1: Do not allow rejection to derail your dreams: The annals of human history are replete with case after case of good people being rejected by those who knew them best. Beethoven, for example, had a rather awkward playing style and preferred to work at his own compositions rather than play the compositions of the classical artists of his day.
Disapproving of his technique, his teacher called him hopeless as a composer. Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four and could not read until age nine. His school master said that he was “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift in his foolish dreams, and that he would never amount to anything.” Thomas Edison’s teachers advised his parents to keep him home from school, stating that he was “too stupid to learn anything.” In his autobiography, Charles Darwin wrote, “I was considered by all my masters and my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in intellect.” An expert once said of the great football coach, Vince Lombardi, “He possesses minimal football knowledge and lacks motivation.” Socrates was written off as “an immoral corruptor of youth.” Louisa May Alcott’s family thought she was hardly educable and encouraged her to find work as a seamstress or house-servant. When F. W. Woolworth first sought work at a dry goods store, his employers said he did not have the intelligence to wait on customers. Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor who complained that he was lacking in creative ideas. The father of the sculptor Rodin said, “I have an idiot for a son.” Described as the worst pupil in his school, Rodin failed three times to secure admittance to a school of art. After Fred Astaire’s first screen test, the memo from the testing director said, “Can’t act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little! “Obviously, all of these people lived to contradict their naysayers and so excelled in their respective fields as to become a surprise to those who thought they “knew” them.– So also Jesus. So also, Paul. So also, Ezekiel. Each of the readings for today’s liturgy challenges the human propensity for labeling and limiting and invites believers to begin to look at God, the world, and one another with more open eyes and more receptive hearts.(Sanchez Files) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).# 2 Rejected geniuses: Bishop Fulton Sheen, the
great Preacher, was told by his college debate coach, “You are absolutely the
worst speaker I ever heard.”(Mark Link S.J.). Ruth Graham felt an
uncontrollable urge to run out of the meeting the first time she heard Billy
Graham preach. She was not convinced of his preaching ability. She was put off
by his preaching style. Billy had to improve his preaching before Ruth would
become his wife. Brilliant British Theologian G.K. Chesterton could not read
until he was eight years old. A teacher said if his head were opened, they
would probably find a lump of fat where there was supposed to be a brain. That
teacher was wrong. Earnest Hemingway, the great novelist, was told by his
teachers, ”Forget about writing; you don’t have enough talent for it.” Beatrix Potter’s The
Tale of Peter Rabbit was rejected by seven publishers. Richard Bach
got twenty rejection slips before Jonathan Livingston Seagull was
published. Richard Hooker’s humorous war novel, MASH was rejected by 21
publishers before it became a bestseller, a movie, and long-running television
series. Dr. Seuss, one of the most popular children’s authors of all time, got
more than two dozen rejection slips before The Cat in the Hat made
it to print. Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus encountered rejection with
prophetic courage. If people rejected Jesus in his lifetime, we should not be
surprised if people reject us who believe in and follow Jesus in our lifetime.
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 3: Rev. Deacon Prophet: There is a funny story
about a bishop who was interviewing a senior seminarian before his ordination
as deacon and asked him where he would like to be assigned as a deacon for
pastoral training. The seminarian said, somewhat boldly, “Oh, my bishop,
anywhere but New Canaan!” “Why not there,” the bishop asked? “You know,” the
seminarian answered, “that’s my hometown — and we all know that ‘a prophet
is not without honor except in his native place.’” The bishop replied,
“Don’t worry my friend! Nobody in your hometown is going to confuse you with a
prophet.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
#4: Prophets were empowered by the Spirit of God: Mahatma Mohandas
Gandhi once said, “It is possible for a single individual to defy the whole
might of an unjust empire to save his honor, his religion, his soul, and lay
the foundation for that empire’s fall or its regeneration.” Gandhi, a twentieth
century man of peace and leader of a nonviolent movement to improve conditions
in his native India, was just such an individual. So was Ezekiel and so were
the other prophets of Israel and Judah. Acting as God’s mouthpieces (the
meaning of the Greek prophetes), the prophets were empowered by the
Spirit of God to call forth truth, justice, and fidelity in situations where
these qualities were overshadowed by the lies, frauds, injustice, and
faithlessness of their contemporaries. Called upon and charged by God to speak
to the people, Ezekiel was also fully equipped by God for his mission.
God’s ruah (Hebrew for breath) or Life Force entered into the
prophet and remained with him, enabling him to understand and to communicate
God’s message to his contemporaries (8:3; 9:24; 11:1). Regardless of their
recalcitrance (v. 8 “hard of face and obstinate of heart”), the power of God,
at work in Ezekiel, was such that even the most rebellious would be caused to
acknowledge that a prophet had been among them (v. 9). The assurance that God’s
word would prevail is further affirmed by the designation of the prophet
as Son of man. Occurring more than 90 times in Ezekiel, this title
underlines the contrast between the Divine Word and its mortal messenger,
thereby emphasizing the fact that the message is God’s not Ezekiel’s and that
reward and/or retribution will be decided by God alone.(Sanchez Files). Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 5: Good news to the poor! But are we poor? Mother Teresa thought so. There was a beautiful article about her in Time magazine. She was asked about the materialism of the West. “The more you have, the more you are occupied,” she contends. “But the less you have the freer you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is a joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. This is the only fan in the whole house…and it is for the guests. But we are happy. “I find the rich poorer,” she continues. “Sometimes they are lonelier inside…The hunger for love is much more difficult to fill than the hunger for bread…The real poor know what joy is.” When asked about her plans for the future, she replied, “I just take one day. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not come. We have only today to love Jesus.” Was there anyone in this Church as rich as Mother Teresa? Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
1: Rejection resulting in a resignation: There
was a feud between the Pastor and the Choir Director of a Southern Baptist
parish. The first hint of trouble came when the Pastor preached on Dedicating
oneself to service, and the Choir Director chose to have the choir sing: “I
Shall Not Be Moved.” Trying to believe this was a coincidence, the
Pastor put the incident behind him. The next Sunday he preached on Giving.
