Jump Start # 1441

Mark 6:4 “Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.’”

  Our verse today is a rather obscure statement made by the Lord. It sounds as it is a quotation from Proverbs, but it is not. It most likely was a common statement that was as true then as it is today. The setting has Jesus returning home. A lot has happened since He left.

Just following Mark’s Gospel, Jesus has preached, appointed apostles, healed a crippled. He also has cast out the demons into the hogs, which jumped off a cliff. He resurrected a twelve year old girl. He healed a woman who had the issue of blood. He had taught parables. John tells us that the first of His signs was turning water into wine. That was done at a wedding feast. We add that to his resume. Jesus has been busy. Crowds gather when He enters villages. Many crippled people are brought to Him so He could heal them. His popularity and fame has been spreading. No one has ever seen anything like this before.

And now Jesus returns home. On the Sabbath day, He is in the synagogue teaching. He probably spent a lot of time in that synagogue. There are no banners welcoming Him back home. There is no parade lined up. There isn’t a banquet scheduled. The local officials do not have a speech planned to introduce Him. Nothing. As He is teaching, those listening begin to question. It’s not what He is saying, it’s who He is. They wonder where He got this authority from. They remind each other that He is the carpenter. Many probably had purchased some of the things that He had made. They knew His mother and brothers and sisters. Instead of feeling pride for a hometown boy that seems to be doing well, they took offense at Him. Mark goes on to tell us that Jesus could do no miracles there except healing a few sick people. It is in this atmosphere that our verse is found. A prophet receives honor everywhere but at home.

It’s the hometown folks that remembered the kid who grew up. It was the hometown people that had kids the same age. Schooled together, played together and now one seems so different. The hometown people have a hard time with that.

We do not have modern prophets today, but there is still some principles that are true from the statement of Jesus. The thrust of this statement of the Lord is not upon the prophet. The prophet didn’t do anything wrong. The emphasis is upon the hometown folks. Those at home have not allowed this person to change. They still seem him as the kid. They have a hard time with the kid telling them what is right and what they ought to do. Preachers can experience that. Returning to the congregation that they grew up in can be hard.  I met a man recently who remembered me when I first started preaching. That wasn’t an encouraging thought for me. I told him that I had hoped that he would have forgotten those things. Most preachers are pretty rough starting out. They stumble along for a while until they become polished and find their own style. It takes a while. Often it’s that home congregation where they get their first time behind the pulpit. Some will never let go of those first times and will always see him that way. It’s hard for some to return back home.

But there is a greater lesson than just honoring the hometown boy. There is the lesson in allowing a person to change. Some don’t do that. Maybe there was a view held along time ago. Maybe there was something that was said but it wasn’t thought out, a long time ago. Today, those thoughts, views and statements would never be said. Today, the person has grown, learned and changed. But some won’t allow that. They will forever peg this guy as one who said this, believed that, or pushed for that idea. Allow folks to change. Allow folks to grow. Allow folks to learn. We’d want the same for us.

Honoring the prophet…what was Jesus wanting? Was He wanting a banquet in His honor? Was He wanting gifts and money? Was He wanting a parade down Main Street? No. Those things are all vain. What Jesus wanted was open hearts. He wanted people to listen to Him. He wanted them to see who He really was. He wasn’t the hometown boy returning. He was God on earth. He wasn’t made by them. There are folks who like to claim that after someone has done well. What Jesus wanted was disciples. He wanted those to see who He really was. They couldn’t move past the carpenter. They couldn’t see past the little boy raised by Mary. They saw Jesus as one of them. He’s just like us. No, that wasn’t true. He was not like them at all. He was holy. He was sinless. He kept God’s law perfectly. They couldn’t say that.

So a couple of application points for us:

Maybe someone leaves the congregation a rebel. Maybe he wasn’t strong spiritually and maybe he made some major mistakes in his life. Maybe his college years were filled with drinking and running around. Maybe there was an arrest. He leaves the area. He grows up spiritually. He becomes responsible, dependable, and useful in the kingdom. A job brings him back home. And now, here he is. Some of the first things people will say, “I remember how you were in college.” That’s not a statement that will encourage. That’s a brand that will forever mark him. Give him a new chance. See him as he is, not as he was. Allow grace and forgiveness.  In some situations, the move back home is not pleasant. Folks at the home church will not use him. They will not accept him. They have not allowed him to change. He will always be that rebel. In other places, this man would be placed in the position of a shepherd among God’s people. But not here. He is left in the shadows, unused, not trusted, still the kid who caused trouble. Shame on us for treating anyone like that, especially one of our own. Allow folks to change.

Another application: a young man decides to preach. His first places to preach are at the home congregation. Rough. Unpolished. Needing work. That’s how most remember him. Now decades later, he returns home. He’s been preaching everywhere for a long, long time. The hometown folks still remember him as rough and unpolished. They have to remind him of that, as if he doesn’t remember. They poke jokes about him. They tease him. What they don’t do is listen. They don’t see him as one who can help them. They don’t appreciate what he has become. Again, shame on us for that. Recently I got to go and hear my son preach. Usually I have to listen to him on the internet. We are not in the same area. When he first started preaching, it was like watching your kid pitch baseball. You are nervous. You hope he does this right and that right. I would analyze his sermons. I worried about time. I wondered about his illustrations. I hoped he would use this verse or say that. But the other day when I heard him, I was amazed. He’s so good. Now I have folks saying to me often, he’s so much better than you were at that age. They are right. They need to stop comparing us. I listened. I learned. He is an amazing preacher.

The prophet can have honor in his hometown, if folks will allow it. It’s not the prophet, it’s the hometown folks. That’s where the issue lies.

Can you see some areas where you can use this? Does this help you with folks you have known for a long time? Give them a chance. Open your eyes and your heart, they may be the very ones who can help you the most.

Roger