Certain Catholic personalities have become great by being elevated to higher places: bishops, vicars, executive directors, presidents, chairman of the board, parish priests, rectors, etc. Going into higher places at times is called destiny, or in ordinary parlance “by God’s will.”
Catholic institutions such as colleges, universities, and schools across the country, de Aparri hasta Jolo, have acquired a great socio-economic status. By hard work towards academic excellence, inspired by the Saints and Founders, and by communion with the Catholic hierarchy, Catholic colleges and universities have become a brand name and Catholic schools have become institutions of first preference, which, in a sense, may be called special and extraordinary. That’s great!
More than 2010 years ago, the Jews refused to accept Jesus because He was so ordinary. Their refusal lay in the fact that they knew where our Lord had come from. They knew well that He grew up in Nazareth, that He was the son of a carpenter. “Can anything good come from Nazareth
The Gospel of Matthew recorded the amazement of the Jews when they found Jesus teaching in synagogue. Awed by His wisdom and authority, they asked one another: “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother named Mary and His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not His sisters all with us? Where did this get all this?” (Matthew 13:54-56).
Historically, in that part of the world, the Old Israel, cousins and the nearest kin were called brothers and sisters. There was nothing exceptional, extraordinary or mysterious about the family history of Jesus. His simple beginnings ran contrary to popular expectations of the Jews.
Ordinariness was scandalous
After being conquered by dominant nations, the Jews thought that the promised Messiah would burst upon the world mysteriously and powerfully. The much-awaited Messiah, perceived to be a political and social liberator, was envisioned to be a tremendous King-Conqueror who would save them from the hands of all their enemies.
Because they were seeking elaborate manifestations of God’s hand and His presence in the abnormal and special, they could not be persuaded to see God in ordinary things. Jesus did not simply measure up to that kind of standard and expectation. To the Jews there was nothing special and unique about Him. Before His own people, our Blessed Lord was an ordinary Jew.
The Jews had dreamed of the Messiah, the powerful king, a mighty leader, one who would smash all the enemies of Israel (Lk. 1:68-73). While they were expecting a conqueror, they were given a broken body on the cross. While they were looking for the raging Lion of Judah, they beheld the gentle Lamb of God.
For those who believe, God is not the far-away God who rarely invades our privacy. God is Omnipresent, Who is always present in the seemingly insignificant, day-to-day occurrences of our earthly existence. We believe that the Extraordinary Being, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became an ordinary Son of Man. The Word was made flesh, Verbum caro factum est (John 1:14). Since then, God has been present in a very special, loving, and ordinary manner.
Jesus was neither snobbish nor ostentatious, neither showy nor flaunting. The Master knelt down to wash the Apostles’ feet. The Savior becomes the servant.
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