Afterwards, the choir squirmed as the director led them in the hymn: “Jesus
Paid It All” By this time, the Pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning
attendance swelled as the tension between the two began public. A large crowd
showed up the next week to hear his sermon on the Sin of Gossiping. Would you
believe the Choir Director selected for the choir: “I Love to Tell the
Story”? There was no turning back. The following Sunday the Pastor
told the congregation that unless something changed he was considering
resignation. The entire Church gasped when the Choir Director led them in: “Why
Not Tonight?” Truthfully, no one was surprised when the Pastor
resigned a week later, explaining that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was
leading him away. The Choir Director could not resist having the choir
sing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”
# 2: Rejection at the Pearly Gate, too: A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to proceed into Heaven. A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter. Upon scanning the preacher’s entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow and says, “Okay, we’ll let you in, but take that cotton robe and wooden staff.” The preacher is astonished and replies, “But I am a man of the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I rate higher than a cabby.” St. Peter responded matter-of-factly: “Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed.”
25- Additional anecdotes: # 1: Preachers
rejected: Ezekiel and Jesus. Ezekiel was called to be both
priest and prophet to his people during the most devastating time
in their history. Six short years after he began preaching to
them in the year 587 B.C., the holy city of Jerusalem was captured and was with
the Temple, destroyed, while just about every last person in Israel was carried
off in chains to exile in Babylon. What is worse, Ezekiel saw
it coming and told the people. He told them
it was God’s way of punishing them for being so thick-skulled
and hard-hearted (3.7). Predictably, they refused
to listen. This was the good news according to
Ezekiel! This was the hand God asked this preacher to play!
The chosen people didn’t believe him, of
course, even when the Babylonians started setting fire to
their homes and hacking down the carved pillars in their beautiful Temple. They
stubbornly denied the truth about themselves the
whole time they were dragged off, kicking and screaming to Babylon. And it was
not until there, years later, with no Temple in which to offer
sacrifice and no other sacred rituals permitted to them that they began meeting
in Ezekiel’s house (8.1), where this bug-eyed prophet also
learned how to become their priest. Softened up by
the experience of desolation they could no longer deny, they began, for the
first time, to listen to this old friend who had never
given up on them and who reminded them of the God Who
had no intention of giving up on them either. — Today’s Gospel
tells us how Jesus, the real Messiah, was rejected by the people of
fellow-townsmen in Nazareth. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
# 2: Scientist rejected: George Washington
Carver was an African-American scientist who did some pioneering work on the
lowly peanut. In January, 1921, he was called before the Ways and Means
Committee in the House of Representatives to explain his work. He expected such
a high-level committee to handle the business at hand with him and those who
had come with him with dignity and proper decorum. He was shocked when the
speakers who preceded him were treated very rudely. As an African American, he
was the last one on the list, and so after three days of waiting, he finally
got to make his presentation. He was shocked when he noticed one of the members
with his hat on and feet on the table. When the Chairman asked him to take off
his hat, the member said out loud, “Down where I come from, we don’t accept a
black man’s testimony. And furthermore, I don’t see what this fellow can say
that would have any bearing on the work of this committee.” At this point,
George was ready to turn around and go home, but he said to himself, as he wrote
in his autobiography, “Whatever they said of me, I knew that I was a child of
God, and so I prayed ‘Almighty God, let me carry out Your will'”. He got to the
podium and was told that he had 20 minutes to speak. Well, his presentation was
so engaging that he was granted several extensions until he had spoken for
several hours. At the end of his talk, everyone on the committee stood and
applauded him. (“More
Telling Stories, Compelling Stories” by William J.
Bausch). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) The vocation of the prophet and the fear of rejection: John
Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States and the son of a former
President, reportedly said that he would rather clean filth from the street
than become the President. The Old Testament tells us that most of the prophets
shared John Quincy Adams’ hesitation about their calling, probably for fear of
rejection or failure. Moses tried to convince God that he stammered and, hence,
could not become Israel’s leader. Jeremiah complained to God that he was too
young. The prophets trembled at the trials ahead of them, and that with good
reason: (II Chr 36:16, Jer 2: 30, Am 2:12, Mt 23:37, Lk 13:34, I Thes 2: 15,
Heb 11: 32 ff.). Jeremiah was threatened with death several times, thrown into
a dry cistern, imprisoned, dragged off to exile in Egypt, and, perhaps most
painful of all, was forced to watch the destruction of Jerusalem, because its
inhabitants would not listen to his message. At least twice in his lifetime,
the prophet Elijah gave the warning of God to King Ahab concerning the king’s
promotion of idolatry. As a result, Elijah was forced to flee into the
wilderness where he suffered great privation (I Kgs 16: 29- 17: 3; I Kgs 18: 16
– 19: 4). — Today’s Gospel gives another example of why the prophets did not
jump for joy at their career prospects. It describes in five sentences how the
people of Nazareth turned from amazement to furious indignation at Jesus’
statement of the Truth, hinting at a Messianic identity. Speaking God’s Truth
is a risky business even today. It results in arrests and persecution in
Communist and Islamic countries. In developed countries, insulting the religious
beliefs and practices of Christians is perpetrated in the name of the freedom
of speech. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) A prophet is not accepted in his own country: When
Martin Luther King, Jr., came preaching to the people in our country, he did
not say anything new. His message was 200 years old, as given in the Declaration
of Independence: “We hold it to be self-evident, … that all people are
created equal.” Dr. King looked out and saw people who were not treated as
equals. He perceived others for whom this truth was not self-evident. So he
went from city to city and said, “Today is the day when we will take seriously
our own Declaration of Independence.” Gunshots rang out and cut him down. — Why?
