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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A\u00a0terrible storm came into a town
\nand local officials sent out an emergency warning
\nthat the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes.
\nThey ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
\nThere was a certain man in the town who heard the warning,
\nso he looked out his window at the gathering storm
\nand saw his next-door neighbors parked outside in front of his yard.
\nThey were concerned about him
\nand so they had come by his house and said to him,
\n\u201cWe\u2019re leaving and there\u2019s room for you in our car, please come with us!\u201d
\nBut the man declined, saying, \u201cGod will save me.\u201d
\nSo they drove on.
\nAs the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps,
\na man in a canoe paddled by and called to him,
\n\u201cHurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!\u201d
\nBut the man again said, \u201cNo thanks, God will save me.\u201d
\nThe floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room
\nand the man had to retreat to the second floor.
\nA police motorboat came by and saw him at the window.
\n\u201cWe will come up and rescue you!\u201d they shouted.
\nBut the man waved them off saying,
\n\u201cUse your time to save someone else!
\nI have faith that God will save me!\u201d
\nThe flood waters rose higher and higher
\nand the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
\nA helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder.
\nA rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man,
\n\u201cGrab my hand and I will pull you up!”
\nBut still the man refused, saying, \u201cNo thank you! God will save me!\u201d
\nShortly after, the house broke up
\nand the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
\nAfter he died, the man stood before God and asked,
\n\u201cI put all of my faith in You. Why didn\u2019t You come and save me?\u201d
\nAnd God said, \u201cSon, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car.
\nI sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat.
\nI sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?\u201d<\/p>\n
The man had his own expectations of how God was going to act.
\nHe had put God into a box,
\nand had missed his chance to recognize God\u2019s saving grace.<\/p>\n
The same thing has happened in today\u2019s Gospel.<\/p>\n
After traveling around Galilee healing the sick,
\ndriving out demons, and teaching,
\nJesus has returned to his home town of Nazareth,
\na small, fairly insignificant village
\nof not more than a few hundred people.
\nThis is Jesus\u2019 home town,
\nthe place where he was raised.
\nEverybody knows him and his family.
\nAnd when he returns and begins teaching in the synagogue,
\nhis neighbors don\u2019t know what to make of him.
\nAt first they\u2019re astonished at what he says,
\nbut then they\u2019re offended by who he is.
\nTo their minds, Jesus is just \u201cone of the guys,\u201d
\nsomeone they\u2019ve known all their lives.
\nWhen he was younger
\nthey never recognized anything significant about him.
\nHe was the carpenter, the craftsman of the village.
\n\u201cWe know this guy, he fixed my roof, built a gate for my animals,
\nhe\u2019s the local handy-man.
\nWho does he think he is,
\ntrying to teach us about the Kingdom of God?\u201d<\/p>\n
We can imagine one of these neighbors at the end of his life,
\nmeeting God in heaven,
\nlike the man who drowned in the flood.
\nand asking, \u201cWhere was the Messiah?
\nI put my faith in your promise of a Messiah.\u201d
\nAnd God would reply, \u201cI put him right next door to you!
\nIt was the kid next door, your carpenter.
\nHe cured the sick, drove out demons, taught about the Kingdom of God.
\nWhat more were you looking for?\u201d
\nBut they didn\u2019t recognize him.<\/p>\n
Just as the man in the flooded house didn\u2019t recognize God
\nin the ordinary people in his life,
\nso the people of Nazareth didn\u2019t recognize their handy-man Jesus
\nas the Son of God.
\nJesus didn\u2019t fit their preconceived ideas
\nabout how God could and would act.
\nThey had put God into a box,
\nand had missed their chance to encounter God\u2019s saving grace.<\/p>\n
Today we\u2019re reminded that God is bigger
\nthan the boxes we have made for him.<\/p>\n
God is present in our lives each moment of each day,
\nbut probably not in the ways we expect.
\nWhile God can and does work dramatic miracles,
\nGod more often works through the humble, the lowly, the ordinary:
\nA poor young girl named Mary.
\nA fisherman named Peter.
\nThe neighborhood handy-man named Jesus.<\/p>\n
The key is to be able to recognize God in our life
\nso that we don\u2019t miss his presence
\nlike the man in the flood or the people of Nazareth did.
\nHow do we do that?
\nBy a collaboration between God’s grace and our commitment
\nto look for God’s presence each day.<\/p>\n
One way to do this is to take time each day to prayerfully look over the past day,
\nasking for God to show us his presence*:<\/p>\n
Sit comfortably in a chair.<\/em> God is intimately involved in this day.<\/em> Take a few moments now to pick out just one part of that day\u2026<\/em> Is there anything God wants to say to you?<\/em> If we try this exercise every day, *This exercise comes from the book Where God May Be Found<\/em><\/a> by L. Patrick Carroll, S.J. You can download a printable pdf of the exercise by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nImagine yourself seated in front of a small television screen.<\/em>
\nYou are alone in the room.<\/em>
\nThe screen is blank.<\/em>
\nWhen you turn on the TV you see yourself seated as you are.<\/em>
\nIt is as if you are outside yourself,<\/em>
\nlooking at yourself seated before the screen.<\/em>
\nWhen the picture begins, it moves backwards<\/em>
\nover the past twenty-four hours of your life.<\/em>
\nYou watch slowly, without judging,<\/em>
\njust seeing the moments of your day<\/em>
\nstarting from the present moment,<\/em>
\nup to a full day ago.<\/em>
\nRemember carefully, in as much detail as you can,<\/em>
\nwhat it was like,\u2026<\/em>
\nthe people you saw, the meals you ate,<\/em>
\nthe activities you were engaged in.<\/em>
\nRecall even the hours of sleep,\u2026the peace, or lack of it,<\/em>
\nyour dreams, your mood upon awakening.<\/em>
\nTake some time to slowly go over these hours\u2026<\/em>
\nagain, not judging, just noticing, savoring, relishing, reliving.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe word is enfleshed here, or not at all.<\/em><\/p>\n
\none conversation, one meal, one experience\u2026<\/em>
\nsomething significant, or problematic\u2026<\/em>
\nsomething delightful or painful.<\/em>
\nAny moment, or piece with which you want to spend a few moments.<\/em>
\nGo back and recall it as vividly and in as much detail as possible.<\/em>
\nIs there anything for which you want to thank God?<\/em>
\nAnything for which you are sorry?<\/em>
\nAnything in which you want\/need to ask for advice or help?<\/em>
\nTake some time to do that now.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nTake a moment, be still, and listen.<\/em>
\nSpend about five more minutes just being with that part of your day,<\/em>
\npraying in whatever way you are moved to.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nwe will be surprised to find
\nthat there is much more in any one twenty-four hour period of our lives<\/em>
\nthan we are inclined to realize.<\/em>
\nThere is often a richness, a joy, not noticed the first time through it.<\/em>
\nThere are some precious moments in every day\u2026
\nno matter how ordinary they first appear,
\nwhere God speaks to us and gives us his grace.
\nAnd in doing this kind of prayer regularly,
\nwe will be more likely to recognize Jesus
\nin the boy next door, in the people around us saving us from a flood,
\nor in all the other ordinary moments of our lives.<\/p>\n