“Hey, I know that boy. I’ve known him my whole life. Who does he think he is?” I confess, it hurt a bit. You see, I was preaching one of my first “sermons” and some “friend” of the family who had, actually, known me and my parents since I was a baby, was a bit put out at my sermon topic. I don’t even remember what it was now, but I do remember his easy dismissal of my thoughts simply based on him watching me grow up.
There was another time, after I converted to Orthodoxy, that a man I respected, and still respect, stood in front of my old home church where I was visiting for the first time since my conversion, and said that “Of course you converted to Orthodoxy. That was the most unorthodox thing you could do, and you’ve always been a bit of a rebel.” I smiled, but it still stung.
So, where does this come from? Well, there is the old saying that “familiarity breeds contempt” and I think that it is true. But the reason it is true is because we humans are uncomfortable around events and persons that challenge our sense of “normalcy” or “equilibrium.” When we encounter that, our first desire is to try to restore our sense of the normal. Now, this isn’t all bad. There are times when the darkness of our world wants to reset our “normal” to the baser desires of our passions. So, this reaction is a good thing.
No, this becomes a caustic reaction when our “normal” has already been set at a wrong place!
Just look at our Gospel Lesson this morning. It’s in Luke 4:22-30:
At that time, the crowd spoke of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.'” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away.
This mental barrier of watching the Lord grow up in their village, and the familiarity these folks had with the Lord’s extended family, became an easy excuse to ignore the powerful message the Lord proclaimed. They were so disturbed by His words that they actually tried to kill Him.
And what was His message? The Lord proclaimed to His home town what He had been proclaiming in every place: “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent!” But they were so blinded by their “familiarity” that they refused to accept His words. This is the subtle danger of familiarity: it blinds you the profound depth of eternal truths. The Lord warned these folks about this danger by revealing the truth that throughout the history of the faith it was the barrier of mere familiarity that kept the very people who had been given this spiritual treasure FIRST from holding this treasure forever. Their very familiarity with the Faith became a detriment to their ability to experience the joy of the faith.
But it turns out what they called “familiarity” was actually just a shallow lip service to the treasure of their faith. They were so convinced they knew the Faith, they missed it!
Today, where is shallow familiarity holding you back? Do you really know the Faith or are you just so comfortable with the trappings of the Faith that you have become numb to the message of the Faith? You may be confronted by this spiritual poverty in a way that disturbs you, but don’t hate that moment. If you have the humility and courage to embrace this momentary discomfort, you may discover a depth of the treasure of your Faith you never really knew existed. And what is merely familiar may become brand new all over again. You just may become Orthodox on Purpose!
P.S. On the Next Faith Encouraged LIVE: St. John Chrysostom declared that “the Rich exists for the benefit of the Poor; and the Poor exist for the benefit of the Rich.” How do we Orthodox Christians move beyond good intentions to action in serving the Poor and Christ commands? This Sunday at 8 PM we are going to talk about the theology of ministering to the poor AND give you practical ways to start tomorrow! That’s this Sunday at 8 PM on AncientFaith.com
3 Comments
ajxpressionz
So let me get this straight: you really thought you were going to have an easier time of it in your home town among your own peeps bc you were a native son, not open to criticism? How naïve!
As a PK who observed her Father take over his Father’s parish, I saw this very thing happen over and over. And it pushed him out of that parish for “greener pastures” but what he actually did was transfer to the hometown parish of his wife who was then often criticized for her husband’s attempt to change the spiritual direction of THAT parish. Old “friends” expected some kind of reprieve from being called out on their behavior but I hold it is not familiarity that breeds contempt but more that what one is suggesting is counter to that parish’s experience and that is what the challenge is. After all is that not the JOB of a Spiritual Director?
How can one possibly attempt to fix what’s broken if one does not call others out on their counter-productive behavior? Methinks the true fault lies in the reaction of the Priest in this case. It also speaks to a certain form of his own pride; why else might he take such comments to heart? He is at best unsure of his purpose as a pastor if he expects no pushback from any corner which is not the fault of that community but rather an expression of it’s own growing pains. This occurs knots often if that Priest dares speak of the preference of that parish to be more concerned with it’s ethnic heritage than it’s spirituality. You want to ruffle feathers: Do that!
A priest must grow a tougher hide if he expects to evoke change.
Julie
I like this. Thank you.
ajxpressionz
@Julie Thank you for affirming my tiny thoughts. I was scared to post here being new to this blog but felt my personal experience was relevant to the topic.