Have you thought about Miracles? Are you open to miracles?
In today’s Gospel from Mark 6:1-13…..
Jesus came to his hometown and it is known that if you are in your hometown, you are not considered an expert. People will give you grief about your knowledge. The joke today is, if you have a briefcase and you traveled 100 miles, you might be considered an expert, but if you are in your hometown, your just another person living in the community.
People who don’t consider you an expert may focus on what you were like in the past and give zero consideration to what you have become.
I remember reading a story of a physician and people thought that he was a class clown, a goof off, a person who could not succeed in life. But this man, became something no one could believe. He evolved into something spectacular.
In the same way this man was treated, the people of Jesus’ hometown saw him as a carpenters son. A repairman who worked with wood, or on houses, because something needed to be repaired. As a carpenter, you spend more time repairing the brokenness of peoples furniture and homes than you do creating new works to sell (at least in those days).
Now I can see Jesus being called a repairman by these people who saw him merely as a carpenter. But his hometown crowd didn’t give him the respect of discovering what he has become. Yet they listened to him in the Synagogues and were impressed with his teaching.
But they still went back to the beginning of his life, the life that began with Joseph and Mary. And following in his fathers footsteps, they looked to him merely as a carpenter, a repairman of things.
But he is not only a repairman of physical things, but Jesus is also a repairman of spiritual things. See they forgot to give him credit for something they could not understand.
I don’t know if you ever thought of Jesus as a repairman, but think about it for a few minutes. He walked this earth repairing the brokenness of humanity.
Jesus talked to many about the brokenness of humanity and taught people that faith has healing powers.
‘You must believe’, are words that he often used. Words like, ‘Your faith has made you well, go in peace.’
Faith is difficult to obtain. Some think it is something that magically happens, a feeling, something powerful that can happened in your life.
In reality, it could be a long journey of discovery, reading, studying and discovering God’s word. This can happen not only as you read, but as you live in community with others. Hanging out with the right crowd can help, but Jesus often chose to hang out with those misfits in society.
No matter where you find your community, you can and will discover the healing power of God, through Jesus Christ because he has the power to provide you with more than you can ever imagine.
Miracles do happen. The difficulty with miracles, we spend too much time searching for them and when we look very hard, we miss what is right before our eyes.
Believe.
Messy Believers 