When this Pastor I mentioned earlier got out of jail and started a church in the area we are both from, it was very much the same kind of response that Jesus had received in Nazereth. In fact, people were just as cruel about the members of this pastor's congregation as the Pharisees were in their judgment of Jesus's disciples. Some people who knew the pastor before he was saved were convinced that it was all show and doubted his sincerity when he claimed he was a changed man. They talk badly about him and his past, throwing out as much of his dirty laundry as they can to discredit him and denying that any change could have possibly taken place 'in such a person.' Most of the people I know who said these things or things like this about him claimed to be Christians, and one of them was also a Pastor.
As Christians we are supposed to reflect Christ, and we are told about the transforming effect of a relationship with God, how it can change people's lives and we even celebrate it when we hear stories about people turning their lives around because of Christ, except in some cases when we know them and their past. In those cases we are all too often like the people of Nazareth. We see only what we know or are familiar with about the person, and deny what God has done in them and is doing through them. I know this isn't always true, but I'm sure if you think about it there have times when people said they had changed or you saw a change in someone that you had previously viewed as someone who committed bad actions and did react this way, I know I have, and I am now on the side experiencing how people will turn away from you or deny the change in your heart and character.
I used the comparison of Christ returning to Nazareth for this post because of how the people he had known before he started his ministry reacted to him, in Mark 6:2-3, we see that when they saw Jesus all they saw was the carpenter they knew, the brother of local men and women, and the son of Mary. A few verses later (Mark 6:5-6) it's written that due to their lack of faith Christ was unable to preform miracles among them except for a few healings. Their preconception of who Jesus was limited what he was able to do among them, and they missed out on an opportunity to see God working among them. Having gone to several different church services run by the previously mentioned pastor, and talking with him on a few occasions I found myself wondering, are those people who are focused on his past, on who he was and what God has already forgotten, are they missing an opportunity to see God's greatness as he uses this pastor to reach out to others who have walked the same crooked path that he used to walk? Sometimes we are the people of Nazareth, looking so much at who a person used to be, we miss who God really created them to be, who they really are. Keep an open mind when you hear these things, don't let someone's past decide how you feel about them in them present, leave room foe God's grace, God can change anyone, including you.
Mark 6:1-6
1 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
“Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What’s this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
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