Jesus and Nazareth are inseparable. Jesus spent most of his life in Nazareth. The prophets had said, “Will he be called Nazarene? (Matthew 2:23). History will remind Jesus of Nazareth. Even demons called them that (Luke 4:34).
That is why this verse is one of the saddest in the Bible:
And he did not do many wonders there [in Nazareth], because of his disbelief (Matthew 13:58).
It is a great irony that the pride of Nazareth was rejected by the Nazarene because of pride.
Joseph’s son, the carpenter, thinks he’s a prophet!Well, we know his family and they’re very respectable people, but I know he didn’t really get any religious education. Where do you really think you’re an important person?
They were deeply offended (Matthew 13:57). Because he was one of them, so if he thought he was superior to them, he’d better think twice. Jesus knew that familiarity gives rise to the pride of disdain: “Is there no prophet without honor, except in your country?And at home? (Matthew 13:57).
Think about how much that pride has cost the people of Nazareth: once he had walked the streets, attended his weddings, worshipped in his synagogue, played with some of them as a child and perhaps had built some of his houses or furniture, he could not be so eminent and powerful, so they were denied the formidable and merciful power of the Messiah.
This should provoke God’s fear in us. Pride has the incredible power to blind our eyes and numb our hearts. And there are things God won’t do for us if we’re proud. Is it possible that you miss something out of pride?
“God resists the proud, but gives thanks to the humble?(James 4: 6). We must fear pride more than cancer. Cancer does not deprive us of God’s grace, but pride does.
May this be our prayer today: “Look at me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts. And see if there is a wrong way in me, and lead me on the eternal path” (Ps 139: Anyway, Father, teach me to walk humbly with you, in the name of my humble servant Saviour, Jesus, amen.
Translation: voltemosaoevangelho. com
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