Some of the most solemn words in all of Scripture are discovered in Mark 6: “…and he could there do no mighty work…and he was amazed at their unbelief.”
Jesus had gone home to Nazareth after a season of healing many people in other parts of the region. He’d met with much success in preaching the good news of the gospel and transforming lives. Until he came home. There he encounters stiff resistance. Ultimately, Jesus leaves Nazareth the same way he found it.
Who were these people at the precipice of promise and change but who ultimately missed out on many blessings that the Master was giving? If we’re aren’t careful, it’s you and I!
Jesus went home. In the end, it’s not the people ‘out there’ who block our blessings, it’s usually those closest to us who most often talk us out of our dreams and convince us of what we can’t do.
They took offense. Some versions translate it ” they stumbled”. Group think causes one to focus on the here and now versus the not yet – to focus on current problems, bills, bad relationships etc to the extent that the spiritual is never revealed due to the overwhelming sense of the natural.
He was “amazed at their unbelief”. So pummeled were they by group think that their belief had morphed into a “callus”, such as the thickened and hardened part of one’s skin. This usually happens on the foot but in this case it was the heart that hardened.
So Jesus passes through his hometown; his hommies, his friends, his family. And nothing changes.
Friends, Jesus is passing through today, right now, right in the middle of COVID-19!
God’s spirit is with us right now. God wants to heal relationships. God wants to resurrect dreams. God wants to restore broken promises. God wants to usher you into your brand-new future. Today!
Don’t let this season of uncertainty and a fixation on the natural make you miss your blessings. Stay in confidence. Step up to the challenge.
Jesus is passing through!
Inspired Living with Pastor W. Eric Croomes 