“1 He went away from there and came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him. 2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these things?” they said. “What is this wisdom given to Him, and how are these miracles performed by His hands? 3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren’t His sisters here with us?” So they were offended by Him.
4 Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his household.” 5 So He was not able to do any miracles there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He was amazed at their unbelief.”
Mark 6:1-6a
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People can know Jesus and not believe in Him. We see that here in Nazareth in Mark 6, and we still see it today. People will say things about Him being a ‘good teacher’ or some other nicety, they will acknowledge His influence, but they don’t want to acknowledge the truth of who He actually is or what His message means. Faith in Jesus speaks to the belief we have in Him, the trust that goes along with it and a changed life as a result.

There are going to be plenty of people on Judgment day who will say that they ‘knew’ Jesus, but never really listened to Him or bowed their knee to Him. Knowing and believing do not equate to the same thing.

The people of Nazareth knew Him well. They knew His trade, His mother, His siblings, but this teaching, the truth that He spoke…it offended them. He was an offense to them. He didn’t make sense to them because they couldn’t see Him for anything but a ‘regular’ person, a carpenter and that He could be more blew their minds. They couldn’t bridge that gap in their hearts, and so they stood unchanged.

And because of their lack of belief, they did not see the power of God moving and active in their midst.

Man’s effort will always be short reached and short lived. Trusting in God takes us beyond knowledge and into the realm of faith, belief and a surrendering of will. The Nazarenes wanted something they could wrap their heads around, and Jesus wasn’t going to fit in their mold.

Faith should take us beyond what is comfortable. It should propel us into a place where we cannot remain in control and where we must rely on God. Faith without surrender is simply ideas and knowledge, it remains ‘manageable.’ As we GoLove people, we cannot expect our faith to keep us in ‘manageable’ areas, but rather to lead us to places where trust is our only option and Jesus is our only hope.