In “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy famously said, “There’s no place like home.” Returning to the place you grew up after being gone for years is often a happy experience, with fond memories and reunions with old friends as you visit familiar sites and reminisce. For many, returning home after a long absence is a joy and a relief. Sometimes we forget that Jesus had a childhood home and a hometown that He grew up in. Though little is recorded of it, the first thirty years of
His life were spent primarily in one small town called Nazareth. But when, in Mark 6:1-7, Jesus returned to His hometown to do for them as He had done for so many others, the reception they gave Him was anything but warm and friendly. Their rejection of Jesus limited His ministry to that community. “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.” (Mark 6:5-6) Perhaps the old adage “familiarity breeds contempt” explains why they did not believe on Jesus. Jesus was not a new and exciting figure to them like in other towns. Their rejection of Jesus resulted in their missing out on miracles and blessings because they would not believe. We can limit God by doubting. We do not limit His actual power, but we limit what He will do in our life, just like the Israelites when they doubted God in the wilderness. They “limited the Holy One of Israel.” (Psalm 78:41) Don’t limit the work of God in your life, and don’t let familiarity with God erode your faith in God.