One of the reasons Mark is short is that his gospel is a gospel of action,

more than teaching. The gospel of Mark, shows a Jesus constantly on the move and in action. We will see that in today’s passage also.

 Let us begin first by recalling the background for our Gospel story. Mary and Joseph were natives of Nazareth. But to comply with the Roman Emperor’s demand for a census they had to travel to Bethlehem, the home town of Joseph. During their stay Mary gave birth to Jesus but they could not return to Nazareth immediately for fear of Herod who had determined to kill a child he thought would threaten his rule. Warned of this by an angelic dream Joseph takes Mary and Jesus to the safety of Egypt. There is no record of the time they spent there. We can only guess that Joseph found work as a carpenter and supported the family in that way. After he is advised again by an angel in a dream that it is safe to return, the family goes back to Nazareth. Jesus is there for the next 30 years of his life, assisting Joseph in his carpenter shop and then taking over after the death of Joseph. When exactly that occurred is not recorded. Jesus continues there until the age of 30 when he receives the call to become an itinerant preacher. He must have made some provision for Mary but this is not recorded in the gospel.

Our gospel starts from that point where Jesus returns to Nazareth for his first visit after leaving. However, he does not return alone. He returns as a rabbi/teacher surrounded by his disciples. We can only guess the astonishment of those who had known Jesus there before he left to become an itinerant preacher. We might reflect from our own experience of how our severest critics often are those who have known us from our youth.

Any adult male could speak in the synagogue, but when Jesus begins to preach his words are met not with wonder, but with contempt. We can recall the proverb: familiarity breeds contempt. They despise Jesus because he is a Tekton, that is a simple working man with no credentials for preaching even though any male had the right to preach in the synagogue. His preaching does not inspire wonder but rather contempt. He is called Mary’s son so we know that Joseph has already died. Jesus bore the duty of supporting his mother and brothers until the latter became of age. He followed in Joseph’s footsteps and became a craftsman A century later Christians would be derided because their founder had been a tekton,a craftsman rather than a noble or a high government official. The fact that Jesus could not work many miracles in Nazareth shows he was not a so-called wonder worker, but that he depended on the goodwill of others as collaborators in his miraculous healings.

When we are kind to others and show them concretely in many little ways the graciousness of God we are collaborating in the Lord’s work on earth to bring all to the knowledge of the Father. We can reflect the goodwill Jesus has shown us by showing goodwill to others.

Fr. Jerry Cusumano, SJ