NAKED TRUTH

Wednesday in the 4th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mk 6:1-6

When I was still studying for the priesthood, almost everybody in my home-parish at one point or another thought loudly, “Sana madestino ka rito sa parokya natin kapag naging pari ka” (“I hope you get assigned here in our parish when you become a priest”). The closest that I was assigned to my own parish was when I was appointed there as a resident deacon for three months. Today, being assigned to my home-parish seems almost impossible because my home-parish already belongs to a rather newly created diocese. I do not belong to that new diocese.

When I read the Gospel today, I cannot help but wonder if its message provides the logic why I have yet to meet a brother-priest who was or who is presently assigned to his home-parish. It seems that it is almost deliberate that we, priests, are not sent to the parish where we grew up. Can the reason be that no prophet is without honor except in his own town and among his own kindred?

When I became a priest, there were some people in our village that commented, “Tignan mo nga naman, pari ka na! Ang liit-liit mo lang dati. Parang kung kailan lang nang tumatakbo ka pang nakahubo.” (“Look at you, you are now a priest! You used to be just too small. It seems like only yesterday when you were running around naked”).

Nakedness is vulnerability. To be naked before anyone is to be vulnerable. People who are fixated with having seen us naked are people who are fixated with having known our vulnerability. We cannot but be sorry for people who have this kind of fixation. Their world is too narrow and they themselves have little room to grow in it.

The townmates of Jesus failed to accept Him because they thought they knew Him too well. They saw Him as a child growing up in their midst, running up and down their streets, maybe even naked playing under the rain. They knew His family and, perhaps, also the “family secret” that He was not from the loins of His known father. They were aware that He came from a poor home and had no formal education. They knew His vulnerability. But they did not know that by His vulnerability, He was redeeming them from their own weaknesses.

Next time we are tempted to easily dismiss someone because we think we know him too well. Think again. We may be gravely mistaken. We have not seen all of him yet. His nakedness perhaps speak well of our own vulnerability rather than his. Let us give Him a chance to clothe us with His own garments…perhaps, that is precisely the reason why he stands naked. And that is the naked truth we often cannot take.