+ It is so very true that "familiarity breeds contempt!" Even Jesus had his problem with this dynamic. Another way to say it is: being unable to see the "forest" because of the" trees." Sometimes we can be looking directly at something, and think we know exactly what it is – but are unable to know it at all – or to actually see what we are looking at.
Today it is easy for us to point a kind of judgmental finger at the folks in Jesus' hometown and say: he was right there in front of you, that little boy who grew up into a man is the real Messiah – why can't you see it? why can't you see him? why didn't you pay attention to him more closely after he left home?
Well, it is just as easy today to point fingers at one another and say: did you not see him? he is right here in our midst - we have looked right at him when we see the poor and the needy, the challenged and the lonely, the sick and the imprisoned – but we too fail to see him.
Among the very important things that Jesus asked us to remember about him it is that he himself is present "in the least of the brothers and sisters" – and unless we see him there, sense his presence there and help him there – then our own eternal salvation is in jeopardy. And this is a fact!
May we today see Jesus truly present here in his Word, in his Sacrament and in our actions of loving and serving others (the least of his brothers and sisters) in his Name.
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