First reading Jeremiah 26:1-9
Jeremiah preaches in the Temple of the Lord and is threatened with death
At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was addressed to Jeremiah by the Lord, ‘The Lord says this: Stand in the court of the Temple of the Lord. To all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the Temple of the Lord you must speak all the words I have commanded you to tell them; do not omit one syllable. Perhaps they will listen and each turn from his evil way: if so, I shall relent and not bring the disaster on them which I intended for their misdeeds. Say to them, “The Lord says this: If you will not listen to me by following my Law which I put before you, by paying attention to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send so persistently to you, without your ever listening to them, I will treat this Temple as I treated Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.”’
The priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah say these words in the Temple of the Lord. When Jeremiah had finished saying everything that the Lord had ordered him to say to all the people, the priests and prophets seized hold of him and said, ‘You shall die! Why have you made this prophecy in the name of the Lord, “This Temple will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, and uninhabited”?’ And the people were all crowding round Jeremiah in the Temple of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm 68(69):5,8-10,14
In your great love, answer me, O God.
More numerous than the hairs on my head
are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack me with lies
are too much for my strength.
How can I restore
what I have never stolen?
It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother’s sons.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.
This is my prayer to you,
my prayer for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails.
Gospel Matthew 13:54-58
A prophet is only despised in his own country
Coming to his home town, Jesus taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’ And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’, and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
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Be open to God’s presence
In today’s Gospel, Jesus returns to His hometown, goes to the synagogue, and begins to teach. His townspeople are amazed at His wisdom and at the stories of His works. Instead of opening their hearts, they close them because they “know” His family, His background, His childhood. They ask, “This is the carpenter’s son, surely?” and they “would not accept Him”, so “He did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.”
Familiarity can blind us. We can grow so used to Jesus, the Scripture, the Eucharist, or the people closest to us that we no longer expect God to speak or act through them. Today, Jesus invites us to recognise His presence in people, events and places, and to welcome Him in the ordinary moments of life. Where there is trust and openness, He can work in us and through us.
Reflective question:
Do I allow familiarity to stop me from recognising Jesus at work in my life and in the circumstances around me?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year A” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD
