Faith in the familiar

Today: Matthew 13-14

It's really hard to have faith in the familiar.

That sentence seems kind of ironic, right? Since I know what's familiar to me, shouldn't it be easier to believe in, hope for, and trust?

Maybe. But perhaps when something or someone is too familiar, we stop seeing the reasons to believe, hope and trust.

When you have a great family, you may not see it...until you meet someone who doesn't have family at all. When you have a job, you may consider it ho-hum, stressful or a total pain in the neck...until you realize what it's like to face the stress of unemployment. And when you meet someone who is absolutely incredible, you may not realize the imprint they made on your life...until they're no longer in it.

In these chapters, there are a few places where Jesus addresses this concept. Here's one:

A lot of people,

prophets

and humble believers

among them,

would have given

anything

to see

what you are seeing,

to hear

what you are hearing,

but

never

had the chance.

Here He's addressing people who are seeing the greatness of God in flesh...but don't realize it. These people are missing history that's in front of their own faces.

There's another part of the passage I found fascinating...because some of the people seem to have a glimmer of recognition...for a moment:

"We had no idea he was this good!"...

"How did he get so wise, get such ability?"

But in the next breath

they were cutting him down:

"We've known him since he was a kid;

he's the carpenter's son.

We know his mother, Mary.

We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas.

All his sisters live here.

Who does he think he is?"

They got their noses all out of joint.

But Jesus said,

"A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family."

He didn't do many miracles

there

because

of their hostile indifference.

In this short (and sad!) passage, the phrase "hostile indifference" stood out to me. By definition, "indifference" is supposedly mild--it's not a strong word like "hate" or "contempt." But indifference can be very hostile--to Jesus, this treatment felt like a slap in the face. These are the people who should have recognized who He was--they should have been the ones who had an early, "Aha!" moment and thought, "It was Him all along!" But because they were too familiar, they rejected Him. They didn't see Him.

I think the cure for "hostile indifference" is the ability to have faith in the familiar--to recognize the greatness in what seems ordinary, to see beauty in the blah of your everyday life and to be truly grateful for the goodness in what you might normally take for granted.

Tomorrow: Matthew 15-17