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More on the adventures of Jesus in what turned out to be his last visit to Nazareth as recorded in Mark 6. Here’s what struck me:

Isn’t this Mary’s son, the carpenter, the brother of Jacob, Joseph, Judah, and Simon? And don’t his sisters all live here in Nazareth?” And they took offense at him. (Mark 6.3, Passion Translation)

Sometimes we reject people because we don’t know them. But in this case, Jesus was rejected because the people thought they did know him. We know this guy! We grew up with him! We remember when he was a teenager! We know his family!

I saw this attitude in spades when I was on church staff in Alabama. One young man joined the staff, and all people could talk about was what they remembered from his growing up years (when he wasn’t exactly a model child!). But how unfair is that? And how silly it was for the people of Nazareth to miss Jesus, Son of God, Messiah, because of past memories.

Can we hear from God through unexpected people? People that used to be (fill in the blank) young, immature, irresponsible,… (I’m not suggesting that Jesus was any of these negative things, but if it could happen even to him, how much more regular people!)

And there’s a flip side: Jesus did not let his hometown folks define him. Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. (Mark 6.6, NLT) And, as I said, he never returned to Nazareth as far as we know.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5.16, 17, NLT)

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. (1 Timothy 4.12, NLT)