A fun conversation that I like to have with other athletes is, “who is the most famous person you ever played against?”  I guess I called myself an athlete there, which might be generous, I guess I should say, I played a lot of sports in high school and occasionally now, so whether I am an “athlete” is debatable.

But anyway, “who is the most famous athlete you’ve played against?”

For me it was in basketball against Kyle Korver.  Kyle Korver played in the NBA for 17 seasons for a variety of teams and he was an excellent three-point shooter.  He holds two NBA records, the record for highest three-point shooting percentage in a regular season (53.6%) and the NBA record for most seasons leading the league in three-point percentage (4).

I played against Kyle in high school, I played for South Tama and he played for Pella.  We knew he was really good so we came out and played a different kind of zone defense against him, a zone I had never seen before, it’s called a triangle and two.  Like a box and one, but a triangle and two.

So three people set up a triangle zone near the basket, and two people covered Kyle Korver.  I can still remember standing at halfcourt with a teammate both guarding Kyle.  He’d just stand there for a while, then break to the basket at some point and usually score even as we double teamed him.  He still managed to score over 30 points that night - not sure if that says more about him or us!

I have a priest friend, Fr. Jeff Dole, who grew up friends with him and his brothers there in Pella.  Fr. Jeff tells me that they were just the nicest family.  Kyle’s dad was a Protestant pastor in Pella, still is I believe, and they all are well respected and liked in the community.

Everyone in Pella is really proud of Kyle Korver.  When he comes home people are happy to see him, proud that he did as well as he did in the NBA you know?  I think that is really easy to do with an athlete like that.

And I guess it doesn’t have to be an athlete, you could do this with any famous person you might have known when you were younger. You look at them and go, “wow, God gave them some really amazing talent and they have really used it well, I am so proud of them.”

Then we go off and brag about knowing them.  Heck, I go off and brag about getting my butt kicked by them.

But with Jesus in this Gospel today, Jesus has a different experience of going home, he shows that being a prophet is different from being an athlete or any number of famous people.  Why is that?

Well, it seems to me with an athlete, even if we have known them since they were little, known their whole family and whatnot, we still recognize they had to practice a ton, sure they were given the athletic ability, but they still went out and worked really hard. And we can see in a tangible way how hard work pays off. We can see them get better over time.

But with a prophet, someone very religious or spiritually enlightened, it seems easier to be skeptical, like what is this?  How did they end up like this? It’s like tangible talents like sports or music are easier to accept and revere, but what about wisdom and spirituality? 

It almost seems to be some pride and jealousy, like, are they more special than me?  Do they think they’re better than me? Does God love them more?  Or what business do they have telling me what to do when I grew up just like they did? Who do they think they are?

I am not exactly sure, but prophets get different treatment than athletes and others, we can see that play out in all of today's readings, not just the Gospel. 

 

First, Ezekiel is sent to the rebellious house of Israel.  The Lord spoke to him, the spirit entered into him, and he was sent to deliver a message to his home people, and he didn’t know whether they’d heed or resist. 

But either way they would know Ezekiel was a prophet of God, God was speaking through Him.

Then, in the second reading, we hear about Paul, another child of Israel, who talks about the abundance of revelations that he received from God.  In order to keep him humble it seems that God gave him a demon of some sort to torment him, it could have even been other people persecuting him. 

But through that, God works through Paul, and Paul gives glory to God, showing it is really God that is working through Him.

Finally we hear Jesus in the Gospel coming home and receiving a cold reception.  Things he could do in other places He couldn’t do there, because of people’s jealousy, because of their pride, their hardness of heart.  They just couldn't believe He could have received these gifts from God, gifts of wisdom, gifts of healing, and their lack of faith prevented him from truly blessing their community.

And how truly crushing must that have been for Jesus, the people that He loved and wanted to bless the most, His family and the friends that He grew up with, He couldn’t do it because He needed their faith.

There are many lessons we could draw from this.  First, from the perspective of the people of Nazareth, I don’t think we should underestimate our childhood friends and family, we should allow them to change, allow them to grow spiritually, just as they have physically.  Because they may have grown into a prophet in our midst and we might miss what God has in store for us because of our preconceived notions.

Sometimes “Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his mercy” but we are so focused on Heaven that we don’t realize that the Lord has reached down from Heaven and blessed someone close to us in order to help us, to give us His mercy, to receive His salvation.

So that is the first, is to be open to the prophets around us in our local community, our family, our friends, etc.

But the second is the converse of that, we often want to be the prophets to our family, but we can't because they won’t accept us.  Should this stop us from trying?  No.  It didn’t stop anyone in the readings today.

Notice though, they don’t seem to be arrogant about it.  They are humble, not knowing how they will be received.  Paul especially, he says, “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

A humble approach shows how it is God that works within him, doesn’t it?  And people will see that through us too.  So, second, even though we might want to bless those around us more than anything, we need to have humility in our approach, and have patience, let God guide us, and give Him the glory if we are able to witness to our faith.

The third lesson goes back to my original athlete analogy.  Athletes don’t wake up with this professional ability, they practice, practice, and practice some more.  A true prophet is the same, they practice the faith, every day, they go to Church, they pray holy hours, they talk to God and learn His, from Him or from His prophets, past and present.

Sometimes you will hear people say, “Oh, he was born Catholic, but he doesn’t practice the faith anymore.” Well, the Catholic Faith isn’t like the NBA where you are basically forced to retire after some set time, no, in the Catholic Faith, we are supposed to grow closer and closer to God, every day, growing in holiness through our practice of the faith, we never stop.

See, Ezekiel was already practicing his faith for a while before the spirit of God entered him so that he could prophecy.  It is thought that he died at age 52, and he only prophesied for 22 years so he spent 30 years practicing before he really began his ministry.

Paul too was a practicing Jew, so zealous for God that He was killing Christians until Jesus appeared to Him, probably around age 30 as well.

And likewise, Jesus didn’t start his public ministry until He was 30 years old.  He learned a lot from His Holy Mother Mary and His sinless father Joseph, they helped Him practice for years.

Most NBA players are done by age 30. Kyle Korver made it almost to 40.  But Christians aren't like basketball players, we never stop practicing, heck we are just getting heated up by 40.

So that’s the third lesson, and final lesson to draw from these readings today, I’d just like to encourage you to keep practicing your faith.  This looks like praying daily, going to Mass whenever possible, filling our hearts and minds with the good, the true, and the beautiful, (Philippians 4:8) never being satisfied with “good enough” when it comes to our faith. 

Keep growing closer to God, keep growing in holiness, there is no natural ability needs like sports, everyone is capable, and furthermore, everyone is called to holiness, to be a saint.

Our relationship with Jesus is what really matters in the end, that is what makes us a saint in heaven.  

Don’t lose sight of the true goal, the real reason we are here on this earth, which is to love God and show Jesus love to our family, friends, and our entire communities, no matter what their response is, we do what we can to prophecy to our world.