"What is this wisdom that has been granted him, and these miracles that are worked through him?" (Mark 6:2)
Our lectionary’s translation of Sunday’s Gospel leaves out a detail: the people of Nazareth specify that "these miracles are worked through his hands" not simply "through him".
St Mark repeats this detail a few verses later: "he could work no miracle there, though he cured a few sick people by laying his hands on them." (6:5)
What is the reason for this focus on the hands of Jesus? His fellow countryman knew him as "the carpenter" (6:3), whose hands had made their tables, doors, roofs, etc. They could not believe that these same hands, so normal, just like theirs, were now working miracles.
Yet those hands worked their greatest miracle when they carried the wood of the cross and were pierced, not when they were strong.
Jesus opened his hands to the nails, and redeemed us with the blood from these wounds.
In the second reading, St Paul emphasises that divine strength is most powerful in our weakness, as it was in the weak hands of Jesus Crucified, who said to this apostle: "My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness" (2 Cor 12:9).
We can read the psalm of the Mass in this light: "my eyes, like the eyes of slaves on the hand of their lords…so our eyes are on the Lord our God till he show us his mercy" (Ps 123).
We can contemplate the wounded hands of Jesus, waiting for him to grant us his mercy through them.
In addition, the Gospel shows us how to avoid mistaking Jesus for a mere man: his countrymen talk about him, but not to him; even so, Jesus speaks to them.
If we accept the invitation to conversation with Jesus in prayer, then he can enlighten us; but if we only speak to others or to ourselves, we will never recognise him.
If we persevere in that personal conversation with Jesus, he will make us his brothers and sisters by grace.
He never had blood brothers or sisters (the same Greek word for "brother" and "sister" also means "cousin"), but he will unite us even closer to him by sharing his Precious Blood with us through the sacraments.
This is a gift to remember especially in this month of July, dedicated to his Sacred Blood. <br><br><em>Photo: Detail from 'Life' by Stephen Sealy; crylic, soil and a metal protrusion; screenshot from <a href="http://christian.art/art-competition-2024-gallery/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">www.christian.art/art-competition-2024-gallery/</mark></a>.</em>
