“Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What mighty works are wrought 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. And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”
Excerpt, Gospel Reading, Wednesday 5th February 2025 – MARK 6:1-6.
So, in yesterday’s (Tuesday 4th February 2025) Gospel, at the house of Jarius, the ruler of the synagogue, who came seeking help from Christ to come heal his daughter. When Christ Jesus told the tumultuous people that the girl was only sleeping and not dead, they scornfully laughed at him in disbelief.
Nevertheless, when Christ resurrected the little girl who has died back to life, the same people who laughed at him, became amazed, astonished and bewildered. They were highly shocked, at the same time, they were equally impressed, opening their eyes so wide in surprise that it seems they were going to pop out of their sockets.
Dear friend, more often than not, people create an imagery of us and conceal that creation somewhere deep in the recess of their hearts.
Some of the created imageries may be from what they themselves may have observed about us. Sometimes it could be from what they heard us say or what they may have seen us do.
Others may be where they may have seen us irrespective of what took us there and what we were doing.
The worse kind is from those people who create imageries of us based purely on what others tell them about us or what they overheard people say about us.
That is why when some of us see celebrities living usual everyday life, trekking about and shopping in the same open air markets like us, we get flustered. Reason being that we may have created a larger than life imagery of such people in our heads and we suppose that they will never get to operate in the usual everyday life like us.
Some, if not most of the uniform private security guards company, they happen to be one among the worse paying jobs in Nigeria. Therefore, it is usually a last resort to some people, while seeking to transition to other things.
Some of us, once we know anyone doing that job in Nigeria, we usually create a demeaning imagery of that person and constrain such in the abyss of our minds.
Hence, when we suddenly get to see that person some where else adorning good looking civilian clothes and operating in a more classy setting than where we may have constrained them to be, we tend to get surprised and confused.
Such, was the plight of Christ Jesus in today’s teaching. However, in Jesus’ case, his village people were not just surprised and confused, they even went the extra mile of taking offense at him. – “How dare an ordinary carpenter become so knowledgeable and powerful enough to say and perform all the works wrought by Christ? So, they became angry.
Dear friend, though, some people may have created an impression of us and stored it in their head due to some mistakes we may have made sometime in our life, we must ensure they also get to see and experience the new version of us whenever we meet again.
We certainly didn’t remain stagnant in life. It is either we became worse from persisting in our errors or we changed for the better.
Most people, in wanting to play safe around us, will choose the former. Nonetheless, that should be our opportunity to prove that we are no longer where we were at when we last met.
My dear friend, prove you’ve changed. That you’re the carpenter that has now become what you are now.
Have a fantastic day folks.
#SAINT_AGATHA! #Blessed_Carlo_Acutis! #Pray_for_us!
-Akase F. Agabo.
5th Feb. 2025.