Matthew 13:53-58 NIV
When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
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God keeps surprising me. The moment I think I have God all figured out, I am humbled by life in some way and have to rethink me position. One time I went looking for a job. I prayed for a specific salary, job type, and benefits. I searched for six months and found nothing. I was getting desperate. I paid a company to help me in my search. Within a week after abandoning my trust that God would provide, I got an offer for the job I prayed for. I wasted considerable cash on the job search service. I never even finished their program. At the end of the experience I was so pleasantly surprised by God and yet I felt foolish. Why was I surprised? Didn't I just pray for these things? Why did God wait so long? Was He testing me? What does this all mean?
There's a danger in having a certain comfortable familiarity with God. It keeps God in a box. When we think we know God completely, we limit a being who is limitless. How can a limited mind fully know the mind of God? And yet we are promised this very thing... one day.
1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth and found the townspeople He grew up with were offended by Him. "Who does He think He is?" they murmured to themselves. They thought they knew the carpenter's son. When He challenged their perceptions by preaching with great wisdom and authority, when He healed the sick and cast out demons, they felt uncomfortable. They felt insulted and angry.
Seems weird that they wouldn't be excited when Jesus healed and helped people in their town. But that's what happens when your words and actions force people out of their comfort zones. Some are more gracious than others, but when fear takes hold, because the ground has shifted under us, sometimes our dark side comes out. In Luke's version of this story the men of Nazareth want to throw Jesus off a cliff! (Luke 4:28-29)
I suppose that their difficulty was seeing Jesus, who came from their own humble circumstances, becoming a national sensation. Everyone one was talking about Jesus. Amazed at His teaching and God's power at work in His ministry, the people were all abuzz. They'd never seen anything like it before. They praised God, for a great prophet had come to Israel. And they had thought perhaps God had abandoned them, but now this prophet has appeared! Surely Nazareth had heard the stories, but they were not as enthused. That's the trouble with thinking you know a thing or person all too well. You close your mind off to experiencing it or them in new ways.
Jesus didn't perform many miracles that day in Nazareth, not because He wasn't able to, but because the people didn't want Him to. Their discomfort kept them from embracing who Jesus had become. They wanted to remain believing He was only the carpenter's son. They couldn't get past that. Their lack of faith kept them from coming to Jesus for healing.
The incarnation is a mystery. How can God be human? How can a poor man's son be the messiah and king of Israel? And if that truly happened for Jesus, why Him? Why not any of the others in Nazareth? Why not me?
But there's the irony. You can be God in human form. Clearly your cannot be all of God, but some of God is in everyone. Christ sets the believer free of fears and frozen minds to become like Him. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. God will work through us in amazing ways sometimes when faith is present. We were made in God's image. We are fallen from God's image because of sin. And we are being redeemed through faith in Christ to be restored to the divine image in which we were made. Healing is a sign of this redemption, a sign of restoration to God. And having our eyes opened, our hearts and minds opened, is no less a miracle. For when we see Jesus for who He is, the whole world changes for us. Everything seems somehow new and different, a fresh blessing.
How well do you think you know Jesus? He wants to be known by you and it will take you an eternity to fully know. The good news is that, through Christ, eternity is in you. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Seek and you will find. Ask and you shall receive the kingdom of heaven.
When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
God keeps surprising me. The moment I think I have God all figured out, I am humbled by life in some way and have to rethink me position. One time I went looking for a job. I prayed for a specific salary, job type, and benefits. I searched for six months and found nothing. I was getting desperate. I paid a company to help me in my search. Within a week after abandoning my trust that God would provide, I got an offer for the job I prayed for. I wasted considerable cash on the job search service. I never even finished their program. At the end of the experience I was so pleasantly surprised by God and yet I felt foolish. Why was I surprised? Didn't I just pray for these things? Why did God wait so long? Was He testing me? What does this all mean?
There's a danger in having a certain comfortable familiarity with God. It keeps God in a box. When we think we know God completely, we limit a being who is limitless. How can a limited mind fully know the mind of God? And yet we are promised this very thing... one day.
1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth and found the townspeople He grew up with were offended by Him. "Who does He think He is?" they murmured to themselves. They thought they knew the carpenter's son. When He challenged their perceptions by preaching with great wisdom and authority, when He healed the sick and cast out demons, they felt uncomfortable. They felt insulted and angry.
Seems weird that they wouldn't be excited when Jesus healed and helped people in their town. But that's what happens when your words and actions force people out of their comfort zones. Some are more gracious than others, but when fear takes hold, because the ground has shifted under us, sometimes our dark side comes out. In Luke's version of this story the men of Nazareth want to throw Jesus off a cliff! (Luke 4:28-29)
I suppose that their difficulty was seeing Jesus, who came from their own humble circumstances, becoming a national sensation. Everyone one was talking about Jesus. Amazed at His teaching and God's power at work in His ministry, the people were all abuzz. They'd never seen anything like it before. They praised God, for a great prophet had come to Israel. And they had thought perhaps God had abandoned them, but now this prophet has appeared! Surely Nazareth had heard the stories, but they were not as enthused. That's the trouble with thinking you know a thing or person all too well. You close your mind off to experiencing it or them in new ways.
Jesus didn't perform many miracles that day in Nazareth, not because He wasn't able to, but because the people didn't want Him to. Their discomfort kept them from embracing who Jesus had become. They wanted to remain believing He was only the carpenter's son. They couldn't get past that. Their lack of faith kept them from coming to Jesus for healing.
The incarnation is a mystery. How can God be human? How can a poor man's son be the messiah and king of Israel? And if that truly happened for Jesus, why Him? Why not any of the others in Nazareth? Why not me?
But there's the irony. You can be God in human form. Clearly your cannot be all of God, but some of God is in everyone. Christ sets the believer free of fears and frozen minds to become like Him. We can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. God will work through us in amazing ways sometimes when faith is present. We were made in God's image. We are fallen from God's image because of sin. And we are being redeemed through faith in Christ to be restored to the divine image in which we were made. Healing is a sign of this redemption, a sign of restoration to God. And having our eyes opened, our hearts and minds opened, is no less a miracle. For when we see Jesus for who He is, the whole world changes for us. Everything seems somehow new and different, a fresh blessing.
How well do you think you know Jesus? He wants to be known by you and it will take you an eternity to fully know. The good news is that, through Christ, eternity is in you. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Seek and you will find. Ask and you shall receive the kingdom of heaven.
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