“Familiarity breeds contempt.” Maybe you’ve heard that saying, and it was certainly true of the way the people of Nazareth thought about Jesus. Because they knew so many things about Him – His education, His family connections, and His profession – they thought they really knew Him. But because they refused to believe that their hometown boy could possibly be the promised Messiah, they were scandalized by His teachings, and they missed out on the greatest of His miracles.

Could the same thing be true of us modern-day Christians? Oh, we know a lot about Jesus. We claim to believe that He is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But do we ever catch ourselves dismissing the clear teachings of Scripture because of what we think we know about Jesus?

For example, we all know that Jesus loves us enough to die for us. But it’s all too easy to assume that He therefore wants us to be prosperous and happy in this present world. So, what do we do with His insistence that following Him requires us to deny ourselves and take up our own cross (Mark 8:34)? What do we do with His statement that the Christian life is not about getting what we want but about self-sacrificial service to others (Mark 10:42-45)?

More specifically, if we are no longer fulfilled in our marriage, how committed are we to working on our relationship for the good of our husband or wife? After all, Jesus said that what “God has joined together let no man separate” (Mark 10:9). Or in our quest for worldly wealth, how seriously do we take Jesus’ warning that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:25)?

Yes, just like His hometown folks, we Christians think we know a lot about Jesus. But if we allow our preconceived notions about Him to override the clear teachings of His Word, if we dismiss what He says because it scandalizes our selfish desires, well, why should we expect Him to display His power for us any more than He did for the people of Nazareth?

Mark 6:1-6 (NASB)

And He went out from there, and He came into His home town; and His disciples followed Him.
2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?
3 “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.
4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his home town and among his own relatives and in his own household.”
5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands upon a few sick people and healed them.
6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.