Mc 6,1-6 – Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time
“”A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his relatives and in his own house”. And he could not work any miracles there, but only laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he was amazed at their disbelief.” Sometimes we have the most important things before our eyesbut we are incapable of recognizing them. This seems to be the meaning of today’s Gospel story.
Jesus returns home to his people, speaks to them as he speaks to thousands of other people throughout the Holy Land. Yet, in that plot of land that saw him grow, he finds disbelief. He finds people who are scandalized by him. It is a great lesson that Jesus gives, perhaps to warn us of the fact that very often we are more useful to those who are far away than to those near us. We must therefore not think that the people who are most familiar to us are also those who have the most objective vision of each of us.
Sometimes, however much affection and esteem there may be, they are unable to see beyond and sense what is inside, like Jesus’ fellow villagers who remember the boy from Nazareth but struggle to accept that he was not just a simple boy who grew up in a splendid family, but the Son of God who was showing his mission. Today we too could train ourselves to fix our gaze on the closest people who are next to us, who live in our family and our daily life, and perhaps ask ourselves if we cultivate a prejudice towards them or if we sense a mystery that is revealing itself.
Wednesday 4 February 2026 – (Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Ordinary Time – Even Year)
