Ezekiel 2:2-5 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Mark 6:1-6
I have often used today’s gospel as an example of how people sometimes take for granted that which is familiar to them. We underestimate the effect of people and things that we know well, simply because we are used to having them in our lives. So it was that, for many of his neighbors, Jesus was “without honor” or even recognition, during much of his public ministry.
Some probably considered him to be “nothing special” as he was growing up - just the nice kid who lived down the street. After all, we only have a few brief stories (for example: his birth, his presentation in the temple, and his teaching in the temple at age 12) about him before he was thirty years old. So, when he did begin his public ministry at the age thirty, many who were familiar with him probably considered him a “late bloomer” - and may have had difficulty accepting the idea that he was truly someone special. This is evidenced by the comments attributed to him in today’s gospel.
When it comes to “late bloomers”, I know of what I speak. I was a late bloomer. I was one of the smallest kids in my class throughout my time in grade school and high school. I also had a very high-pitched voice and I appeared to be years younger than my actual age. It’s not easy to find a date to the prom when you are seventeen but don’t look a day over 14. Trust me!
There is a powerful lesson for me, for every late bloomer, and indeed for each one of us in today’s gospel. It is never too late to shine. It is never too late to make a difference. It is never too late to answer a call from the Lord - to bloom!
Did you ever get the feeling that God was/is calling you to do something - to take action? Ezekiel feels just such a call in today’s first reading! He doesn’t hesitate, even though God tells him this will not be an easy job. He never says: “Oh my, I am too old/too shy/too inexperienced to answer the call of the Lord.”
Over and over in my own life, I have sensed a call to action long after I thought my time to act had past. I officially became a spiritual director at age 62; I learned to lead the singing at Mass at age 65; I wrote my first book at age 67. I say these things, not to brag, but to admit that God is a God of surprises. God calls us to action at surprising times - to do surprising things.
It is NEVER too late to make a difference for the Lord! Take heart, have courage, answer God’s call when you “hear” it! Deep inside you, you will get the feeling: “I’m glad I did that”. I know of what I speak. Trust me!
by: Bill Miller
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