What radical act did he commit which took his life? In the tradition of the
Bible’s prophets, he reminded people of what they already knew and said, “Today
is the day.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) Rejected by the Amish Community: The book
Crossing Over is the story of the rejection one woman faced when she fell in
love with a person outside the Amish Community and ran away to marry him. Ruth
Garrett had always been a little rebellious, but not even she could imagine the
pain she was about to experience from being shunned by her family and
community. -– Rejection: even the word, has a foreboding sound. Sadly, it is an
experience with which most, if not all, of us, are painfully familiar.
Everybody experiences rejection sometimes. It may come from a boss, from a
peer, from a lover, from a Church, even from strangers who communicate clearly
that you are not welcome in certain circles. Today’s Gospel explains how Jesus
experienced rejection by fellow-townsmen in Nazareth. hometown. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) Rejected scientists: Albert Einstein was
a theoretical physicist widely, regarded as the most important scientist of the
20th century. He was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics for his
explanation of the photoelectric effect in 1905 and “for his services to
Theoretical Physics.” Most of us take Albert Einstein’s name as synonymous with
genius, but he didn’t always show such promise. Einstein did not speak until he
was four and did not read until he was seven, causing his teachers and parents
to think him mentally handicapped, slow, and anti-social. Eventually, he was
expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic
School. In 1905, the University of Bern flunked a Ph.D. dissertation because it
was fanciful and irrelevant. The young Ph.D. student who received the bad news
was Albert Einstein. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
Thomas Edison developed many devices which
greatly influenced life in the 20th century. Edison is considered one of the
most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S patents to his name. But
in his early years, teachers told Thomas Edison that he was “too stupid to
learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs
for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000
unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful
attempts finally resulted in the design that worked.
Isaac Newton was the greatest English
mathematician of his generation. His work on optics and gravitation made him
one of the greatest scientists the world has even known. Many thought that
Isaac was born a genius, but he wasn’t! When he was young, he did very poorly in
grade school, so poorly that his teachers were clueless as to how to improve
his grades. When he was put in charge of running the family farm, he failed
miserably, so poorly in fact that an uncle took charge and sent him off to
Cambridge where he finally blossomed into the scholar we know today.
In his early years, Charles Darwin gave up
on having a medical career and was often chastised by his father for being lazy
and too dreamy. Darwin himself wrote, “I was considered by all my masters and
my father, a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard of intellect.”
Perhaps they judged too soon, as Darwin today is well-known for his scientific
studies. But most people would agree that he caught on pretty well in the end,
winning, not the Nobel Prize (first awarded some 30 years after his death, and
never posthumously) [Facebook: the Nobel Prize] but the Copley Medal, the
Wollaston Medal, and the Royal Medal and being made a Fellow of the Royal
Society, on the strength of his seminal book, On the Origins of
Species.] . (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) Rejected politicians: Winston Churchill: This
Nobel Prize-winning, twice-elected Prime Minster of the United Kingdom, wasn’t
always as well regarded as he is today. Churchill struggled in school and
failed the sixth grade. In 1894, the rhetoric teacher at Harrow in England
wrote on a 16-year old’s grade card: “A conspicuous lack of success.” The name
on the top of the card was that of young Winston Churchill. After school he
faced many years of political failures, as he was defeated in every election
for public office until he finally became the Prime Minister at the ripe old
age of 62. Abraham
Lincoln: While today he is remembered as one of the
greatest leaders of our nation, Lincoln’s life wasn’t so easy. He received no more
than 5 years of formal education throughout his lifetime. In his youth he went
to war a captain and returned a private (if you’re not familiar with military
ranks, just know that private is as low as it goes.) Lincoln joined politics
and had 12 major failures before he was elected the 16th President of the
United States of America.
(http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) Rejected businessmen: Henry Ford: His
first two automobile companies failed. That did not stop him from incorporating
Ford Motor Company and being the first to apply assembly-line manufacturing to
the production of affordable automobiles in the world. He not only
revolutionized industrial production in the United States and Europe, he also
had enormous influence over the 20th century economy and society. His
combination of mass production, high wages and low prices to consumers
initiated a management school known as “Fordism.” He became one of the three
most famous and richest men in the world during his time. But his early
businesses failed and left him broke five times before he founded the
successful Ford Motor Company. Bill Gates didn’t seem like a
shoe-in for success after dropping out of Harvard and starting a failed first
business with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen called Traf-O-Data. While this
early idea didn’t work, Gates’ later work did, creating the global empire that
is Microsoft. Today Walt Disney rakes in billions from
merchandise, movies and theme parks around the world, but Walt Disney himself
had a bit of a rough start. He was fired by a newspaper editor because, “he
lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” After that, Disney started a number
of businesses that didn’t last too long and ended with bankruptcy and failure.
He kept plugging along, however, and eventually found a recipe for success that
worked. (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) Rejected media moguls: Oprah Winfrey: Most
people know Oprah as one of the most iconic faces on TV as well as one of the
richest and most successful women in the world. Oprah faced a hard road to get
to that position, however, enduring a rough and often abusive childhood as well
as numerous career setbacks, including being fired from her job as a television
reporter because she was “unfit for TV.” Charlie Chaplin: It’s
hard to imagine film without the iconic Charlie Chaplin, but his act was
initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because they felt it was a little
too nonsensical to ever sell. Sidney Poitier: After
his first audition, Poitier was told by the casting director, “Why don’t you
stop wasting people’s time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?”
