July 4: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Culture of encounter

Ez 2:2-5; Ps 123:1-2, 2, 3-4; 2 Cor 12:7-10; Mk 6:1-6

I still remember my first attempt at marriage counseling. During graduate studies in Belgium, I used to help on weekends by celebrating Mass at nearby American military bases.

On one of my first such assignments, just a couple of months after my ordination, a young couple asked to meet with me. They were having communication problems, the wife said. Before I could get a word in, the husband declared, “We don’t have any communication problems. I know what you are going to say before you even open your mouth.” Even I, a marriage counselor without experience, knew we did have a problem.

As today’s readings suggest, the Bible is not feel-good literature, insulated from the realities of life. The Word of God comes to us through the filter of human experience and human struggle. That included even those who were called to bring God’s message to the people, prophets like Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus himself. 

Often people refused to listen to those who courageously preached the truth of God, and, in many cases, persecuted and rejected them.

In the first reading from Ezekiel, the prophet replays God’s pep talk to him. God gives him a bold spirit, “sets him on his feet,” and sends him to the Israelites, “rebels who have revolted against me to this very day.” The people Ezekiel must confront are “hard of face and obstinate of heart.” 

Nevertheless, Ezekiel is not to hold back. He is to speak the word of God forcefully. Even if people will not listen, “they shall know that a prophet has been among them.”

The second reading is taken from Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, one of the most autobiographical of Paul’s writings. It is loaded with several heartfelt laments on the part of the apostle who suffered more than his share of rejection and setbacks during his mission.

Although the reference is somewhat obscure, here Paul laments that he has suffered from some sort of physical disability (“a thorn in the flesh”) and has begged God for a cure. But, as he often did, Paul confronted his own weakness and failings in the light of Christ’s sufferings. 

His strength as an apostle and missionary, he realized, was not from his own moral superiority or his physical prowess, but from God’s own grace. That power of Christ would sustain him, no matter what. So, Paul concludes, “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecution, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak then I am strong.”

Anyone who reads the Gospels is aware of how Jesus was met often with rejection and threat. Ultimately, his commitment to telling the truth, to bringing justice and healing, to reaching out to those on the margins, would lead to his cross.

The Gospel passage for this Sunday is a particularly painful example. Even in his hometown of Nazareth and among his own clan, Jesus meets skepticism and insult, leading to his lament: “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.”

As we celebrate this Fourth of July, our country seems to have a serious communication problem too. A lot of us work from fixed political and social stances and refuse to listen to other perspectives. Some of us are convinced we know what others are going to say before they say it, and we know they are wrong. 

The readings for this Sunday illustrating the Bible’s wisdom about the cost of being a prophet might offer some guidance. First, it is our responsibility to tell the truth, but to do so with respect and care for those we address. We also have a responsibility to listen, to be open to what others are saying even when we anticipate we will disagree. 

A habit of reverent speaking and listening is part of our Christian responsibility to each other. As he often does, Pope Francis expresses things in a positive way: As followers of Jesus, we should create a culture of encounter rather than a culture of condemnation or indifference.