Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
[John 6:41-45 NRSV]
Growing up in the church I thought that I knew all about God and religion. Then in my mid-twenties I began to realize how little I knew of the bible and Jesus Christ. I was confronted with the fact that faith was more about a relationship than a religion. Such is the quandary that man young people find themselves in. Familiarity is not the same as knowledge.
Such is the case of those who saw Jesus grow up in Nazareth. They believed that Joseph, not God, was his father. So it was difficult for them to accept the idea that he was from heaven. Yet there were some among them who got past this. Some of these were allowing themselves to be drawn by the Father. Some were allowing their hearts and not their heads to lead them. Some had both heard and learned the truth about who Jesus really was. These things are true even today.
Help us Lord to not allow familiarity to keep us from being drawn to you. Give us a heart to trust you today.
... this devotion is part of an ongoing series on the Gospel of John.
Amen. Only trust Him.
ReplyDeleteI guess this is why a prophet has no honor in his own hometown and among his own kin. What a shame...but I suppose it is human nature. Yet we have not been called to be mere mortal men but rather the sons and daughters of God.
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