Scripture Study for

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Understanding the Word

By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Ezekiel has an official mission, with all of the authority that this entails. He is  to be the representative of God, sent by God to deliver a message from God.  The Israelites, to whom he is being sent, are a rebellious people, “hard of face  and obstinate of heart.” They have always been rebellious, from the time of their  ancestors to the prophet’s own day, and so there is little reason to think that  they will acquiesce to a message from God now. Still, whether they resist the  prophet or heed him, they will know that he is a prophet of God, because dire consequences of their rebelliousness will fall on them. 

Paul knows that it is foolish to allow himself to be overly elated or lifted up  because of any spiritual favors that he has received. Such self-aggrandizement  could easily develop into a personality cult. If he became the center of attention, it might be detrimental to the gospel that he had been sent to preach. Lest  this happen, he is stricken with a thorn in the flesh. The nature of this affliction  is not clear. Whatever its nature, it humbled him just at the time he might have  been exalted. Praying to be relieved of it, he is told: “Power is made perfect in  weakness.” 

The people of Nazareth were not ignorant of Jesus’ teaching and the marvelous works that he had accomplished. However, they challenged the source of  these wonders. Who did Jesus think he was? The point of the story is the rejection by those who knew Jesus the best, but apparently understood him the least.  It was a situation not uncommon for those who have been drawn out of the group  by God to speak God’s word to that group. The people here lacked the faith  required for the power of God to be effective in their midst. Though astonished  by Jesus, they were scandalized by him, and he was amazed at this. 

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