Friday Thought -- January 4, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples.  When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.  ‘Where did this man get these things?’ they asked.  ‘What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles!  Isn’t this the carpenter?  Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?  Aren’t his sisters here with us?’  And they took offense at him.  Jesus said to them, ‘Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.’  He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.  And he was amazed at their lack of faith.  Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.” (Mark 6:1-6)

The people of Nazareth were familiar with Jesus.  They knew Him as a young man.  They had seen Him working as a common laborer.  They knew His family and knew that they were just ordinary people.  There had been nothing extraordinary about Jesus during the time before He began His ministry.  So, the people of Nazareth wondered how He could be anyone special now.

They heard Him teach in their synagogue.  They heard His wisdom.  They had heard about His miracles, and perhaps they had seen some of them.  Cana is just a few miles from Nazareth, they had heard about His turning water in to wine there.  Other miracles were performed close by, too.

But in their familiarity, they failed to realize just how special Jesus was.  Because they knew so much about Him, they wrote Him off.  They seemed to have the same thought that Nathanael had, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Surely, if God were going to send someone special He wouldn’t have chosen Nazareth as the place to send Him.

Because of their blindness, their unwillingness to see Jesus for who He really was, they missed the Messiah!  Strange, isn’t it, that other villages and cities could see who Jesus was better than the people of His own home town.

Those who have grown up in the church and heard all the stories from Jesus’ life over and over again may fall into the same trap.  It’s all so familiar to them.  He’s so familiar to them.  Don’t let how familiar you are with Jesus blind you to who He truly is!!!

His, by Grace,

Steve