LOLONG was a “special child;” his mental handicap made people call him the village fool. One morning as he scaled the nearby dam built in the hills surrounding his village, he saw an ominous crack on the dam’s left side. Lolong rushed to the village square to tell the people of the impending peril, but they laughed at him. The harder he tried, the more they laughed. One evening, the dam broke and washed away the village.

Jesus, too, came to his own people. Even if they had heard of the wonders he performed in other places, they would not believe him, would not accept him. The people who knew him could not accept his telling them the painful fact that even if they were God’s chosen people, the faith they showed was little compared to what the Gentiles had. Because of this disparity in faith, the pagans would be taking their places in the kingdom of heaven.

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This message coming from Jesus angered the people of his native place. They murmured among themselves, “Who does he think he is? He is nothing but a carpenter’s son! And we even know his family!” Highly insulted by what Jesus said the Jews from his own place wanted to kill him. But he escaped from them, for his time had not yet come.

Because of the lack of faith found in his own people the Lord could not perform much wonders, but he still did some. In spite of the great danger to his own life Jesus still spoke to his people, like the prophets of old, inviting them to go back to the right path.

Time and again God also sends some (prophets) to our own lives who tell us, painful and shameful though it be, “You are being materialistic” or “You are killing yourself with drugs/alcohol” or “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife/goods.”

In self-defense we look down on or even bring down the person who speaks to us in God’s name. Sometimes we take him as a fool. At other times, we shoot the messenger, for we fear the message.

In his infinite wisdom and patience, God continues to send us messengers or prophets. At the end, there will be no reason to ever complain, for He gives each of us innumerable chances to make it right.

“He departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples. When the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished….And they took offense at him. Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house. So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.” Mark 6:1-6