Poitier vowed to show him that he could make it, going on to win an Oscar and
become one of the most well-regarded actors in the business. Marilyn Monroe: While
Monroe’s star burned out early, she did have a period of great success in her
life. Despite a rough upbringing and being told by modeling agents that she
should instead consider being a secretary, Monroe became a pin-up, model and
actress that still strikes a chord with people today. Walter Disney was
American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, and animator. One
of the most well-known motion picture producers in the world, Disney founded a
production company. The corporation, now known as The Walt Disney Company,
makes average revenue of US $30 billion annually.
(http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/ & http://EzineArticles.com/862208).)
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) Rejected writers and artists: J. K.
Rowling may be rolling in a lot of Harry Potter dough today, but
before she published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely
depressed, divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school
and writing a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to survive to being
one of the richest women in the world in a span of only five years through her
talent, hard work, and determination. Recluse and poet Emily Dickinson is
a commonly read and loved writer. Yet in her lifetime she was all but ignored,
having fewer than a dozen poems published out of her almost 1,800 completed
works. Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer of classical music,
is widely regarded as one of history’s supreme composers. His reputation has
inspired – and in many cases intimidated – composers, musicians, and audiences
who were to come after him. Before the start of his career, Beethoven’s music
teacher once said of him “as a composer, he is hopeless”. And during his
career, he lost his hearing yet he managed to produce great music – a deaf man
composing music! Ironic, isn’t it! (http://EzineArticles.com/862208). Steven
Spielberg is an American film director. He has won 3 Academy Awards
and ranks among the most successful filmmakers in history. Most of all,
Spielberg was recognized as the financially most successful motion picture
director of all time. During his childhood, Spielberg dropped out of junior
high school. He was persuaded to come back and was placed in a
learning-disabled class. He only lasted a month and then dropped out of school
forever. (http://EzineArticles.com/862208). Elvis Presley: As one of
the best-selling artists of all time, Elvis has become a household name even
years after his death. But back in 1954, Elvis was still a nobody, and Jimmy
Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after just one
performance telling him, “You ain’t goin’ nowhere, son. You ought to go back to
drivin’ a truck.” The Beatles: Few
people can deny the lasting power of this super group, still popular with
listeners around the world today. Yet when they were just starting out, a
recording company decided against them, making two points: “we don’t like their
sound, and guitar music is on the way out,” — with which the rest of the world
couldn’t have disagreed more.
In 1902, the Atlantic Monthly’s poetry
editor returned a batch of poems to a 28-year old poet with a bitter note: “Our
magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” The poet was Robert
Frost. (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11)Rejected athletes: Michael Jordan is
arguably the greatest basketball player of all time. A phenomenal athlete with
a unique combination of grace, speed, power, artistry, improvisational ability,
and an unquenchable competitive desire, Jordan single-handedly redefined the
NBA superstar. Before joining the NBA, Jordan was just an ordinary person, so
ordinary that was cut from his high school basketball team because of his “lack
of skill.” Luckily, Jordan didn’t let this setback stop him from playing the
game, and he has stated, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I
have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the
game-winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in
my life. And that is why I succeed.” Stan Smith: This
tennis player was rejected from even being a lowly ball boy for a Davis Cup
tennis match because event organizers felt he was too clumsy and uncoordinated.
Smith went on to prove them wrong, showcasing his not-so-clumsy skills by
winning Wimbledon, the U. S. Open and eight Davis Cups. (http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) Preaching the Good News to the poor: The
story is told of a Franciscan monk in Australia assigned to be the guide and
“gofer” to Mother Teresa when she visited New South Wales. Thrilled and excited
at the prospect of being so close to this great woman, he dreamed of how much
he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit,
he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had
the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other
people for her to meet. Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to
New Guinea. In desperation, the Franciscan friar spoke to Mother Teresa: “If I
pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk
to you and learn from you?” Mother Teresa looked at him. “You have enough money
to pay airfare to New Guinea? she asked. “Yes,” he replied eagerly. “Then give
that money to the poor,” she said. “You’ll learn more from that than anything I
can tell you.” — Mother Teresa understood that Jesus’ ministry was to the poor
and she made it hers as well. She knew that they more than anyone else needed
Good News. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) “He has sent me to release the oppressed…” You
will cry if you watch the film Amazing Grace. It’s the moving story
of William Wilberforce and his life-long struggle against slavery in the
Parliament of England. This young man of unusual ability and noteworthy power
relentlessly appealed to the consciences of sophisticated people to stop what no
normal person could stand to embrace. He literally gave his life trying to set
people free. What the movie does not include is the fact that slavery was
finally, fully outlawed in England on July 26, 1833. William Wilberforce died
July 29, 1833. — Lest we think slavery to be a problem of the past, in our own
time, there are eighteen to twenty thousand people trafficked in the U.S. each
year for forced labor or prostitution. There are twenty-seven million enslaved
people worldwide, eighty percent of them women and over half, children under
eighteen.
