Everybody But Nazareth

Mark 6

I wonder what they thought of their hometown boy in Nazareth later on. 

I realize there wasn't Twitter or even a pony express, but Jesus sent his disciples in every direction without a second cloak on their back right after his disappointing reception in his hometown, and after that, everywhere he went they swarmed out to touch the hem of his cloak (like the lady in chapter 5).

Even when he wonders to as deserted a place as he can find, the most famous crowd flocks to him -- 5,000 waiting to be fed.

My point is that it's not a secret that Jesus is a big deal.  Not for very long.  Would that have made it easier in Nazareth?  We don't hear about him visiting again, but perhaps for that long list of relatives Jesus has there?

And I wonder, if not, if it still hurts that Nazareth can't catch on.  That they have a stumbling block in their way.  Because that's what a hometown should mean, right?  Similar to what a family means.  The rest of the world can love you to pieces, everyone else can see what's right about you, but deep down what matters most is that the people who raised you understand.

Half of the stories we tell these days are the protagonists who can't find proper success because they didn't have that foundation of love and belief -- of trust.  Perhaps it's part of our culture (there seem to have been a LOT of absentee or terrible fathers in the previous couple of generations, just based on the prevalence of those stories) or perhaps it's part of human nature.

And Jesus can understand.  When it DOES matter that this one person isn't a fan, that this one place won't welcome you...because that was the person and place that were supposed to be home.  Feeding the 5,000 sometimes matters less than one a couple hundred think.

Not to the world, but to you.

I don't know if this is really how Jesus felt, but I like the idea that He could understand that about us.  I see it in others more than I feel it in myself, but it's everywhere, and I'm glad that Jesus knows the pain so he can help them.