Ezekiel 2:2-5 The prophet is sent into a hard and rebellious world to bring the divine word.
Psalm 123:1-2, 2, 3-4 Surrounded by contempt, God’s children pray for mercy.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul endures the mysterious thorn in the flesh to keep his pride in check.
Mark 6:1-6a The people of Nazareth take offense because Jesus won’t keep to his place.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account,” Jesus famously taught in his Sermon on the Mount. And he should know, because Jesus faced precisely this kind of treatment at his debut in Nazareth. Folks didn’t simply disapprove of his teaching. They questioned his credentials and even his paternity (being called “the son of Mary” was irregular in a land where your father’s lineage was paramount). In fact, the opposition got rather physical, if you include nearly being hurled off a cliff at the end of the lesson. When we are criticized, rightly or wrongly, it rarely feels like a blessing.

