Mk 6:1-6
There is a close parallel between today’s two readings—despite all contrary appearances. In both texts we see how far the incarnation of God’s Word goes.
It is obvious in the gospel scene. Jesus is so completely human and ordinary (a village carpenter) that his townspeople cannot see beyond his humanity.
It is not so obvious in the first reading, because the Word of God is not a human person, and it is hidden under a horrible disfiguration of God, who appears to be nothing less than a serial killer. Thus throughout the Old Testament God is vilified, defamed, calumniated and accused of doing a thousand appalling actions which he never did. For, as Jesus tells us most solemnly, “the Father judges no one” (Jn 5:22). But is not the Bible the Word of God? Yes, Vatican II tells us, “but in human fashion” (Dei Verbum, n.12), that is, distorted by human brains to a point that, as Jesus-the-carpenter, it appears to be anything but the Word of God. Just as Jesus accepted to be spat on during his Passion, God the Father accepted to be spat on for hundreds of years by most writers of the Old Testament. Love is defenseless.
REFLECTION
There is a close parallel between today’s two readings—despite all contrary appearances. In both texts we see how far the incarnation of God’s Word goes.
It is obvious in the gospel scene. Jesus is so completely human and ordinary (a village carpenter) that his townspeople cannot see beyond his humanity.
It is not so obvious in the first reading, because the Word of God is not a human person, and it is hidden under a horrible disfiguration of God, who appears to be nothing less than a serial killer. Thus throughout the Old Testament God is vilified, defamed, calumniated and accused of doing a thousand appalling actions which he never did. For, as Jesus tells us most solemnly, “the Father judges no one” (Jn 5:22). But is not the Bible the Word of God? Yes, Vatican II tells us, “but in human fashion” (Dei Verbum, n.12), that is, distorted by human brains to a point that, as Jesus-the-carpenter, it appears to be anything but the Word of God. Just as Jesus accepted to be spat on during his Passion, God the Father accepted to be spat on for hundreds of years by most writers of the Old Testament. Love is defenseless.
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