3 February 2027 · Latin Rite
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“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 offense at him.” Mark 6:3
Hebrews speaks to Christians who were tired of suffering: “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” It quotes Proverbs: “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves.” Hardship is not a sign that God has abandoned us; it can be the training of a Father who is making his children holy. “Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” So: “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees… Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord,” and let “no root of bitterness” spring up.
In the Gospel Jesus comes home to Nazareth, and his own people stumble over his ordinariness: “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” They know his trade, his mother and his relatives, and so they think they know him. “And they took offense at him.” Familiarity becomes a wall. Mark says something astonishing: “he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” God does not force himself on us. The same danger is ours: to think we already know Jesus because we have heard of him since childhood. Today the Church remembers St Blaise, bishop and martyr, whose blessing of throats asks God to protect us from illness and every evil; and St Ansgar, the patient missionary of the North, who preached for decades with little visible success.
Theme: “The Lord disciplines those whom he loves.”
A Father's training, a hometown's unbelief, and faith that sees the Lord afresh.
“for the LORD reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” Proverbs 3:12
“Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11
Apply: Offer one present hardship to God as training in holiness.
“he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:2
“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 offense at him.” Mark 6:3
Apply: Read the Gospel this week as if for the first time.
“As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.” Psalm 103:13
“And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” Mark 6:5–6
Apply: Make an act of faith before Communion: Lord, I believe.
God's discipline is a Father's love.
Let us welcome Jesus with faith, not with the familiarity that shuts him out.
Take-home resolution: Pray each day this week: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.
Dear friends, Hebrews tells a tired community: my child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are punished by him; for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves (Hebrews 12:5–6). Our hardships are not signs that God has left us.
Discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:11). So lift your drooping hands, pursue peace, and let no root of bitterness spring up.
In Nazareth the people said: is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? And they took offense at him (Mark 6:3). They thought they knew him, so they could not receive him. He could do no deed of power there, and he was amazed at their unbelief.
We too can take Jesus for granted because we have known him since childhood. Today, through the prayers of St Blaise, let us ask for healing of body and soul, and ask for new eyes to see the Lord. Amen.
Children, the people of Nazareth said: he is only the carpenter! They did not believe in Jesus. Let us always listen to Jesus as if we are hearing him for the first time.
Father of spirits, you train us as your children for our good, that we may share your holiness. Keep us from bitterness and from the unbelief that takes your Son for granted. Through the prayers of St Blaise, protect us from every illness of body and soul. Amen.
Hebrews says that the hard things in a Christian life can be the training of a Father who loves us. Mark shows people who cannot receive what God gives, because they think they already know Jesus too well. In the one reading a person accepts correction and grows, and in the other people take offense and receive little. Psalm 103 gives the tone for both: “As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.”
Setting.
The letter has just called its readers to run the race with their eyes on Jesus (12:1–3). They are tired and under pressure, though they have not yet had to die for the faith (v. 4). The author now quotes Proverbs 3:11–12 to help them read what they are going through. The hard times are not a sign that God has abandoned them.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves, and chastises every child whom he accepts.” (12:6)
This cannot be turned into a claim that every sorrow is a punishment sent by God. Job's story forbids that. The author is speaking to believers who wonder whether God has forgotten them, and he says that God treats them as his children even here.
“Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (12:11)
An honest verse. It does not say that suffering feels good. “At the time” and “later” are the key words.
“Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” (12:14)
Peace and holiness are set side by side: a person cannot be holy alone and at war with everyone. The “root of bitterness” in v. 15 comes from Deuteronomy 29:18. One bitter person can poison a whole community.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that illness and suffering can lead to anguish and to revolt against God, but that they can also make a person more mature and help him to see what is essential (CCC 1501). By his Passion and Death, Christ has given suffering a new meaning (CCC 1505). The call to holiness in v. 14 is for everyone in the Church, as the Second Vatican Council teaches (Lumen Gentium 40).
Setting.
Jesus has just raised the daughter of Jairus (5:35–43). He now goes home to Nazareth, a small village in the hills of Galilee, and teaches in the synagogue on the sabbath. So far in Mark, crowds have followed Jesus. Here those who know him best take offense.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“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 offense at him.” (6:3)
Mark nowhere mentions Mary's husband Joseph, and this is the only time he names Mary. The list of relatives is given in order to say: we know all about him. But to know where someone comes from is not to know who he is.
“And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” (6:5)
Jesus' power has not run out. In Mark, healing goes with faith (5:34), and he does not force himself on anyone. Matthew words it gently: “he did not do many deeds of power there” (13:58). Even so, a few are healed.
“And he was amazed at their unbelief.” (6:6)
It is rare for the Gospels to say that Jesus was amazed. Here it is at unbelief; in Luke 7:9 it is at a Gentile centurion's faith.
How the Church reads it.
The Church sees in the hidden years at Nazareth a part of the mystery of salvation: the Son of God earned his living by the work of his hands, and so ordinary work and family life are honoured (CCC 531–533). The Second Vatican Council says that he worked with human hands (Gaudium et Spes 22). The offense of Nazareth is still with us: it is not always easy to find God in what is familiar, in a parish, a sacrament or a neighbour.
Did Jesus have brothers and sisters, if Mary remained a virgin?
The Church professes Mary's perpetual virginity, and she has always understood these “brothers” as close relatives. Hebrew and Aramaic did not have a separate common word for cousin: Lot is called Abraham's “brother” (Genesis 14:14, Hebrew text). James and Joses are named later as sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ (Mark 15:40; CCC 500). Other Christians read the text in other ways, and a calm and respectful conversation is the best way to take up this question.
Two optional memorials are offered today. St Blaise, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, was martyred in the early fourth century. Almost everything told about him comes from later legend, including the boy he is said to have saved from choking on a fish bone, but devotion to him is old and widespread. From this comes the blessing of throats today, with two crossed candles and the prayer that through his intercession God may deliver us from every disease of the throat and from every other illness. St Ansgar (died 865), a monk of Corbie and later Archbishop of Hamburg and Bremen, is called the Apostle of the North for his mission to Denmark and Sweden. After years of discouragement, he kept working without seeing much fruit, which is a good commentary on Hebrews 12:11.