July 8, 2012

Bulletin July 8 ’12 14 Sun Ordin B

Ezekiel 2:2-5; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6
So what is Jesus about and what am I about? Am I on the right path? Am I listening? Do I feel that listening means just listening to God’s voice? Yet how very infrequently do I hear this voice…maybe only a few times in my life. So how is God speaking to me? God sends all these wonderful people who are in my life right now and also wonderful people that appear for a few moments: maybe a lecture, a class, someone passing through, a relative, a friend, a no one that I have never known before but the common denominator is that they made me STOP and what they said was a message. Maybe this message was comfortable, maybe challenging, maybe unusual, maybe surprising, and maybe thought-provoking but it always put me on alert that this was of great consequence and directed at me. Did I take time and listen…reflect? A few times I did; I find myself more often these days to stop and to spend time with their ‘message’.
Often I felt initially that their message was too personal or too embarrassing and ‘I didn’t want to go there but now I’m realizing that this could be the way that God is helping me grow closer to Him. Why do I say this? Today’s readings spell out the way that God uses ‘prophets, insightful people’ to convey His message to me so that I continue on the road He wants me to be on.
The problems in all of this are: what is it that blocks the ears of my heart from hearing? What is it that closes the eyes of my heart from seeing? What is it the keeps me from feeling the touches of truth from those who come with a ‘message’ from God?
There must have been sadness in Jesus as He responded to the people gathered from His home town, “A prophet is not without honor excerpt in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” He knew He was a prophet who would speak the word from God. He also knew the fate of prophets down through the ages: rejection, persecution or at least disbelief and not to be taken seriously. The lack of faith in these people prevented Him from working any miracles. Lord help my disbelief…help the doubts that spring up in my faith journey. Please make me aware of Your constant miracles in my life.
Ezekiel was on a mission from God with full authority to be God’s representative and to deliver God’s message. The people he was sent to were rebellious and “hard of face and obstinate of heart.” They knew that he was a prophet from consequences that befell them. I have been that ‘hard of face and obstinate of heart too, Lord.
But I have also been on the other side that Paul relates. Having gifts, sharing the gifts being proud of the gifts and being too elated because of these spiritual favors received. So lest Paul was too much the center of attention and thus a hindrance to the gospel he was sent to preach, he was given a ‘thorn in the flesh.’ It doesn’t matter to me what this ‘thorn’ was but that it reminded Paul of his role and that it’s all about God and living God and being Jesus and not about me.
So it’s about me listening to the prophets in my life and responding when called to be a prophet. Fr. Gene Lauer, a great spiritual guide says this: “Here are some biblical characteristics to look for or to discover if a prophet is present. What he or she is saying will seem quite unusual, perhaps a bit abrasive and uncomfortable, but it will have about it an admirable strength of convictions. The message will seem logical but out-of-place. It will invariably be at odds with the prevailing economic interests of the establishment. It will seem too idealistic to be put into practice, at least in the immediate future, but well-intentioned people will allow that it has some chance in the distant future, i.e., in the future that comes after they die when they won’t have to deal with it. The prophetic figure may also be identified by unusual fact that he or she will do everything to direct attention to the prophetic message rather than to him or herself. The prophet will not take advantage of sudden opportunities for personal gain (yes, he or she will actually pass up opportunities for making a lot of money just to make sure that the message is taken seriously)”
These words give the characteristics of a prophet. They are not idealistic, in reality; they are a description of the person and attitudes of Jesus. This is what I am called to be and to respond to; so I reflect on:

• When problems, disappointments come I tend to say, Why me?
• When I do this, I’m never looking for an answer; I just want sympathy or just an opportunity to complain.
• That’s really the worst thing I can do in my spiritual growth because it puts the attention on me and not on my loving always present God.
• What I should be saying is, Why not me? I’ve been given so much; can’t I spend time in gratitude and eating a ‘little humble pie’?