The Little Things
Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown is a prophet without honor.
He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them.
Mark 6:4-5 (emphasis mine)
That line always gets me. “He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them.”
I don’t know about you but I count it a decent day when I do no harm and perhaps bring a smile to a face or two. I call it a good day when I’m able to give something or bless someone. I call it a great day if I can bless more than one life, give something and bring a smile to a face or two. If I could heal one person, just one, I would call that a monumentally stupendous day! If I could heal a few people…. Hmm, most likely someone would then have to revive me. But here we are in Jesus’ “hometown” and the poor guy just can’t do much of anything, oh yeah, except heal a few people.
There are myriad stories of Jesus miraculous powers. They’re in the Bible of course, but we also hear from people through other writings or personal connections about the many miracles of Jesus. Jesus is literally a walking miracle in Mark 5. In chapter 5 a woman touches his cloak (Mark 5:24-34) and to quote my son, “wa-pow” she’s healed. Jesus doesn’t even know she’s there until he feels power go to her. Keep in mind that event occurs as he’s heading to Jairus’s house to heal his daughter, let me clarify, to heal the man’s dead daughter. Oh and that journey is occurring shortly after he orders Legion, a group of nasty demons out of some poor tortured man.
If you read the account of the same day’s events in Matthew (8-9) he tells the story of a paralytic being healed as well. In fact in Matthew it goes something like this, day one, heal some leprosy, take care of a sick soldier, heal Peter’s mother-in-law, explain a few things to the guys, calm a storm, throw out some demons. Day two, heal the paralyzed guy, grab another apostle, do a little teaching, walk with Jairus to raise his daughter from death, on the way heal a woman who’s been suffering for twelve years. Then, restore sight to some blind people and speech to a mute (again by throwing out a demon) and tell the guys we need a little help getting people on the right path. When you look at it that way, healing just a “few people” maybe doesn’t seem so huge.
All lightness aside, I do understand the hometown thing. Those closest to us, the ones who knew us when, sometimes have a hard time seeing us in a new role. When we become new men and women in Christ it isn’t immediately evident to those who’ve known us forever. To the people from home, Jesus was “just a carpenter.” The idea that he was the Messiah was laughable I’m sure, to people who’d seen him in diapers and watched him learn his father’s trade. The problem was they didn’t know he was born with the ability to do his Father’s work.
Still I can’t help but smile when I read that verse. “He could not do any miracles there, except lay hands on a few people and heal them.” No miracles, a few little healings, not much to talk about. Well, oooookay. I love it because it makes Jesus so real. His nearest and dearest didn’t get him, at all. Can you relate? I can. I also love that it must have frustrated the human Jesus that they didn’t because he mentions it. “Only in his hometown is a prophet without honor.” A polite way to say, “Can you believe these morons? I’m here in their midst to give them whatever they need and they don’t even see me!” Oops, I guess Jesus really does live right around here, right here in fact with me because far too often, even with all the evidence we have, my neighbors and I don’t get it either.
He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them.
Mark 6:4-5 (emphasis mine)
That line always gets me. “He could not do any miracles there except lay hands on a few people and heal them.”
I don’t know about you but I count it a decent day when I do no harm and perhaps bring a smile to a face or two. I call it a good day when I’m able to give something or bless someone. I call it a great day if I can bless more than one life, give something and bring a smile to a face or two. If I could heal one person, just one, I would call that a monumentally stupendous day! If I could heal a few people…. Hmm, most likely someone would then have to revive me. But here we are in Jesus’ “hometown” and the poor guy just can’t do much of anything, oh yeah, except heal a few people.
There are myriad stories of Jesus miraculous powers. They’re in the Bible of course, but we also hear from people through other writings or personal connections about the many miracles of Jesus. Jesus is literally a walking miracle in Mark 5. In chapter 5 a woman touches his cloak (Mark 5:24-34) and to quote my son, “wa-pow” she’s healed. Jesus doesn’t even know she’s there until he feels power go to her. Keep in mind that event occurs as he’s heading to Jairus’s house to heal his daughter, let me clarify, to heal the man’s dead daughter. Oh and that journey is occurring shortly after he orders Legion, a group of nasty demons out of some poor tortured man.
If you read the account of the same day’s events in Matthew (8-9) he tells the story of a paralytic being healed as well. In fact in Matthew it goes something like this, day one, heal some leprosy, take care of a sick soldier, heal Peter’s mother-in-law, explain a few things to the guys, calm a storm, throw out some demons. Day two, heal the paralyzed guy, grab another apostle, do a little teaching, walk with Jairus to raise his daughter from death, on the way heal a woman who’s been suffering for twelve years. Then, restore sight to some blind people and speech to a mute (again by throwing out a demon) and tell the guys we need a little help getting people on the right path. When you look at it that way, healing just a “few people” maybe doesn’t seem so huge.
All lightness aside, I do understand the hometown thing. Those closest to us, the ones who knew us when, sometimes have a hard time seeing us in a new role. When we become new men and women in Christ it isn’t immediately evident to those who’ve known us forever. To the people from home, Jesus was “just a carpenter.” The idea that he was the Messiah was laughable I’m sure, to people who’d seen him in diapers and watched him learn his father’s trade. The problem was they didn’t know he was born with the ability to do his Father’s work.
Still I can’t help but smile when I read that verse. “He could not do any miracles there, except lay hands on a few people and heal them.” No miracles, a few little healings, not much to talk about. Well, oooookay. I love it because it makes Jesus so real. His nearest and dearest didn’t get him, at all. Can you relate? I can. I also love that it must have frustrated the human Jesus that they didn’t because he mentions it. “Only in his hometown is a prophet without honor.” A polite way to say, “Can you believe these morons? I’m here in their midst to give them whatever they need and they don’t even see me!” Oops, I guess Jesus really does live right around here, right here in fact with me because far too often, even with all the evidence we have, my neighbors and I don’t get it either.
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