It is a mind-boggling, hard-to-grasp, awesome story unlike any other story ever told. But what makes this story so wonderful and so important is not that its plot is way beyond anything you would’ve ever conceived. What makes this story vital to know and understand is that it is not a well-crafted fantasy. The thing that should make you stop in your tracks, activate your heart and mind, and fall to your knees is that this story is real. It took place in real time at real locations with real people. All human history was marching to the specific point in time when this story would unfold, and the implications of the events of this story reach to everyone who has lived since.
I’ve thought a lot about the danger of familiarity in our lives and society as children of God. It is good to be familiar with the story of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It means that God has met you by grace. It means that he has opened the eyes of your heart to what, without him, you would not see or understand. He has drawn you close to his side.
But familiarity often does bad things to us. Often when we become familiar with things, we begin to take them for granted. When we are familiar with things, we tend to quit examining them. Often when we are familiar with things, we quit noticing them. When we are familiar with things, we tend not to celebrate them as we once did. Familiarity tends to rob us of our wonder.
TEXT: Matthew 13:53-58(NKJV)
53. Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.
54. And when He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this [Man] get this wisdom and [these] mighty works?
55. “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?
56. “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this [Man] get all these things?”
57. So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”
58. Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
This reading gives an interesting but saddening account of Jesus’ ministry in His hometown- among His people and their attitude to Him. Jesus taught amazingly in their synagogue in so much that they wondered where He got the wisdom and miraculous power from. This is because they were familiar with the story of His birth and growth; the details of his family and other personal information about Him. They could relate with what they knew about Him but could not relate with the power of God working in His life.
They found it difficult to connect the ‘ordinary’ man they knew to the ‘extraordinary power at play in His life. This state of mind of theirs limited their faith and thus the flow of God’s power(v.58). What Jesus was able to do outside, He could only do but a little in His hometown. What a loss! There are people God is using in this generation who may be your kinsmen, students, juniors at school or places of work classmates, close relatives, neighbours, etc. How do you relate with them?
Do you see the power of God working through them? Your embracing the genuine words of God they teach or preach and the power of God working through them will go a long way to determine the extent of God’s blessing in your life.
Prayer: Almighty Father, help me not to limit the flow of Your grace and power in my life through uncharitable thoughts and opinion of Your servants.Amen.
Shalom…..
Also read this……
Appreciating God’s Grace
Sin always results in punishment(Zechariah 1:1-6)
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