From: Mark 6:1-6
No Prophet Is Honored In His Own Country
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Commentary:
1-3. Jesus is here described by His occupation and by the fact that He is the
son of Mary. Does this indicate that St. Joseph is dead already? We do not
know, but it is likely. In any event, the description is worth underlining: in the
Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke we are told of the virginal conception of
Jesus. St. Mark’s Gospel does not deal with our Lord’s infancy, but there may
be an allusion here to His virginal conception and birth, in His being described
as “the son of Mary.”
“Joseph, caring for the Child as he had been commanded, made Jesus a crafts-
man, transmitting his own professional skill to him. So the neighbors of Naza-
reth will call Jesus both “faber” and “fabri filius”: the craftsman and the son of
the craftsman” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 55). This message of
the Gospel reminds us that our vocation to work is not marginal to God’s plans.
“The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God Himself,
his Creator, was ‘given particular prominence by Jesus Christ’ — the Jesus at
whom many of His first listeners in Nazareth ‘were astonished, saying, “Where
did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to Him?... Is not this the car-
penter?’” (Mark 6:23). For Jesus not only proclaimed but first and foremost ful-
filled by His deeds the ‘Gospel’, the word of eternal Wisdom, that had been en-
trusted to Him. Therefore this was also ‘the gospel of work’, because ‘He who pro-
claimed it was Himself a man of work’, a craftsman like Joseph of Nazareth (cf.
Matthew 13:55). And if we do not find in His words a special command to work —
but rather on one occasion a prohibition against too much anxiety about work
and life—(Matthew 6:25-34)—at the same time the eloquence of the life of Christ
is unequivocal: He belongs to the ‘working world’, He has appreciation and res-
pect for human work. It can indeed be said the ‘He looks with love upon human
work’ and the different forms that it takes, seeing in each one of these forms a
particular facet of man’s likeness with God, the Creator and Father” (Bl. John
Paul II, “Laborem Exercens”, 26).
St. Mark mentions by name a number of brothers of Jesus, and refers in general
to His sisters. But the word “brother” does not necessarily mean son of the same
parents. It can also indicate other degrees of relationship—cousins, nephews, etc.
Thus in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14 and 16 Lot is called the brother of Abraham (tran-
slated as “kinsman” in RSV), whereas we know that he was Abraham’s nephew,
the son of Abraham’s brother Haran. The same is true of Laban, who is called the
brother of Jacob (Genesis 29:15) although he was his mother’s brother (Genesis
29:15); there are other instances: cf. 1 Chronicles 23:21-22, etc. This confusion
is due to the poverty of Hebrew and Aramaic language: in the absence of distinct
terms, the same word, brother, is used to designate different degrees of relation-
ship.
From other Gospel passages we know that James and Joses, who are men-
tioned here, were sons of Mary of Clophas (John 19:25). We know less about Ju-
das and Simon: it seems that they are the Apostles Simon the Cananaean (Mat-
thew 10:4) and Judas the son of James (Luke 6:16), the author of the Catholic
Epistle, in which he describes himself as “brother” of James. In any event, al-
though James, Simon and Judas are referred to as brothers of Jesus, it is no-
where said they were “sons of Mary” — which would have been the natural thing
if they had been our Lord’s brothers in the strict sense. Jesus always appears as
an only son: to the people of Nazareth, He is “the son of Mary” (Matthew 13:55).
When He was dying Jesus entrusted His mother to St. John (cf. John 19:26-27),
which shows that Mary had no other children. To this is added the constant be-
lief of the Church, which regards Mary as the ever-virgin: “a perfect virgin before,
while, and forever after she gave birth” (Paul IV, “Cum Quorumdam”).
5-6. Jesus worked no miracles here: not because He was unable to do so, but as
punishment for the unbelief of the townspeople. God wants man to use the grace
offered him, so that, by cooperating with grace, he become disposed to receive
further graces. As St. Augustine neatly puts it, “He who made you without your
own self, will not justify you without yourself” (”Sermon” 169).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: Green.
| First reading | Ezekiel 2:2-5 © |
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| These rebels shall know that there is a prophet among them |
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| Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 122(123) © |
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| Second reading |
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| 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 © |
| The Lord's power is at its best in weakness |
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| Gospel Acclamation | Jn1:14,12 |
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| Or: | Lk4:18 |
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| Gospel | Mark 6:1-6 © |
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| 'A prophet is only despised in his own country' |
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