failing to open in faith to the grace that God wants
so very much for us to know. May we
learn to exercise our creative imagination, that we might recognize the grace
that fills our lives always.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source:
www.wordle.net
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