Friday 10 July, 2015

6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 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? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 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. 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.

Because of their unbelief…  Jesus came back to his own community to teach them and work miracles for them, but they only saw the carpenter they knew, the boy who played with their children. They couldn’t make the mind flip to see His real identity, it was beyond their human imagination.  He just seemed like arrogance or even insane.  At first they were amazed by what He did and then their minds dismissed it and they scoffed.

The sad thing is that they were so dear to Jesus, his own village, but he wasn’t able to bless them, because of their refusal to believe in Him.

This passage shows that the work of God is reliant on our faith. Jesus longs to be known and loved by us as the saving son of God. He loves to do miracles in and around us, but do we have the faith and trust to allow him to move?

The other thing that strikes me is that Jesus is well known in our culture, usually nowadays superficially and as largely irrelevant to modern life. He’s just the baby in the manger or the limp body on the catholic cross.  Too familiar and more remembered for His frailty than for His power and glory.  He’s been laughed out of our town and we are so much the poorer for this.

Relationship with God is a faith thing. Belief enables relationship and gifts us with the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit moves in our spirit; a place beyond reason or imagination.

I would love to see those I love move out of the rational visible world and trust the God-man, Jesus in a fresh way, throwing out the old images.  Not allowing the familiar to deny the miraculous; their eyes to blind their souls. I will continue to pray for my own village.

Dear God, I know that faith itself is a gift from you, please open the hearts of those around me to your real identity and give them the will to believe. Amen

Written by Dimity Milne