Jesus departed from there and came to his native place,accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Jesus said to them,
“A prophet is not without honor except in his native place
and among his own kin and in his own house.”
So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there,
apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them.
He was amazed at their lack of faith.
I read these lines and a couple things pop into my head. First there have been times in my life where I have tried to share things or thoughts and I was refused, because of who I was or how I was known (unknown). It is a true moment of heartbreak, you see things "out of place" and you know how to help, but your help is swept aside. I try to grapple with better words or examples, but no matter what I did it made no matter. The only thing that you can do is to just keep on loving. I realize that maybe I wasn't the right messenger at the time or that perhaps my job was to plant a seed for then next person to reap. What really strikes me about these lines though are the times where I refused to listen because of preconcieved notions. I refused to listen because of who or where the message was coming from. "How can I listen to _______, when they are a bigger sinner than myself", I have said to myself too many times. I forget at times that God is always speaking to me. Through events and others God's love is always trying to reach my ears so that I may live a better life, but am I listening. I have come to realize that listening is also loving, and that I can't often receive love if I don't open my heart and listen.
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