Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.
And he went about among the villages teaching.A prophet is not welcome in his hometown. I've wondered about this often. Why is he not welcome? Is it because of verse 3? Because they knew Jesus when he was a kid? Because of what they thought of his birth?
Shortsighted people missed out on what could've been the biggest blessing of their lives, because they couldn't get over the fact that they knew Jesus when he was a baby. Because they knew his parents and brothers and sisters.
There are many things today that keep us from accepting Jesus. The world around us does its best to discredit him.
Let's have better vision than those from Nazareth.
1 comment:
I really appreciated MacArthur's point that, though faith is very powerful, so is unbelief, and that the Bible has a lot to say about unbelief as well as faith.
Unbelief caused Eve to sin and brought about the fall of mankind. Unbelief caused everyone but Noah to drown. Unbelief caused an entire generation of Israelites from entering the Promised Land. Aaron's unbelief resulted in 3000 deaths. Moses' unbelief kept him from the Promised Land. Achan's unbelief resulted in disobedience bringing about the execution of his entire family.
And, ultimately, unbelief in the name of the Lord Jesus, the only Son of God, results in eternal judgment.
In our passage today, we see hard-hearted unbelief of the people in the face of incredibly powerful revelation. So sad.
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