Let me share with you today an insight by means of an update.

The Gospel text we just heard concerned a group of people who lived in a small, Galilean town of the first century.

But if we modify it ever so slightly, this text can be updated—in order to help us understand how it applies to all of us who live in a small American town of the twenty-first century.

So here’s the update that will bring us an insight:

The original text reads: "When the Sabbath came [Jesus] began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished."

Updated, that verse could be rendered: "When Sunday morning came, Jesus began to teach at Mass through his Word, and many who heard him were bored to death; some were angry because his message was too long or too challenging; some were busy planning the day’s activities in their minds; and a few were actually listening and taking the Word to heart."

In the original version, we read these lines: "[The people] said, "Where did this [Jesus] get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?"

Updated that text could be rendered, "Some of the people at Mass said in their hearts, ‘Where did that priest get his information? Isn’t that just his opinion? Why do we have to listen to him anyway? And how can he change ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ? Isn’t he just a human being like the rest of us?’"

Finally, it says in the original version: "And they took offence at [Jesus]. . . . 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."

And now, the final update: "And many at Mass took offence at the presence of Jesus in his Word and in his Body and Blood, the Holy Eucharist. Consequently, Jesus was not able to do for them what he wanted to do for them. He was not able to give them his strength, his consolation, his forgiveness, and his healing during the Liturgy. He was only able to help the few who came to him with open minds and hearts."

My brothers and sisters, when Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth, he was physically, objectively present with his people—people he loved and cared about deeply. He was there! And yet, his real, objective presence didn’t make a practical difference in the lives of many of them because they thought he looked too ordinary. They put no faith in him. In their minds, he was just "the carpenter, the Son of Mary."

Whenever we come to Mass, Jesus Christ is also objectively present with us! He’s here with us in Word and in Sacrament! But whether or not the graces of a particular Mass bear fruit in our lives depends to a great extent on our subjective disposition of heart. That’s the insight that comes through the update I just shared. If we are distracted by the "humanness" of the priest, or the "ordinariness" of the elements used (bread and wine), or the routine of the ceremony, we risk becoming just like those faithless Nazoreans, who received very little from Jesus when he visited their synagogue on the Sabbath.