A sub-plot in Amazing Grace movie is the
life of John Newton, the preacher behind Wilberforce. A slave trader himself,
Newton lives out the latter years of his life with the ghosts of twenty
thousand slaves haunting him in the night. But as he proclaims in the movie, “I
am a great sinner, but I found a Great Savior.” — I don’t think I’ll ever sing
about the “amazing grace that saved a wretch like me” the same again. Jesus
Christ can do that for you and me. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) Familiarity breeds contempt: People come
from all over the world to tour Yellowstone National Park, and yet there is a
man living in Livingston, Montana, I understand, just 56 miles away, who never
set foot in the park until he was in middle adulthood. There are people in New
York City who have never visited the Statue of Liberty. People come from all
around the world to visit Disneyland, yet there are residents of Anaheim, California
who have never gone the few blocks to visit “the happiest place on earth.” —
There are those in the Church who know Jesus the same way that an apartment
dweller in New York City may know about a neighbor living in the apartment
above, but has never spoken to that neighbor in the 25 years they have shared
the same roof. One can be too close to something. It may come as a surprise to
you, but ministers have a difficult time worshipping. They are too close to the
action. They know all of the things which can, (and sometimes do), go wrong.
They are too close to the trees to experience the forest. So were Jesus’
townspeople as described in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) “I have a dream,” Jesus at Nazareth: A young
boy of 9 was sitting in his father’s workshop watching his dad work on a
harness. “Someday Father,” said Louis, “I want to be a harness-maker, just like
you.” “Why not start now?” said the father. He took a piece of leather and drew
a design on it. “Now” he said, “take the hole-punch and hammer out this design
but be careful that you don’t hit your hand.” Excited, the boy began to work,
but when he hit the hole-punch, it flew out of his hand and pierced his eye! He
lost his sight in that eye. Later, as fate would have it, sight in the other
eye failed. Louis was now totally blind. A few years later, Louis was sitting
in the family garden when a friend handed him a pinecone. As he ran his
sensitive fingers over the cone, an idea came to him. He became enthusiastic
and began to create an alphabet of raised dots on paper so that the blind could
feel and interpret. Thus, Louis Braille in 1818 opened up a whole new world for
the blind. — What is it that Jesus intends to do during his three years of
ministry? It is this: To open up a whole new world for you and for me. To bring
us out of our poverty that has long held us down and to restore vision that you
and I have long since lost. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) Announcing freedom to the prisoners: Kazimerz
Symanski of Poland was a prisoner of war during World War II. There is no
record of what happened to Symanski in the prison camp, but his experiences
there obviously changed him. In his later years, Symanski seemed bent on
reliving his prison experience. He even turned his small apartment into a
prison cell. He put bars over the windows and constructed a small cage in which
he slept. He refused to allow electricity or running water in his apartment. He
seemed determined to live in the most primitive and confining conditions.
Symanski died in 1993 from the effects of his living conditions. (Oswald
Chambers in “The Moral Foundations of Life” Christianity Today,
Vol. 32, #13.) — Some of us, too, have been living for years in prison cells of
our own making. We are bound by addictions, anxiety, low self-esteem, anger,
fear, guilt, misconceptions about God. Jesus proclaims in today’s Gospel that
he came to liberate all such prisoners. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) A different kind of prophet: In one of his
books, David Buttrick tells about a cartoon in a magazine. The cartoon shows
three men sitting in a row behind a long table. A microphone has been placed in
front of each of them. One man is pictured in long flowing hair and a draped
white robe. Another is battered, a wreath of jagged thorns on his head. The
third is swarthy, with dark curly hair and a pointed nose. The caption said,
“Will the real Jesus Christ please stand?” [David Buttrick, Preaching
Jesus Christ (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), p. 23.] — Everybody
sees Jesus from a different angle, including the writers of the New Testament.
For Matthew, Jesus is the Teacher of Righteousness. Like
Moses, Jesus climbs a mountain and teaches a new Law to all present. For the
Gospel of Mark, Jesus is an Exorcist, constantly battling the
powers of evil. Jesus is the Strong Son of God turned loose in the world.
According to the Gospel of John, Jesus comes to reveal God.
“No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, Who is close to the Father’s
heart, Who has made God known” (John 1:18). But for the writer of Luke’s Gospel,
the word that best summarizes the person and work of Jesus is the word
“prophet.” Jesus is a prophet. But Jesus is a different kind of prophet,
standing squarely within the tradition of the prophets of Israel. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Rejection hurts: Arnold Palmer played his
last Master’s Tournament in 2002. Palmer, who won the Master’s in 1958, 1960,
1962, and 1964, had seen his game slip away with age and his stardom fade with
the rise of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson . A reporter asked Palmer, “Why did
you do it? Why did you quit?” To which Palmer replied, “I didn’t want to get
the letter that (former champions) Ford, Brewer, and Casper have already
received asking them to step down.” –Whether it’s that girl in elementary
school who looked at you in disdain when you offered her a Valentine card, or
the boss that suggests you are not included in the company’s new plans,
rejection hurts. It causes pain. Yet, Jesus said it’s going to happen, and we
would be wise to live with it, for “Blessed are you when people insult
you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of
Me.” There is some rejection that’s worth the cost. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) Enclave of resistance: In September of 1997
there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral to be constructed
in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish
architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope was that the
cathedral would be completed by the beginning of the third millennium, the year
2000. It was to be a unique witness to the glory of God. There were models of
the cathedral at the groundbreaking service, and on the basis of the models,
a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote a review of the cathedral.
