What wisdom! What deeds!

One of the four basic agreements I try to live by is, “It’s not about you.” When my comments are taken the wrong way or my values are rejected, it can hurt. It hurts more if that rejection is from family and friends.  In our Gospel today, Jesus encounters resistance among his own, because his words went beyond their understanding of him as “the carpenter’s son.”  Their rejection was not about Jesus, but about their own understanding of him. Jesus might have said, “It’s not about me.”

Similarly, who we think Jesus is determines our response to him. Do we recognize his wisdom, his mighty deeds? God offers us what we need in life, do we resist? Are we receptive to how and through whom God speaks to us? God offers us new life through the events and people who come to us. Do we recognize and receive that new life?

The challenge of our Gospel is the weight of our faith or lack of faith has.  God continues to offer us the free gift of salvation. God asks of us a free response.  God never gives up on us. It is our free choice to resist or have faith.