No Honor at Home

ALL – Psalm 39:1-13
ALL – Proverbs 10:10
OT – Leviticus 13:1-59
NT – Mark 6:1-29

Perhaps you have experienced this. Your sibling’s pretty normal. They’ve been pretty normal forever. You’re used to them. You usually don’t listen to a word they say. But then one day, they say something amazing. Or perhaps they do something amazing. Something you know you should admire and honor. But they’re your sibling. So you overlook what they’ve done. You shrug it off, ignore it, perhaps even mock your sibling a bit and say, “Oh, (s)he’s not really that great. I remember when…”

Why do we do that?

There weren’t any stories people could tell about Jesus that would actually paint Him as a “bad boy when He was young.” But perhaps He made a few mistakes in the process of trying to learn carpentry. Perhaps He messed up a few orders, perhaps He was clumsy at times, perhaps He was usually a bit dirty and wearing second- or third-hand clothing given to His family by other families whose boys outgrew the clothes of their youth. We don’t know all the reasons that people in Jesus’ hometown thought of Him as just a normal young man. But He certainly didn’t get much respect.

“He’s no better than we are,” they said. “He’s just a carpenter, Mary’s boy, and a brother of James and Joseph, Judas and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” And they were offended! – Mark 6:3, The Living Bible

When people think you’re normal, they don’t want you to act special. But Christian, you are special! You are a child of God. You have the eternal Word of God in your mouth and in your heart. You have the eternal Spirit of God living in You. And so you have something special to offer your neighbors, something that can make them special, too—something that has the power to bring them into the Family of God. You’re carrying a treasure around in you.

Just remember as you seek to share that treasure that’s in you… You don’t look like a treasure any more than Jesus did. For sure. Don’t expect people to treat you with tons of respect and appreciation. In fact, they might try to fight your claims to have the very words and Spirit of God in you. After all, you look like they do, you sound like they do, and they might even be able to outwork, outplay and out-think you. That’s ok. Just keep seeking to share that treasure. A prophet may have no honor in his hometown, but that doesn’t change the fact that, “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Cor. 4:7, NIV).

Oh, and one more thing. Let’s look at other believers as people full of God’s treasure instead of acting surprised when they come up with a good idea or an amazing insight into the Scriptures. Believers should recognize believers as people worth knowing and spending time with, people who have a close relationship with the Creator.

How have you misjudged God’s people and avoided giving them the honor they deserve?

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