This is a part of what the reporter said: “Moneo is creating an alternate world
to the everyday world that surrounds the cathedral, a testimony to grandeur of
the human spirit, an antidote to a world that is increasingly spiritually
empty.” Then he wrote this sentence: “The cathedral, set in the midst of the
secular city, will be an enclave of resistance.” — What an image . . . the
Church an enclave of resistance!f That word should be a part of the mission
statement of every Church in the city, “an enclave of resistance against all
that diminishes human life.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) A rebel on his death bed: There are some
folks in every community who criticize anything unpopular a preacher may say
(even if the preacher is quoting Jesus) and dismisses his/her words with a
shrug and “Of course, you know he/she is a Communist.” Well, at the risk of
being called a “Communist,” I’d like to share with you a statement by a
Communist this morning. In fact, he was one of the very first Communists. His
family name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulanov, but you and I know him as Nikolai
Lenin. Late in 1921 he became ill, lost the power of speech, and was obliged to
let others rule in his name. Among the things which he wrote in that period
were these remarkable words: “I made a mistake… Without doubt, an oppressed
multitude had to be liberated. But our method only provoked further oppression
and atrocious massacres. My living nightmare is to find myself lost in an ocean
red with the blood of innumerable victims. It is too late now to alter the
past, but what was needed to save Russia was ten Francis of Assisi’s.” [Quoted
in Why Jesus Never Had Ulcers, Robert M. Holmes, (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1986), p. 89.] Or one Jesus Christ!! One Carpenter from
Nazareth. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) What is the mission of our Church? Rachel
Carson’s book, The Sea Around Us, describes the microscopic
vegetable life of the sea which provides food for many of the ocean’s smallest
creatures. She tells how these little plants drift thousands of miles wherever
the currents carry them, with no power or will of their own to direct their own
destiny. The plants are named plankton, a Greek word that means “wandering” or
“drifting.” Plankton describes the wandering plant life of the
ocean. [Robert A. Raines, New Life in the Church (San Francisco:
Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961).] — Plankton may also be a good way to
define the life of the Church today. We are wandering, adrift. What is our
mission as a Church? Why do we exist? From my studies of Jesus’ ministry and
teachings, I believe we exist for two reasons: one is to reach individual
people with the Good News of God’s love as revealed in Jesus Christ; the second
is to influence society to the point that the kingdoms of this earth more
closely resemble the Kingdom of God. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) A prophet rejected by his people: Some of you
have heard about Clarence Jordan, founder of Koinonia Farm in Georgia. He
started a peanut farm and tried to run it the same way he thought Jesus would
run it. He believed in a good wage for an honest day’s work. He believed in
taking care of the land and those who work it. And he believed that all people
– black and white – could work together and stand together. It was the early
1950s, and his local Baptist church did not agree with his thoughts on racial
equality. One time, an agricultural student from Florida State University
visited Koinonia Farm for the weekend. The student was from India, and said,
“I’ve never gone to a Christian worship service. I would like to go.” Clarence
took him to Rehoboth Baptist Church, and it is reported that “the presence of
his dark skin miraculously chilled the hot, humid southern Georgia
atmosphere.”4 It didn’t matter that he was from India. He had dark skin, not a
red neck -and so he did not fit in. After worship, the pastor drove out to
Jordan’s farm and said, “You can’t come with somebody like that. It causes
disunity in our Church.” Jordan tried to explain, but the pastor wasn’t
listening. Sometime later, a group of Church leaders went out to the farm to
plead with Clarence to keep undesirable people out of their Church. They had no
patience to hear Jordan’s explanation. When they got back to the Church, they
wrote a letter and said, “Mr. Jordan, you are no longer welcome in our Church,
because you keep bringing in the wrong kind of people.” [The story is reported
by Dallas Lee, The Cotton Patch Evidence: The Story of Clarence Jordan
and the Koinonia Farm Experiment (New York: Harper and Row, 1971), pp.
75-76.] Today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was not acceptable to
fellow-townsmen in Nazareth because of Jesus’ option for the poor and the
Gentiles. But Jesus’ mission extends to the ends of the earth. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) “It is some sort of cake!” The
following story narrated by Anthony de Mello in his book, The Song of
the Bird, illustrates poignantly the irony contained in today’s Gospel
reading (Mk 6:1-6). Nasruddin earned his living selling eggs. Someone
came to his shop one day and said, “Guess what I have in my hand.” “Give me a
clue,” said Nasruddin. “I shall give you several: It has the shape of an egg,
the size of an egg. It looks like an egg, tastes like an egg, and smells like
an egg. Inside it is yellow and white. It is liquid before it is cooked,
becomes thick when heated. It was, moreover, laid by a hen.” “Aha! I know!”
said Nasruddin. “It is some sort of cake!” —
It is ironic. The expert misses the obvious. And it was also an irony that the
neighbors of Jesus of Nazareth missed the obvious., for they thought they knew
every detail about “the carpenter’s son.” In purporting to have complete
knowledge of Jesus’ personal data, they ended up showing their ignorance. Their
knowledge of “the carpenter, the son of Mary” was superficial. —
Their prejudice prevented them from believing and responding to the Christ, the
Son of God. (Lectio Divina). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) Obstacles overcome to become heroes: So
many of the people whom we regard of as great have had tremendous obstacles to
overcome on their respective paths to greatness. John Milton was blind.
