by Jose Kurian Puliyeril.

Devotional thoughts for Fourth Sunday after Denaha

Gospel Reading: St. Mark 6: 1-6

We could read the same topic of today’s reading in St. Matthew 13:53-58. Today’s reading deals with our Lord’s visit to His own country with His blessed Apostles. We understand our Lord’s teaching and astonishment of the public who listened to our Lord in this portion of the Holy Scriptures. Many who heard him were astonished saying “From where has this man got these things.” In St. John 6:42 and 7:15 we read about the astonishment of the Jews. The next question of the Jews who got surprise and astonishment over the deepness of wisdom of our Lord and the greatness of the miracles performed by our Lord, is really ridiculing. “They asked: Is he not the Carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of Jacob, Joses, Jude and Simon?”

This sort of ridiculing and character assassination were foretold by Prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 53: 2-3 we read, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as root out of a dry ground: he has neither form nor comeliness and when we shall see him, there no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him, he was despised and we esteemed him not”.

Let us listen to St. Paul in this regard. He says: But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1: 23-24.) We must realize the brothers of our Lord mentioned in the 3rd verse are the same brothers who once came in search of our Lord as mentioned in St. Matthew 12: 46. (Where it is mentioned that His mother and brothers…) Later also, these four brothers were known and honored in the Holy Church as the brothers of our Lord. Let us try to realize the statement of our Lord, “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin and in his own house”. How relevant and influencing is this statement during these days even? Kindly refer Jeremiah 12:6.

In verse 5 we read, And He could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them”. The reason for such a situation is mentioned there itself. Their unbelief was the only reason. This portion of the Holy Scripture confesses the truth that this incident had marveled our Lord even. It would be well and good if we could ascertain any of the opportunities when and where our Lord could not do a miracle due to our unbelief. We have to examine our spiritual as well as social lives. When we were in the dangers and when we were ill, did we not go after certain powers instead of depending the real Lord God? We all are in the habit of confessing anywhere and at any time that nothing is impossible to God, but we often fall victims of ignoring our Lord God.