A Prophet without Honor

Mark 6:4(NKJV)

4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 

"Familiarity breeds contempt." Although this phrase is not divinely inspired, it does capture much of the truth of our experience. Strangely, we often tend to listen more to acquaintances than we listen to those who know us most intimately, our closest relatives or our friends. Husbands might not take the advice of their wives, but they will pay close attention to what a work acquaintance says. Wives may not listen to their husbands, but they will act on the words of people in a discussion group.

Christ experienced this reality when He visited His hometown of Nazareth. During the earthly life and ministry of our Lord and Savior, Nazareth was an irrelevant village in Galilee where no more than about five hundred people lived. Given the small size of the town, everyone would have known Jesus and His family well. This is somewhat evident in the people's reference to Jesus as "the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon". That Jesus had been a carpenter before beginning His preaching does not mean He worked exclusively with wood, as the term carpenter in the Greek can refer to someone who worked with stone as well. Probably, Jesus was a skilled woodworker and stone artisan.

Any Jewish male could teach in the synagogue, but the residents of Nazareth found Jesus' teaching, combined with the obviously supernatural signs they knew Jesus had done; they should have seen that Jesus was at least a prophet. And yet they rejected Him, for they could not conceive of how a man with no formal training could achieve such insight into the Word of God. First-century Jews did not regard manual labor as an unworthy occupation, but it was unheard of for those without formal theological education to handle the Scriptures so well. The people had no explanation for this, and so the people of Nazareth were offended by Christ. After Jesus' ascension, Peter and John would face something similar.

Acts 4:13(NKJV)

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

Jesus' teaching and the wonders He performed should have led the people to embrace Him as the  Messiah, but they rejected what they could not understand. Thus, they revealed their darkened minds. John Calvin a French theologian and pastor in the 1500’s commented, "In this miracle of a carpenter having such biblical insight they ought to have perceived the hand of God; but their ingratitude made them cover themselves with darkness." People do not fail to believe in Jesus Christ because of lack of information, but because their hearts have harden.

Even today we as Pastors, or Ministers are still being rejected by family and friends. They can’t see how this little boy that stayed in trouble can be used by God. They have a difficult time receiving a word from them, they get offended, they feel they’re being judged and all we’re doing is bringing a word from God. As a Pastor or a Minister it is extremely difficult for a family member to receive a word that God has given us for them, they much rather go through it then hear a word from God. If a man of God, even if he is a brother, a son, a father, a husband, a friend, if God is used them to give you a word receive it, pray on, don’t judge the man of God based on what you used to know about him, judge them based on what God is doing in his life.

God Bless, Israel