esus was amazed in both last week’s and this week’s gospels, but for two completely different reasons. Last week’s showed him as being amazed at the great faith of a sickly woman who touched his robe in order to be healed. I today’s reading he is amazed at the great lack of faith of the people in his own home town. They couldn’t believe that one of their own could be touched by God. It seems as if they could have been the inspiration for Groucho Marx, who, centuries later, would say “I wouldn’t want to be part of anything that would accept me as a member.”
Father Pete made a great point in today’s homily. God is found in the ordinary. Yet people want great signs of his presence, or a “Big Bang” to prove his existence. They want something tangible, like Thomas did when he said “Unless I can put my hand in his side, I won’t believe he was here.” We have the equivalent attitude in our society today, with the headlines screaming about the discovery of the “God Particle,” what science is hoping will explain the nature of matter and ultimately of our very existence. We’re grasping for proof of a great “Something” because we lack faith in our own divine heritage. Yet we fail to see the nature of God in our own ordinary daily lives, where he’s right in front of us in the form of those we know and love. As Jesus said, a prophet is not without honor except in his own home town.
The big bang has nothing to do with how we got here. It’s God’s booming laughter at his creation’s investment in Marxism. Groucho, that is.