A Prophet Without Honor
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 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. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Sometimes people just refuse to believe. Jesus had done miracle after miracle and they simply refused to believe He was from God, that He was God.
Jesus had wisdom and power beyond human understanding, but they did not make the connection between that wisdom/power and God. They refused to, because their hearts were hardened by unbelief. They were the hard soil that the seed could not penetrate.
And when people refuse to believe they have all sorts of excuses. They start focusing on things that are completely irrelevant. Yes, Jesus was from their hometown. What does that have to do with the fact that He can heal the blind, deaf and dumb? Nothing. It's irrelevant.
You can see that today when people get sidetracked by all sorts of things - the music was too loud, the speaker too long, the people aren't welcoming enough, blah, blah, blah. It's irrelevant to the truth but they love their sin too much to recognize the truth and so they focus on the irrelevant.
And in the end, unbelief prevents miracles. Jesus did perform miracles for people with huge faith, people with mediocre faith and even people with no faith. But He did not perform miracles at the whim of the purposefully unbelieving.
I loved MacArthur's prayer at the end of his sermon on this passage....
Father, plow up the hard soil by Your Spirit, that there might be a receptive heart. Father, beyond those who need You here, give us a vision to reach a lost and unbelieving world, realizing that we can't convince against the will, but need to be available when Your Spirit is softening the will and plowing the soil. We need to be there to sow the seed. Help us not to be discouraged when we see unbelief, but to know it as a fulfillment of Your own prophecies. Help us to continue faithfully with that good soil, to sow the seed, that we may come rejoicing, bringing our sheaves with us. In Christ's name, Amen.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 14:1-12
1 comment:
That is a really great prayer.
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