Beethoven and Thomas Edison were deaf. Alexander the Great, Alexander Pope,
Stephen A. Douglas, and Franklin D. Roosevelt were crippled. Cervantes
stuttered and Abraham Lincoln failed in two businesses, had a nervous
breakdown, was rejected from law school, lost four jobs and eight elections
before he was elected president of the United States. — In today’s second
reading, Paul tells his Corinthian readers (and us) that his path, too, was
fraught with struggles; however, it is difficult to determine precisely what
great apostle meant by the phrases “thorn in the flesh” and “an angel of Satan
to beat me” (v. 7). (Sanchez Files) Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
25) The tragedy of unbelief: True story–a man buys an extremely sensitive barometer from a respected company, but when it arrives the needle on the device is pointing to the sector marked hurricane. After shaking the device several times (never a good idea with a sensitive mechanism), he was unable to get the needle to move. So, in anger, he sat down and wrote a scathing letter to the company about their faulty product. As he drove into work the next morning, he mailed his letter. On returning that evening, not only was his barometer missing, but so was his entire house from a hurricane—September 1938.(Media Library). — Jesus experienced such a tragedy of unbelief and rejection in the Synagogue of Nazareth, as described in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
From Fr. Jude Botelho:
The first reading is from the prophet Ezekiel who tries to call his people to repentance, but it is frustrating for him to prophesy because the people refuse to listen. We need to realize that every Christian is called to be a prophet, to confront and challenge by word and example, that which is not of God. At times we might be tempted to give up because we know that people will not listen, but that should not prevent us from fulfilling the mission. Ezekiel saw enough evil in the people to warrant giving up trying to help them, yet he continued his thankless mission. Jerusalem was destroyed and Ezekiel was vindicated.
Do you mean to say you are a priest?
The Gospel is about mission. St. Mark has a way of zeroing in on the basics. He's very brief and to the point. Let's get the picture. Jesus sets up a "pilot test" project. He wants to test how well his brand new on-the-job trainees can take instructions and make them work. In this Gospel we see him giving them a lesson on some very basic matters. I will use three key words to highlight his work plan: Excess, Time and Respond. In the simplest terms, the basics are: avoid Excesses, use Time wisely, and Respond, don't react, to each new challenge.
I suggest that these basics will work for you too, any time and any place...
Or do you cram everything you can into every corner of an extra-large expandable bag, making sure that whatever comes your way on your trip, you are prepared?
Parents traveling with small children embody both extremes. They bring enough "kid gear," emergency medicines, food and drink boxes, stuffed animals, and beloved story-books to keep the children satisfied for weeks. But they're lucky if they get a toothbrush and a change of socks for themselves.
It is the Boy Scouts' motto of "Be Prepared" vs. the new airline mantra of "you pay for every pound." Once you are beyond the "traveling with small children" phase of your life, it is tempting to look at all the "stuff" parents bring along as just so much junk. But, ironically, it is those protective parents who might best embody the supplications of Jesus and the spartan traveling supplies of Jesus' disciples. No, the twelve apostles did not bring "Dora, the Explorer" downloads. No, there were no fruit snacks and water bottles. But . . . Yes, like parents, they did set out to travel without focusing on their own needs and provisions.
In today's text we learn how the disciples, in accordance with Jesus' own directives, took basically nothing as a "back-up" for themselves...
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Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. That was as harsh a punishment as the ancient Greek mind could conjure up. Today, it seems, we have volunteered to play the role of Atlas. We have not offended God, we have dismissed him, told him we were grown up enough not to need his help any more, and offered to carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders. The question is, when it gets too heavy for us, when there are questions too hard for human knowledge to answer and problems that take more time to solve than any of us have, will we be too proud to admit that we have made a mistake in wanting to carry this world alone?
Rabbi Harold Kushner
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Switching Tracks
Sometimes the best thing we can do is to move on to another field. Paul Harvey tells the story of Joe, who was born into a family of Sicilian immigrants, a family who had a 300-year history as fishermen. Joe's dad was a fisherman. His brothers were fishermen. But Joe was made sick by the smell of raw fish and the motion of a rocking boat. In a family where the only acceptable way to earn a living was by fishing, Joe was a failure. His dad used to refer to his son as "good for nothing." Joe believed his dad. He believed that his attempts at other types of work were an admission of failure, but he just couldn't stand the smell of the fishing business. One thing that Joe could do was to play baseball. Giving up a field where he could not succeed, Joe DiMaggio moved to another field and became one of the great successes of baseball.
David G. Rogne, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost
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Call to Repentance and Change
Erwin M. Soukup has compiled what he terms "The Seven Steps to Stagnation":
1. We've never done it that way before.
2. We're not ready for that.
3. We are doing all right without trying that.
4. We tried it once before.
5. We don't have money for that.
6. That's not our job.
7. Something like that can't work.
Soukup admits that "there's probably an eighth step, but we've never looked it up before."
Martin E. Marty, "Context," April 15, 1985, p. 5.
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Ignoring the Play
When I was in elementary school, I remember when all the kids in the neighborhood got together and put on a show. We rigged up a curtain of sorts by hanging an old bedspread in a screened porch, and arranged folding chairs for the audience. Then we practiced a small play, and added in a few musical solos, for which I played the piano. (Because we couldn't move the piano closer to the play, I had to play it very loud, and even then it was barely audible.) As I remember it, it was a prodigious feat for little kids like us.
We invited all our mothers to come to our performance. (That was back in the days when housewives were not an endangered species and most mothers were home all day.) Although we did not charge admission, we went through the motions of collecting tickets and ushering our guests to their seats. Our audience was charmed by how cute that was. Then we put on our play.
We put a lot of work into our play. We had to invent everything from scratch and improvise sets and costumes from things our mothers reluctantly loaned us, and yet they didn't pay attention! They sat there and gossiped with each other, commenting on whether this kid was a natural singer or that kid was terminally shy. At the end, they retained nothing of the plot or the story of our play; they just told us how cute we were. Cute! The word stung! We wanted them to take us seriously, as if we were adults putting on a play. But they were so well acquainted with us that all they saw were cute little kids, and no play at all.
Well, that is pretty much what happened to Jesus in today's reading.
