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You’re just too good to be true! You have a great build and a sharp
mind! You’re a snappy dresser and a smart looker. You’ve got all the
credentials: sociable, sensitive, caring. You’re just too good to be true!
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you be thrilled and overjoyed
if someone approached you and marveled, “You’re too good to be true!”
That’s how the home folks put it when they heard Jesus teach in the
synagogue that Sabbath. As he taught they whispered, “Who’s this guy?
Where did he get all the smarts? How did he get the magic touch? He’s
better than a chiropractor or a shrink!” They went bananas over him!
They were so excited they tripped over one another to get a better look.
And when they did?
Someone in the crowd gasped, “That’s that…ah…ah…Mary’s kid,
you know, the Mary who takes in the wash!” And someone else chimed
in, “Sure, that’s Mary’s kid. Her husband is Joe, Joe whatchamacallit?
Their cousins live in the old shack a couple of blocks down the street
from us.” Then do you know what happened? They stopped dead in their tracks, shook their heads sadly, and whined, “Too good to be true!
We know where he comes from. He’s from the other side of the tracks.
Oh, he put on a good show: he fooled us for a minute. We thought he
was a real whiz – that he could teach all of us a thing or two. But now
we know he’s “too good to be true!”
Too good to be true? What a turnaround! They were silly people
back then, weren’t they?
Back then? Has anything really changed? (I hope so).
Someone says, “Hey, you’re intelligent, sensitive, caring. You’re
perfect for the job but, uh, we don’t want women in this business. Tsk!
Tsk! Too good to be true!”
Or, “My goodness!” You have impeccable credentials. We want
responsible people like you living in our building. But, uh, there’s a
little problem. Tsk! Tsk! The color of your skin! Oh well – too good to
be true!”
Or, “Do you know how badly we need someone to teach these
kids? You come with the highest recommendations. But, hmmm, you are one of them aren’t you? Too good to be true! See you!” It doesn’t take much reflection to realize how our biases change
our outlook on the world. First we are impressed with what we see and
hear. Then the bias takes over and what we saw and heard we didn’t see
or hear. Too good to be true! What are the consequences of bias in these
situations?
Jesus’ townspeople lost out because if they had received Jesus into
their lives they would have been enriched by his presence. Jesus lost
too! He couldn’t be for them what he had intended, and this was his
loss. Our biases prevent us from appreciating others’ gifts, which then
inhibits them from developing these gifts. After all, without others
appreciating our talents, we might not be motivated to develop them.
“You’re too good to be true” is either others’ positive assessment of who
we are or their dismissal of us altogether! Affirm or deny. The choice is
yours.

A true story, recounted in the weekly “Metropolitan Diary” column of
The New York Times:
In Dunkin’ Donuts this morning an old lady wearing a tattered cap
started speaking to no one in particular.
“I can’t sleep at night. I have pains in my chest all the time. My leg
hurts and my children do not love me”.
People waiting in line hid in their cell phones, looked away or stared
straight ahead. We have all done it!
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to turn. My husband
died two years ago on the 27th.”
Everyone pretended she wasn’t there. The girls behind the counter
took the next customers. The line inched forward.
At a side table, a beautiful young woman with matching purple scarf
and hat looked at the old woman and said, simply, “Honey, please sit
down with me and tell me your story.”
It’s possible, you see, for one person to save the world or at least part of it.
Life can be so much easier and peaceful when we have nothing to do
with others—don’t get involved, walk away, mind your own business,
are much safer approaches to life. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus is not
afraid to wade into the messiness of life in order to transform, heal and
restore. In the two miracles we hear today, Jesus ignores custom and
taboo in a way that modern readers may miss: In taking the dead girl by
the hand, in allowing the sick woman to touch him, Jesus became
ritually unclean and not permitted to enter the synagogue or temple. But
to respond compassionately to the plight of these families becomes more
important, more sacred, than  the “safety” of convention and tradition.
May we imitate that same compassion of the healing Christ, risking our
own sense of comfort and satisfaction in order to bring that love into the
lives of others.
You see, it’s possible for one person to save the world, or at least one
small part of it!

A parishioner, in her will, left her small house to the parish. The
property was adjacent to the church property.
The pastor and the parish council began to look at possibilities for
the property. A number of options were suggested: a religious education
center; a residence for the pastor, enabling the parish to sell the big, two-
thirds empty house he now lived in; tearing down the house to create a
memorial park or expand the church parking lot.
Then a group of the town’s residents asked to meet with the
council. They proposed that the house be used as a temporary shelter for
battered women, a safe place where women and their children could
escape an abusive husband and begin the process of rebuilding their
lives. The council listened politely and empathetically. Then the “buts”
started… It is important work, but the house would be empty most of
the time. Do we want to get involved in these family situations? Can we really make a difference here? What about the liability, the
safety of parishioners who work on this, potential damage to the
property?
A member of the parish council said nothing during the barrage of
questions and concerns. Finally, she asked to speak. She told her own
story of being in an abusive relationship years before and that a house
like this and the group who maintained it had saved her life and her
daughter’s. She had never spoken about it before but felt she needed to
speak up now. This is more important than you know, she said quietly.
So, the little house became Bethany House, named after the home
of Martha and Mary and Lazarus, the friends of Jesus with whom he
often stayed. Members of the parish stepped forward to fix up the house
and furnish it. And it has been a safe place for families battered by the
winds of abuse and hardship.
In a storm of doubt and skepticism, the “sleeping” Jesus awakens
in the courage of a woman whose powerful story leads her parish to take
on a challenging but important ministry in their community.
We do not realize that the Gospel Jesus “sleeps” within our own “boats” he “awakens” during the most difficult and demanding storms we
encounter, enabling us to do what is right and just. Within each of us is
the grace of the “awakened” Jesus in today’s Gospel: the wisdom, the
patience, the courage to discern the presence of God amid the storms of
tension, fear, anxiety, and the injustice we experience. As Frederick
Buechner writes in his book Secrets of the Dark: “Christ sleeps in the
deepest selves of all of us, and whatever we do in whatever time we
have left, wherever we go, may we in whatever way we can call on
him as the fishermen did in their boat to come awake within us and
to give us courage, to give us hope, to show us, each one, our way.
May he be with us especially when the winds go mad and the waves
run wild, as they will for all of us before we’re done, so that even in
their midst we may find peace, find Him.”