Mtr Kelli Joyce

Friends in Christ,

The Daily Office reading from Mark today contains some spoilers for this upcoming Sunday's reading from Luke. Last Sunday we heard Jesus begin to teach in the synagogue of Nazareth, his hometown, but we didn't get much sense of how people responded to him. Today's reading, while somewhat different from Luke's account, makes one thing clear - it doesn't end up going very well.

The two Gospel accounts do have one thing in common: Jesus quotes a proverb to his audience. "Prophets are not without honor, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house." This audience, unlike all other audiences to whom Jesus preaches, is made up of people who know him. They know his parents, they know his siblings, they know his story and where he comes from. Or, they think they do, at any rate.

The reading reminds me of another proverb - "The problem isn't what you know, but what you 'know' that isn't so." When we make assumptions about ourselves and others, thinking we understand, it can make it difficult for us to see truths that are right in front of us, if they contradict our existing assumptions. And when we refuse to see value and authority in people who are too young or too old or too poor or too uneducated or too female or too black or brown, we risk missing out on the gifts that God wants to give us. The scripture says that "[Jesus] could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief."

Where is God working in unexpected places in your life? What assumptions and convictions do you hold that might God be calling you to question? And how might Jesus be more than you think him to be?

Those are the questions I'm asking myself today. I invite you to ask them with me.

In peace,
Mtr. Kelli