14th Sunday in 2015

Our Gospel is taken from Mark 6: 1-6. In this Gospel, we learn that Jesus began to teach in the synagogue and many who heard him were astonished. The verb astonished here could either mean as “namangha” or “nagtaka”. So what is the difference between these two? Well, “namangha” is used to express one’s experience of being amazed of something or someone to the extent that he wants to know more about it or him for his better appreciation; while “nagtaka” is used to express one’s experience of being puzzled about something or someone to the extent that he wants to probe the complexity of the said thing or the person to cause a surprising effect. Let me describe this very slim difference; in a school setting, a grade one teacher would be astonished (namangha) to know that one of her pupil knows how to use the multiplication table at the very young age. Where do you think her astonishment bring her? She would say to her pupil, “Eh di wow! Ang galing mo. Believe ako sa iyo!”  Now compare this scenario with a high school teacher whose student hardly passed their exams in all his subjects but when the said student took the National Achievement Test, he was one among the top ten when the result was announced. Of course, the teacher would be astonished (nagtaka). Where do you think her astonishment bring her? She would say to him, “Eh di wow!” but with disbelief. This kind of astonishment (nagtaka) seemed to be the tenor of those people who heard Jesus teaching. They said, “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…” Here we can feel that their astonishment did not lead them to appreciate what Jesus was doing. Moreover, their disbelief is manifested when the Gospel itself states: “And they took offense at him.” My dear friends, because of this kind of astonishment, those people tried to probe that Jesus could not do anything better knowing where he came from. It is just like saying that a stream cannot rise above its source. People like these are usually motivated by envy (inggit). They are not happy if they know someone does something better than them. If only they were astonished in the first sense of the word as in “namangha,” they would follow Jesus and they would know more about Him. They would realize then that they were wrong by thinking that Jesus came only from the house of a carpenter, with Mary, James, and others because they would discover that Jesus came from God, the real source. People of this kind are usually happy seeing others doing great things in the society. They even encourage others to do more great things for the greater glory of God. To end, allow me to share with you my experience last April. Last April, I asked someone to drive my car from Aklan to Manila via Ro-Ro. I was expecting that we would arrive early in Manila and I told him that we would stay in a parish. But due to some reasons, we arrived late in Batangas and I told him that we could not get a good accommodation in the parish especially at such unholy hour being aware of our travel time from Batangas to Paranaque. He told me not to worry because we could sleep somewhere in Quezon City. When we were in Quezon City, we were welcomed by a couple in their home. We ate our late supper then we went to sleep. On the next day, of course we had our breakfast, and I was astonished on how they prayed before and after our meal. I was even astonished the way they talked about their members and pastors with admiration while we were eating our breakfast. The one who drove my car is a deacon of Iglesia ni Kristo and the couple also belongs to Iglesia ni Kristo. In fact, the wife is a professor in New Era University. I really admired them how they love their religion. I do not say this to encourage you to join them. Rather, I say this because this experience leads me to thank God that even though they are from a different religion, they are doing the same thing what our Church teaches us to do. My astonishment bring me to a realization to respect other’s religion as God is also at work with them in a way beyond my understanding. My dear friends, every time we see someone does great thing, let us not be jealous but thank God because all these happen for His greater glory. Amen.