HOMILÍA DOMINICAL - CICLO B

  Decimocuarto DOMINGO

P. Félix Jiménez Tutor, escolapio ...

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 Escritura:

Ezequiel 2, 2-5; 2 Corintios 12, 7-10;
Marcos 6, 1-6

EVANGELIO

En aquel tiempo fue Jesús a su tierra en compañía de sus discípulos. Cuando llegó el sábado, empezó a enseñar en la sinagoga: la multitud que lo oía se preguntaba asombrada: -¿De dónde saca todo eso? ¿Qué sabiduría es esa que le han enseñado? ¿Y esos milagros de sus manos? ¿No es éste el carpintero, el hijo de María, hermano de Santiago y José y Judas y Simón? ¿Y sus hermanas no viven con nosotros aquí? Y desconfiaban de él. Jesús les decía: -No desprecian a un profeta más que en su tierra, entre sus parientes y en su casa.

No pudo hacer allí ningún milagro, sólo curó algunos enfermos imponiéndoles las manos. Y se extrañó de su falta de fe.

HOMILÍA 1

Hace unos años estalló una persecución contra los cristianos en Sudán, África.

Un joven huyó y se refugió en Uganda. Allí entró en el seminario y terminados sus estudios, fue ordenado sacerdote. Se llama Parida Taban.

Sus feligreses no podían creer que fuera de verdad un sacerdote. ¿Nos quieres hacer creer que tú, hombre negro, eres un sacerdote?

Nunca habían visto un sacerdote negro. Todos los anteriores habían sido misioneros blancos y les daban ropas, comida , medicinas… El joven P. Taban era pobre como ellos y no podía darles nada. Y empezó a decirles la misa en su propia lengua. La gente seguía diciendo: este hombre no puede ser sacerdote porque nunca hemos celebrado la misa en nuestra propia lengua. Era negro y pobre como ellos y hablaba su misma lengua.

Tuvo que pasar mucho tiempo y muchas pruebas hasta que fue aceptado por sus feligreses, por la gente de su raza y de su lengua.

Ser rechazado no es nunca agradable, pero cuando el rechazo viene de los que son más cercanos y más queridos la herida es mucho más profunda.

Jesús fue el primer rechazado. "Vino a los suyos y los suyos no lo recibieron". Visitó su pueblo, Nazaret, y sus paisanos quedaron deslumbrados, no salían de su asombro, pero no creyeron en Él. ¿Qué predicó Jesús? El evangelista no nos dice nada sobre la enseñanza de Jesús aquel día en la sinagoga. Sólo recoge la reacción de los oyentes, sus paisanos.

¿No es éste el hijo de José, el carpintero?

¿No es éste el que se junta con los pecadores?

¿No es éste el que no guarda el sábado?

¿No es éste el que perdona los pecados?

¿No es éste el que creció en Nazaret? ¿Dónde ha aprendido esas artes nuevas?

Sorprendidos y admirados sí, pero no creyeron en Él. Los suyos, los de su casa, los de su pueblo, los líderes, no lo recibieron.

Eso le pasó a Jesús un día en Nazaret. Y el rechazo total se consumó el día en que todos gritaron: Crucifícalo.

¿Y hoy que hacemos con Jesús, con su mensaje, y con su testamento de amor?

Jesús sigue siendo admirado por muchos. Jesús sigue siendo predicado en millones de iglesias. Jesús sigue siendo invocado por muchos y está en la boca de muchos hombres y mujeres, ¿pero en cuántos corazones está vivo? ¿Cuántos creen en Él? ¿Cuántos aman, sirven y viven como Él?

Muchos piden el bautismo de Jesús, pocos lo piden para nacer al hombre nuevo que es Jesús. No basta admirar a Jesús, hay que creer en Él. Y creer es seguirle y seguirle es transformarse en Jesús.

En la película " La clase dirigente" un enfermo mental dice que él es Dios. Y el siquiatra le pregunta, ¿cuándo descubriste que eras Dios?

El enfermo contesta: "Yo he rezado y rezado durante años y un día me desperté y descubrí que me estaba hablando a mi mismo".

Más allá de nuestra alabanza, más allá de nuestra oración, más allá de nuestras necesidades está Jesús. Jesús nos abre al amor de Dios y al amor a los hermanos.

Algunos se desilusionan con la iglesia porque no puede satisfacer todas sus necesidades corporales y temporales. Buscan satisfacer su interés y sus necesidades.

¿Mis necesidades? A la iglesia venimos a hacer amistad con Jesús, conocer su voluntad y pedirle la fortaleza para vivirla día a día.

Si sólo piensas en tus necesidades, nunca encontrará a Jesús. Podrás admirarlo pero no lo acogerás en tu corazón.

La iglesia de Jesús no es sólo un lugar para satisfacer mi necesidad de compañía, amistad, intimidad, oración…

La iglesia de Jesús lucha por ordenar esas necesidades, poner cada una en su lugar: la primera necesidad es estar abierto a la comunión con Dios, necesidad de Dios, necesidad de experimentar su amor y su perdón. La segunda necesidad es estar abierto a la comunión con los hermanos, necesidad de generosidad y servicio.

