Do you struggle to give credit for a major accomplishment to someone you knew as a child? Do you remember when they were running around on the playground and find it hard to believe they have risen to the top? Are you willing to listen to them? Will you follow their lead?
Seeing someone grow up from a small child into an adult is wonderful. Especially when it is our children. Yet, we sometimes we find it hard to believe a person we knew as a child has achieved national recognition. We remember their youthful foibles. We still see them as a child.
The Jewish leadership in Capernaum felt the same way about Jesus. He claimed to have come down from heaven, yet they knew Him as a child in Nazareth. They knew His mother and father. They are incredulous that He claimed to have come down from heaven and to be the bread of life. He had compared Himself to the manna God had provided in the desert.
Though Jesus was right in making the statements He made, the Jewish leaders cast doubt among the people. They reminded them that Jesus had worked beside Joseph as a builder. He was a common laborer like so many of them. How could He have come down from heaven? They knew both Mary and Jospeh’s heritage. They were not of a priestly class. They were not from a leadership family.
There are many people today who make the same assumptions. They do not believe in angels nor the immaculate inception. They view Jesus as just another person. Maybe He was a great teacher, but nothing more. They lump Him in with other teachers and state that His teachings are outdated. There have been new scientific discoveries and people cling to them. They use our limited human rationalization to cast doubt on Jesus’ claims.
Tomorrow, we take a closer look at Jesus claim.
I pray we all recognize foolish rhetoric. I pray we see through the false rationalization. I pray each one of us will take Jesus at His word and believe He is who He claims to be. Give credit where credit is due. See through false assumptions. Believe Jesus. Believe in Jesus.
John 6:41-42 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
Marty Pressey 