Going Home Ain’t Always Pleasant
- davidwperk
- Nov 8, 2023
- 5 min read
Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Proper 26, the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
Where then did this man get all this?’ 57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ 58And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 990)
AM Psalm 72; PM Psalm 119:73-96
Neh. 13:4-22; Rev. 12:1-12; Matt. 13:53-58
Today we celebrate the Feast of Amonius. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Thomas Wolfe’s famous novel title, You Can’t Go Home Again, quotes the lead character making that assertion. And, I find truth in that. You change, the place changes, the people you left behind change. Some of them leave, too. Some of them die. Whenever I return home, I get stark reminders that my home town IS my home town in memory but is NOT my home now. That’s especially true since my beloved brother, John, died in December 2020. He’s no longer there when I return.
Jesus' last stop in his ministry in Galilee before heading for Jerusalem for his final confrontation with the religious and political authorities came in his hometown of Nazareth. By now, his ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing was well known among those where he grew up. Mark narrates this story in chapter 6. Luke actually moves it forward to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee and expands it’s content. He saw this visit as proleptic of Jesus’ entire ministry experience. (See Luke 4.)
Their response was a mixture of shock and contempt. They were shocked at the profundity of what he had to say, but that shock converted not to admiration but to contempt. Jesus’ life of healing, exorcisms, and teaching defied their efforts to explain the source of his exceptional power and wisdom. What they could not understand or explain they rejected. Their lack of faith limited what Jesus was able to do there in terms of healing miracles.
If a close friend or family member, someone we thought we should be able to explain, has a spiritual awakening and becomes a more profound and serious Christian, those living around him or her could well find that threatening. They have always been able, or at least they thought, to understand what made that person tick, how that person functioned. But, take away predictability in their behavior and those around might move toward contempt, contempt of what they can't explain and predict.
I can't imagine anyone being in the presence of Jesus and so totally missing the point. Yet, I am in the presence of Jesus through the Spirit and in the lives of others regularly, and how often do I still miss the point. In that way, I often share in the blindness of Jesus’ hometown. I get a heads-up in this story—pay attention to my understandings and assumptions, lest I discover them to be misunderstandings and ill-informed assumptions.
Perhaps this passage also can be a wake-up call for us also in the matter of being misunderstood ourselves. We must be willing to be misunderstood and rejected for the sake of the truth as we understand it in Christ. We must be prepared to have our options limited by the misunderstanding of others. Jesus' ministry options were limited by their unbelief.
©David W. Perkins, 2023.
Collect of the Day, Proper 26, the twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 235)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Ammonius, hermit (died ca 403 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Ammonius
Drive far from your church, O God, every vain spirit of clerical ambition, that, like your servant Ammonius, we may refuse to conflate ordination and leadership, and may never confuse rank with holiness; in the name of your son Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our great High Priest. Amen.
A Collect for Protection
O God, the life of all who live, the light of the faithful, the strength of those who labor, and the repose of the dead: We thank you for the blessings of the day that is past, and humbly ask for your protection through the coming night. Bring us in safety to the morning hours; through him who died and rose again for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 124)
For the Poor and the Neglected
Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP 826)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)
Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Office Gospel, Matthew 13:53-58
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place. 54He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ 57And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ 58And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief
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