Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.
In Mark 6, Jesus arrived in his hometown and taught in the synagogue.
His audience was amazed, but not in a positive way. They asked dismissive questions.
1. This man is a carpenter. Why does he think he can teach?
2. This man is weird. Where did he get power to do miracles?
3. This man is not so special. We know his mother and brothers and sisters, just your average family.
The hometown people couldn’t make the leap from the ordinary kid they grew up with to the extraordinary person Jesus had become. To them, he was still just the neighborhood carpenter.
I’ve felt that way about some of my high school classmates. They were ordinary types, nothing special. I was the extraordinary one who got good grades. But in the long run, some of them have been very successful in ministry and life and business. It’s me who’s struggled to achieve even ordinary.
Jesus responded to people’s disdain with a saying. “A prophet is honored everywhere, except at home” (Mark 6:4). Gospel-writer Mark says Jesus had to be content with just a few minor healings before he left town.
And—listen for it—Mark says Jesus was AMAZED at their lack of faith. It’s the only time in the gospel Jesus was amazed.
Here’s a question. I wonder sometimes if Jesus is amazed at my lack of faith.
Let’s pray.
Our Jesus, we are like the people in your hometown. We live ordinary lives, ruled by routine. Even the stories about your miracles and healings have become ordinary to us.
Break into our lives we pray. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear the extraordinary in your life. Help us wonder at your teaching and long for your healing and hope in your salvation. Fill us with awe at the creation you sustain, at the words you speak to us, and the example you set for us.
May your presence make our ordinary lives extraordinary.
Amen.
I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.
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