Los paisanos de Jesús le rechazaron porque conocían muy bien a sus parientes…

Nosotros rechazamos a la iglesia de Jesús porque conocemos muy bien sus pecados…

No admires, cree.

No critiques, edifica.

No busques, ama.

 

HOMILÍA 2

Jesus was amazed at the lack of faith of the people of his native place.

Every Sunday we, his new people, proclaim in a loud voice the Creed, a short formula we all know by heart. In every country of the world all Catholics profess the same articles of the Christian faith.

I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit.

We are not united by a formula, we are united by a person, by Jesus Christ. But because of our familiarity with Jesus we do not expect greatness from him, like his hometown neighbors we find Jesus too much for us. As a result of our myopia, Jesus can work no miracles among us.

Today's readings are an invitation to look at God, at Jesus his son, at the world and at one another with our eyes wide open and our hearts opened to welcome the Lord.

What glasses do you wear today? Dark o rose colored glasses?

I hope you can see Jesus not only as Mary's son or the carpenter's son or as a great teacher or as a famous storyteller. He is all those things, but he is also a great prophet and he is the Son God sent us for our salvation.

His human identity is important, but his divine identity is the one that counts.

Yes, I know, God comes to us in such ordinary ways that we find hard to believe in him.

Doing God's will is what matters, not doing religion.

The quality of our faith is what matters not the quantity.

Life lived under the cross is what matters, not the glorious celebrations.

They took offense at him, not only his neighbors but also his family who thought Jesus was crazy. The people of Nazareth chose to let familiarity blind their eyes and shut their ears to anything Jesus had to say. They rejected him and his teaching. They had many good reasons not to believe in him. They knew his family, they knew he hanged out with sinners and tax collectors, he did not keep the Sabbath, and he forgave sinners.

Rejection is part of the game in every human life. Jesus was not a celebrity, and he did nothing to be accepted in his native place and did not alter his message or deter his mission.

He left his native place and made the rounds of other villeges, teaching and preaching wherever he was welcomed in faith.

Our church criticized and rejected by many cannot water down Jesus message by making it more palatable.

The basic responsibility of tshe church is to proclaim the good news faithfully, in season and out of season, when people listen as well as when people refuse to listen.

Today Jesus visits his friends in this church, does he feel at home among us?

He is here with us, are we with him in faith, hope and love? If we are, he will work wonders in our hearts.

Jesus weekend in his hometown was not a gratifying one, so he was not able to perform any mighty deed there.

I hope Jesus weekend among us is more friendly because we accept his message of love and happiness.

Let us not spoil his vist with our contempt and unbelief.

 

 

HOMILÍA 3

 

IS HE NOT THE SON OF MARY?


The most vivid image the priest presented was of Jesus standing in church services with his hands tied behind his back, unable to do any mighty works.

The priest who presided the services, familiarity breeds contempt, either he did not expect him to do them or did not dare to ask him to work any new miracles.

We, in church, are so focused on ourselves, our strategies and our goals that most of the time we forget that Jesus is the head of the Church, that his power and truth are essential, but we keep him with his hands tied behind his back.

Is it possible that we who think we know Jesus best may at times honor him least?

You and I grew up reciting our daily prayers, learning the Bible stories at home and school, going to mass every Sunday…so Jesus became too familiar, he was more a historical figure, like Lincoln, than a real living person.

Jesus does not want lo live in our heads, he is not a book, he wants to live in our hearts.

He wants to journey with us every day, through good times and bad times. Let us not take him for granted like the people of his home town.

“When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished”.

Mark simply tells us that he began to teach, but Mark never tells us the content of his teaching.

Jesus was not only the messenger, he was also the message, his presence, his words and his silence, his availability, his service…he welcomed everybody, especially the sinners.

One of the great blessings of having four gospels is that many of the incidents in Jesus’life appear in more than one gospel. In this particular case we are lucky. Luke’s gospel gives us a new version of Jesus’visit to NAZARETH.

Jesus, in the synagogue, opened the book and read a passage from the prophet Isaiah, 61,1-2, closed the book and said, “Today is the Scripture fulfilled”.

What made Jesu unorthodox and even a heretic was his claim that he was the Messiah.

In the eyes of the people of Nazareth where he grew up he was just one of them, he was not someone special, Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this the son of Mary? His brothers and sisters are seated here with us.

They were surprised by his wisdom and his power and quickly their surprise turned to offense, their amazement turned their hearts to scandal, the synagogue was no longer a place of worship and their hearts were not open to receive the God. Chaos and gossip, big words were heard.

How could this Jesus , whom they knew, how could he be the Messiah?

How could these words be his? How could Jesus be the source of the message “Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith and was not able to perform any mighty deed there”.

They were so close to Jesus, yet they were so far away.

We are so close to some religious objects, ideas and beliefs that we take them for granted. We assume we know them, but in truth proximity does not equal knowledgeequal to knowledge We miss the point all the time, especially those of us in church. We come Sunday after Sunday, we sit in the pews, we listen to the Word of God and the homily, we give our money, and we duly critique it all.

Even those of us who know the truth about Jesus can miss him by being so close to him that instead of seeing Jesus we see ourselves and our doctrine.

We should be open to hearinghear from God from the most unexpected sources for if we don’t we may make the same mistake of those people of Nazareth who were looking for a Messiah but missed Him when he visited them.