Ken Collins, No Honor in His Own Country
The Object of Envy Is Trapped
De Unamuno's point is clear: when you are the object of envy, you cannot do a blessed thing to make the situation any better. Try to be extra kind to the one who envies you, and this kindness will get written off as condescension and charity. Try to rise above things by ignoring the one torn up with envy and you will be written off as arrogant and rude, thereby merely confirming the envier's low opinion of you. Neither approach nor avoidance can help the envied one.
It's difficult to know how much of a role envy plays in Mark 6 but surely the sneering attitude of Jesus' fellow townsfolk revealed at least a smidgen of envy-driven sentiments. Maybe this had something to do with his inability/unwillingness to do miracles there. He was doomed no matter what he did. Do more miracles, and the people write him off as a showboat (and/or as someone drawing off power from dubious sources). If he refused to do miracles, maybe a few would say, "What now?! We're not good enough for you, not WORTHY of your wonder-working power!?"
Perhaps the only thing left to do was leave town and go to other villages, from which Jesus sent forth his disciples-cum-apostles to do wonderful work in places where it could be unalloyedly appreciated.
Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations
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A Reputation Is Hard to Shake
Do you remember the stupid stuff you did when you were a kid? I'm not talking about wetting the bed or spilling your milk; I mean the things that you did in public, the things that were known in the community and, perhaps, even gave you a reputation. Maybe you were arrested for some prank, or you were kicked off the football team for drinking, or maybe, on a dare, you streaked the high school lunchroom. Whatever.
The point is, a reputation is a hard thing to shake. Even as a fully grown adult, when you go back home, the people still whisper: "There's Bill Smith, he got busted for 'dining and dashing' back in '72." No wonder so many people move away from their hometown when they grow up! It's less humbling that way.
In high school, I was known as "The Class Clown." Now there's a shock! I was forever cutting up in class, telling jokes, making smart comments. When I arrived in biology class on the first day, the teacher took role, and when she came to my name, she said "Steve, I've heard about you, and you've got one chance. If you smart off in my class, you're out of here." Well, I lasted about a week. When Mrs. McMartin asked if someone could define the word "dilute" I said that it was a city on the shore of Lake Superior. Hello, study hall!
But as my life began to change, some people wouldn't let me change. I came to faith in Christ and got serious about ministry, but people still saw me as a clown. I decided to go to seminary and they whispered "That's Steve Molin, he was tossed off the college hockey team in '68." When I got ordained, some supposed that I would show up as Guido Sarducci of the Saturday Night Live skit. Is it any wonder then that my first ministry job was in Rochester, some 70 miles from home? Or that my next call was to Sioux Falls, 250 miles from here. Or that next, I traveled 1600 miles away to serve in Salem, Oregon. In Salem, they loved me. In Sioux Falls, they took me seriously. But seven years ago, I came back home, and I can't tell you how many times I have run into people from my high school who have said "Really? Steve Molin? A Lutheran pastor?" As I said, it's hard to shake a reputation.
Steven Molin, An Expert Is Someone 300 Miles Away From Home!
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Glued to Our Faults
James S. Hewett once gave an apt example of people not getting the respect they deserve. Especially young people. He tells about his son, who was using one of those super-adhesive glues on a model airplane he was building. "In less than three minutes," says James Hewett, "his right index finger was bonded to a shiny blue wing of his DC-10. He tried to free it. He tugged it, pulled it, waved it frantically, but he couldn't budge his finger free." Soon, they located a solvent that did the job and ended their moment of crisis. Then James Hewitt writes this: "Last night I remembered that scene when I visited a new family in our neighborhood. The father of the family introduced his children: 'This is Pete. He's the clumsy one of the lot.' 'That's Kathy coming in with mud on her shoes. She's the sloppy one.' 'As always, Mike is last. He'll be late for his own funeral, I promise you.'"
James Hewett goes on to say, "The dad did a thorough job of gluing his children to their faults and mistakes. People do it to us all the time. They remind us of our failures, our errors, our sins, and they won't let us live them down. Like my son trying frantically to free his finger from the plane, there are people who try, sometimes desperately, to free themselves from their past. They would love a chance to begin again. When we don't let people forget their past, when we don't forgive, we glue them to their mistakes and refuse to see them as more than something they have done. However, when we forgive, we gently pry the doer of the hurtful deed from the deed itself, and we say that the past is just that--the past--over and done with . . ."
King Duncan,
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Real Evangelism
If we are going to be effective in reaching people for Christ we are going to have to start showing people that we really care. Evangelism and missions must be relational in nature. There is no record of Jesus walking up to someone out of the clear blue sky and saying: I am the Messiah and then him beginning to show his care for them. No, he showed his care for them first and then he revealed himself to them.
A story is told about a man who was on a luxury liner and suddenly he falls overboard. He can't swim and in desperation he begins calling for help. Now it just so happens that there several would be rescuers on deck who witnessed the incident. The first man was a MORALIST. When he saw the man fall overboard he immediately reached into his briefcase and pulled out a book on how to swim. He now tossed it to him and he yelled: Now brother, you read that and just follow the instructions and you will be all right.The man next to him happened to be a IDEALIST. When he saw the man fall
overboard he immediately jumped into the water and began swimming all around
the drowning man saying: Now just watch me swim. Do as I do and you will be
alright. The person next to him happened to be a member of the INSTITUTIONAL
establish a committee and dialogue your problem. And then, if we have come
up with the proper financing, we will resolve your dilemma.
The next man on deck happened to be a representative of the school of
board happened to be a REVIVALIST. By this time the drowning man was going
down for the third time and desperately began waving his arm. Seeing that,
the revivalist yelled out: Yes brother, I see that hand, is there another?
Is there another? And finally, the last man on deck, was a REALIST. He
immediately plunged into the water, at the risk of his own life, and pulled
the victim to safety.
