Monday, March 21, 2022
Luke 4:23-30
I was recently telling my wife that I had wood chippered an entire bag of potato chips during a stressful day at work. Crumbs flew everywhere, and I ended up with a stomach ache. My 7-year-old son, listening from nearby, chimed in with his diagnosis — "Dad, you probably eat too many chips."
"He's just a kid.” I thought to myself. “What does he know? I can eat as many chips as I want -- doesn't he know how stressful my life is?”
Well, it turns out he knows A LOT. He watches me shove potato chips into my maw all the time. He heard me mention the stomach ache. And he knows that eating a bunch of potato chips isn't good for you. His point was thoughtful and valid, and yet, I found myself easily dismissing his point of view.
It can often feel easy to ignore truths, big and small, when they come from someone close to us. We miss the message and see only the person. What do they know? In the face of the actual Word of God, the people of Nazareth pushed that truth away because they knew Jesus well. They knew him, and because of that, they ignored him.
This gospel reminds us to stop, to reflect, and to listen when someone close to us speaks the truth. To overcome our own assumptions and open our hearts to receive that truth, that love, from someone in our life.
Because my son is right—I do eat too many chips. And I love that he cares enough to say it.
Reflection by Bobby McMahon
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