Why was it that those close to Jesus, at least in the beginning of his ministry, had difficulty with him ? Perhaps they had watched him grow up as a “normal” child leading a normal life. He seemed like one of them until one day in his thirties he began preaching and healing and doing all sort of miraculous things !
Sometime the hardest part about living out God’s call isn’t opposition from non-believers, but simply being misunderstood from those closest to us. From my friends, relatives and those I rub elbows with at work or school. Those who know I’m one of them. Especially those who knew me when I was a bratty kid. They know I’m just a “regular “ person.
That’s the problem. Sometimes people think that “regular “ people aren’t holy. That they don’t pray often and they just go to church and live a “normal” life. The trouble is that what God considers “normal “ does not fit the world’s description of “normal”. When I was baptized I symbolically die to one way of living and rise to a new and different “normal” way of life. That new “normal “ is summarized today by Jesus to us his followers. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength. AND you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
If we all did this, the world would be a different place and what we see on TV wouldn’t be happening !!
DeColores, Deacon Doug