Taking Offense at Christ

Gospel Reflection for February 5, 2025

The Presentation in the Temple, Courtesy of the Diocese of Phoenix

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord returns to Nazareth and desires to proclaim the Kingdom of God to the people of His native place. He begins to teach and to heal and He is confronted by unbelief. The people dwell on His human relations and doubt the divine works on display in front of them.

They said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” Mark 6: 2-3

Clearly, these people see the divine works that are being done in their presence. They hear the wisdom pouring forth from His words. But they doubt because He is known to them. The people of Nazareth are familiar with Jesus, the Son of Mary. He was raised in Nazareth, as attested by the Gospels, and so the people of that rather small town would have known Him pretty well. Before the Wedding at Cana and the changing of water into wine, there is no indication that He worked any miracles, certainly not publicly. And so, Christ returning to Nazareth wielding a seemingly otherworldly power would have been quite a shock to these people.

At this point, the people reach a sort of fork in the road. They hear the words of wisdom and see the signs and wonders. They have two choices: they can either have faith in the Divine Son before them, or they can doubt who they assume they know as the Son of Mary.

One line from today’s Gospel reveals which option they chose:

“And they took offense at him.” Mark 6:3

Not only did they not believe in Him. Not only did they reject Him. They took offense at Him. We come to this same fork in the road daily. When we are out in the world, with our family, at work, etc. We have Christ before us, exhorting us to not just believe privately but live the faith unashamedly. Which road do we take? We can either embrace Him or we can take offense at Him.

Christ calls us to transcend this world. While we are called to live in the world, we are not to be of it. But the world contradicts the Lord. If we are of the world we will surely take offense at Christ. For those who are of the world, they will love the created things more than they love Christ. They will seek the affirmation of man over that of God. They will desire the relativism of the world rather than the truth of Christ. And because of this, they will take offense at Him.

When Our Lord tells us that we can either be for Him or against Him,¹ He speaks with this in mind. There is a natural contradiction between the world and Christ.² Because of this, we are either of Christ or of the world. It cannot be both. We will either “hate the one and love the other or be devoted to the one and despise the other.”³

This is the Catholic’s lot in this world. Do we love Christ and hate the world or do we love the world and take offense at Christ?

1. Cf. Matthew 12:30.

2. Cf. Luke 2:34-35.

3. Matthew 6:24.