|
Extracted from the holy Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 6:1-6
Jesus went to his home town and his disciples accompanied him.
With the coming of the sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him.
They said, ‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him? This is the carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joset and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us?’
And they would not accept him.
And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house’; and he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith. ________________________________________
You said, ‘I am surprised that Jesus Christ was being rejected.’
Here’s for you:
Today, after the above mentioned was being read in Holy Mass, a wise and elderly priest gave the Homily and we have summarized to share with you:
As a good Christian, be expected that you would sometimes suffer the rejection of others because of your faith in Christ and /or be victimized and framed by the wicked with the good that you have done.
Jesus suffered numerous occasions of rejection:
Jesus, though the Son of God, was conceived out of wedlock. He suffered the initial rejection when the righteous Joseph wanted to divorce his betrothed Mary informally, as he did not know that Mary had conceived what was in her by the Holy Spirit. Joseph changed that decision only after the Angel of God had revealed to him the facts – Matthew 1:18-25.
Then it came the time Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of his kingdom, where he ordered everyone to go to his own town to be registered. Joseph then went with the pregnant Mary to the Town of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born and laid in a manger, as there was no room for them at the inn – Luke 2:1-7.
The wicked king Herod, who was threatened by the birth of Jesus, wanted Jesus to be killed. Thus he ordered the killing of all infants of 2 years and younger and Joseph needed to take flight with Mary and the Baby Jesus into Egypt– Matthew 2:13-18. They lived in Egypt away from all their families and friends for a few years.
Logically, the Egyptians would never welcome this Israelite family, as they could recall how Moses led all the Israelites out of Egypt and had made them voluntarily part with their silver and gold, and deprived them the benefit of enslaving the Israelites and making them built all their elegant structures. The entire Egyptian armies were totally perished when chasing the Israelites in the Sea of Reeds. See Encouragements-6. The intelligent builder Joseph, thus earned his living to support his family and lived in Egypt with great difficulty, as all they had were left behind in the land of Israel. They returned to the land of Israel after king Herod died.
Jesus was trained as a Carpenter and Builder in his profession by His Foster Father Joseph, and being taught by Mary, who grew up in the temple before she married to Joseph. He did not go through the normal education like all other Israelites. Although Mary clearly an expert in Law and Jewish customary practices and an excellent teacher to Jesus and his cousins James and Jude, had lived a life in hidden simplicity and She was not a well-known figure among the Doctors of the Law, thus her son was also being despised and rejected even he had shown to possess great wisdom. Jesus clearly had no paper credential and other supporting document to show to all that He possessed great knowledge and wisdom… -See above Mark 6:1-6.
Jesus entered into His public ministry when He was around 30 years of age. In these 3 years of public ministry before He died on the cross, He healed the sick, raised the dead and performed many other miracles (see the holy Gospels according Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Near His death, He was being hailed when He entered Jerusalem (see Matthew 21:1-11) and less than a week later, the same people wanted Him to be crucified on the cross in-placed of a murderer Barabbas (see Matthew 27:15-26). He also suffered the betrayal of his apostle Judas Iscariot who sold Him off with 30 silver pieces (see Matthew 26).
Look at this Jesus Christ who is our Lord and Saviour, who suffered all kinds of rejection from his conception until his death, thus He understands when we suffer any form of rejection as his disciples, even we have been good. He wants us to know that despite what we suffer now, He is going to give us a huge inheritance and would lead us into His eternal glory eventually. Don’t you know that the rejection and suffering that you could be experiencing now is just like a small drop of water in the sea, in comparison with the huge inheritance that the Lord Jesus is going to bestow on you eventually?
Don’t be discouraged, be brave; because He who is your Creator and who loves you will help you to overcome all obstacles and suffering. He who is faithful would carry you and you will emerge harmless and victorious eventually. 8-)
Jesus said (see Matthew 5:1-12, extracted in Lunar New Year Greetings-2012):
Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted.
‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.’
Here’s from us:
We have been in the Construction Industry for more than 19 years and in the midst of our professional work, we have met and talked to many people, including our clients who are developers, contractors, suppliers, architects and other engineers and lawyers. We have also spoken to our families and friends who are doctors, bankers, accountants, business professionals & teachers. We have reached following conclusion:
There is no lasting prosperity that could be built by accumulating through unjust means.
For us, probably we could see the outcome easier, as a construction project is normally built within a period of less than 3 years…
We have seen people who played the tyrant in his professional work, victimized others and eventually the victims refused to cooperate and the Company suffered huge losses… For a project size of around $500 million, the liquidated damages payable for delay in completion could be around $400,000 per day. Thus, a project which could have made money would suffer huge losses because of such people, and he could even cause the financial collapse of the Company.
It really pays to be just, to always reach “win-win” arrangements with all parties involved instead of wanting to eat the huge pie all by oneself and rejecting the just entitlements of others.
The reality of life is:
Either one is going to share the pie so that everyone gets to eat, or eventually he eats nothing at all.
That’s tragic. 8-( 8 July 2012 |
|
15 July 2012 Homily of Pope Benedict XVI on the Solemnity of Saints Peter & Paul, 29 June 2012, Friday @ the Vatican Basilica—Extracted in part only In the passage from Saint Matthew’s Gospel that we have just heard, Peter makes his own confession of faith in Jesus, acknowledging him as Messiah and Son of God. He does so in the name of the other Apostles too. In reply, the Lord reveals to him the mission that he intends to assign to him, that of being the “rock”, the visible foundation on which the entire spiritual edifice of the Church is built (cf. Mt 16:16-19). But in what sense is Peter the rock? How is he to exercise this prerogative, which naturally he did not receive for his own sake? The account given by the evangelist Matthew tells us first of all that the acknowledgment of Jesus’ identity made by Simon in the name of the Twelve did not come “through flesh and blood”, that is, through his human capacities, but through a particular revelation from God the Father. By contrast, immediately afterwards, as Jesus foretells his passion, death and resurrection, Simon Peter reacts on the basis of “flesh and blood”: he “began to rebuke him, saying, this shall never happen to you” (16:22). And Jesus in turn replied: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me ...” (16:23). The disciple who, through God’s gift, was able to become a solid rock, here shows himself for what he is in his human weakness: a stone along the path, a stone on which men can stumble – in Greek, skandalon. Here we see the tension that exists between the gift that comes from the Lord and human capacities; and in this scene between Jesus and Simon Peter we see anticipated in some sense the drama of the history of the papacy itself, characterized by the joint presence of these two elements: on the one hand, because of the light and the strength that come from on high, the papacy constitutes the foundation of the Church during its pilgrimage through history; on the other hand, across the centuries, human weakness is also evident, which can only be transformed through openness to God’s action.
And in today’s Gospel there emerges powerfully the clear promise made by Jesus: “the gates of the underworld”, that is, the forces of evil, will not prevail, “non praevalebunt”. One is reminded of the account of the call of the prophet Jeremiah, to whom the Lord said, when entrusting him with his mission: “Behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its princes, its priests, and the people of the land. They will fight against you; but they shall not prevail against you - non praevalebunt -, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you!” (Jer 1:18-19). In truth, the promise that Jesus makes to Peter is even greater than those made to the prophets of old: they, indeed, were threatened only by human enemies, whereas Peter will have to be defended from the “gates of the underworld”, from the destructive power of evil. Jeremiah receives a promise that affects him as a person and his prophetic ministry; Peter receives assurances concerning the future of the Church, the new community founded by Jesus Christ, which extends to all of history, far beyond the personal existence of Peter himself. 15 July 2012 (Continue next page -> please click “Next” below)
|
