481 -- Not Without Honor, Except....
(For Better or Verse: Each day in 2025 I will begin this Godsfield e-mail with a Bible verse that corresponds with the month (chapter 1-12) and day (verse 1-31) it is sent. This month features a lot of sixth chapters! Those with eyes and ears, let them see and hear.)
Mark 6:4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”
Usually, the hometown hero gets a parade, has strangers pay for his (or her) meal, is crowded around by people asking for selfies or autographs or endorsements.
And the reason is that hero was just a kid when people knew him (or her) and can't believe that this boy (or girl) who played on the same school playground, rode a bike through the same little park, who had the same gym teacher, went to the same church, shopped with Mom at the same grocery store and drove the same beat up clunker as anyone else, suddenly is known in a much bigger world for doing something that is, well, heroic, or famous or attention-getting or headline grabbing.
The hometown folks can't believe it, but they do.
Unless that famous person is a prophet.
Then they really can't believe, or won't.
We knew him when he was playing on the local playground, running through the park, shopping with Mary at the local market. He had the same Torah teacher, and rode the same kind of donkey as the rest of us.
He can't be a prophet; he's, well, he's just one of us.
It is hard for us to see past what we already know or remember or have already opined to be a certain way. Who can blame the Nazaresidents if they question this carpenter's ability to speak for the Lord (much less be the Lord!).
They probably believe what outsiders say about them anyway: Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
And even Jesus marveled at what he heard and saw, the lack of faith, the blindness, the predetermined conclusions.
So, what's a prophet to do? Mark says he went to other villages.
Jesus had prophecy to complete; it was time.
Oh look, here He comes to your village now!
Love ya,
Paul