Daily Gospel Reflection for February 3, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

My husband grew up on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. Birmingham is a large city which attracts many different types of people from various backgrounds. Yet the city’s industrial past can still color the current perception of it. As the Brits might say, “It’s a bit dodgy.” As a result of these biases, my in-laws enrolled my husband in elocution lessons as a child. They believed that shedding his Birmingham accent would make him more widely accepted in other parts of the United Kingdom. Amusingly, he has spent most of his adult life in the United States where few would detect any nuances to his accent. To most American ears, he sounds like he could play Mr. Darcy in a new BBC special.

Likewise, it may be challenging for us to read today’s Gospel and appreciate that Jesus could be rejected by his own Nazarene community. After all, He was Jesus. How could they not see what we see? Yet that was exactly it. They saw what they had always known or perceived that they knew. Carpenter. Son of Mary. That lens of expectation did not allow them to realize who was right before them.

We can all get lost in our own perceptions and biases, especially our unconscious ones. This Gospel reminds us of the dangers of such presumptions. We can be stripped of our ability to recognize what is right before us: a beloved child of God.

Ponder:

When have my own perceptions and biases blinded me to the truth of another?

Pray:

Open my eyes, Lord, so I may view others with tenderness and love.

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We can all get lost in our own perceptions and biases, especially our unconscious ones. This Gospel reminds us of the dangers of such presumptions. #dailygospel

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