The home town crowd is
astounded at Jesus’ teachings and deeds of power. Jesus is astounded that it
doesn’t make a difference.To the town-folk he is still the simple carpenter, the son of Mary, even if
he can cast out demons and heal the sick and speak with wisdom which defies
explanation. To be fair Jesus is asking neighbors and relatives to suspend
logic and move beyond anything they could imagine about him. That is the
difference between knowing and believing. They can see that there is something
different about him and even name it but they cannot (or will not) believe he
is more than the Jesus they have always known. That is what happens to the
twelve sent out two by two as well. Called and commissioned to proclaim “the
kingdom come” they do the things that Jesus does, casting out demons, healing
the sick and preaching the Jesus sermon. “The kingdom of God has come near.
Repent and believe the good news.” And they receive the same reception as Jesus
does. Aren’t you James and John, the fishermen, the sons of Zebedee? There is
no indication that Jesus did any dust shaking when rejected so perhaps the
instruction to shake the dust off their sandals has as much to do with the
disciples not being discouraged as it does with the house that will not welcome them.
But like the disciples sent out the message received is meant to move one from
knowing to believing to doing. We might know a thing or two about Jesus and be
able to recite the tenants of the faith as described in creeds and catechisms.
Faith calls us to move beyond what we know in order to believe what cannot be
known. Or in other words what you know becomes who you
are and who you are becomes what you do and what you do looks more like the Jesus
you know.
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