Mark 6:1-6, NIV - 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? 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, “A prophet is not without honor
except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” He could not
do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
I am not known as a “crafty”
guy. By crafty, I mean “good with craft
projects. My family often teases me about this.
However, on a couple of occasions,
I have tackled a craft project and done an admirable job. On those few occasions, my family has had a
hard time believing that it was me that created the project. I share this, not to complain about my family,
but to illustrate a harmless example of what happened with Jesus in
Nazareth. Our brains tend to categorize
people in ways that allow us to operate in our relationships with ongoing
assumptions about them. This creates
relational and mental shortcuts that, for the most part, make relationships easier.
The downside is illustrated in this story.
These assumptions
that we carry about others tend to “pigeonhole” them into expected behaviors. When they behave differently or do the
unexpected, it throws the relationship out of balance. When we’re talking about whether I’m crafty
or not, it is of very little consequence.
But when we’re talking about whether the “carpenter’s boy” is a prophet
or even the Messiah, it tends to throw people into relational disarray. In the original Greek, “they took offense at
him” can also be translated “they stumbled because of him.”
The people of Jesus’s
hometown could not place their faith in Him because they were not able to abandon
their carried assumptions about Him.
This has an effect on the situation that still baffles me:
He
could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and
heal them.”
Jesus could not do any miracles because of the lack of faith
in those present? Why does our lack of faith
have any effect on Jesus’s ability to do miracles? The only clue that comes to mind is the story
that immediately precedes this story – the healing of the woman with the flow
of blood. In that story, Jesus proclaims
to the woman “your faith has healed you.” Her faith, combined with the power that Jesus
felt “go out from Him,” heals her. Without
the power of Jesus, miracles cannot happen, but our current story takes it a bit
further. That power is made efficacious by
faith. The power AND the faith are
required.
And here’s why
assumptions that we carry are so potentially harmful. They can “block” the flow of faith and
actually prevent good things from happening that would have been possible
otherwise. Relationships, including our
relationship with God, can be robbed of their power by faulty assumptions.
Question: What assumptions
do you carry about God or other people that may need to be questioned?
Prayer: God, forgive
us for our false assumptions about You and others. Help us see the ways in which good things
could happen if we begin to question some of our assumptions. Amen
Prayer Focus: Pray
for the orderly and safe running of our elections process in our country next
week.
Song: I know I have
used this song a couple of times before, but it is the best song I know about questioning
faith assumptions.
Praise the Lord – Crowder
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