{"id":5063,"date":"2021-07-02T11:36:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T10:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/?p=5063"},"modified":"2021-06-29T00:45:23","modified_gmt":"2021-06-28T23:45:23","slug":"commentary-on-the-14th-sunday-b-8-07-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/commentary-on-the-14th-sunday-b-8-07-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Commentary on the 14th Sunday (B) 4.07.2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary by Fr Donagh O\u2019Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie <\/a><\/h3>\n

Mk 6:1-6<\/b><\/p>\n

Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offence at him.  <\/em>
\nThen Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”  And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. <\/em><\/p>\n

Mark never attempts to smooth the edges of the story.  \u201cWhen Jesus noticed it he was very angry,\u201d he wrote (10:13), describing Jesus’ reaction when the disciples tried to stop children from coming near him.  Matthew and Luke smooth it over, simply writing \u201cJesus then said….\u201d  But it works both ways: Mark may show an angrier Jesus in that passage, but he also shows him to be more affectionate than the other Gospel writers do.  \u201cHe took the children in his arms and laying his hands on them, blessed them\u201d (10:16).  Matthew only says \u201cJesus laid his hands on them and went his way\u201d (19:15), and in Luke’s version there is no contact at all: \u201cHe called the children to him and said…\u201d (18:16).  Mark\u2019s Jesus is more emotional, he shows his feelings more. <\/p>\n

Another example of Mark’s bluntness: he wrote that James and John asked to be seated at Jesus’ right hand in the Kingdom (10:37), but Matthew said it was their mother<\/em> who asked this question! (20:23).  It is obvious, when you look carefully, that Mark is more accurate.  Matthew calls Jesus \u201cthe carpenter\u2019s son<\/em>\u201d (13:55), as if to distance him from manual work.  But in today\u2019s reading Mark reports people as saying simply, \u201cThis is the carpenter surely!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must face the fact,\u201d wrote George Bernard Shaw, \u201cthat all society is based upon intolerance.\u201d  He may have been overstating the case, but the test is whether the hat fits.  Brinsley MacNamara\u2019s novel The Valley of the Squinting Windows<\/em> exposed the bitter cruelty of village morality.  The smaller the society, the more controlling this narrow spirit.  \u201cBeneath the charm of the rural town or village, there often lurks a lethal intolerance.\u201d People who have known you all your life see you as the child you were, even when you are a middle-aged man or woman.  They see where you came from and they remember all your youthful mistakes.  If they are villagers they also want to make sure you are not getting above yourself; \u201cwho does he think he is?\u201d  Nazareth was such a place.<\/p>\n

The terrible fact is that it works!  It tied Jesus’ hands: \u201che could work no miracles there,\u201d wrote Mark.  Matthew says, \u201cHe did not work many miracles there\u201d (13:58), making it look more like a decision on Jesus’ part.  Mark\u2019s version is more gutsy and tragic, and it makes you think more.  It is a frightful thought that we have the ability to prevent miracles, to tie the Lord\u2019s hands…. How many miracles have I prevented in my life?  Or this week?  Why are my wife and children so quiet?  Are they sinking into despair?  Or have I a way of making my husband feel so bad that everything he might do or say is condemned in advance?  God prevent that I should be a miracle-stopper! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Commentary by Fr Donagh O\u2019Shea OP, www.goodnews.ie Mk 6:1-6 Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.  On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5063"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7096,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5063\/revisions\/7096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stmarys-tallaght.ie\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}