Afflicting the Comfortable

And they took offense at him. (Mark 6:3)

Of course they did. He was Jesus ben Joseph, the carpenter's son. How could they not. They knew him too well.

That's the standard way of looking at the passage- and probably right on target. But there is something really odd about what happens as a result of their taking offense at Jesus.

Jesus did hardly any healings among them. I won't go so far as to say Jesus was powerless in Nazareth, but it was sure a dark black hole that seemed to suck away all his divine healing power.

It would be tempting to say that in order for his healing to work people had to believe in him. But the Gospel narratives sure don't support that. It might be that the Devil was at work taking things away, but that isn't what we are told. Considering how willing the Gospel writers are to talk about the Devil and his campaign against Jesus my guess is that the Devil isn't to blame.

Ah, there's a hint at why we may have trouble dealing with this- blame. We want to blame someone or something for Jesus apparent lack of ability to heal in Nazareth. Blame isn't the issue, I don't believe. Rather I think some kind of spiritual law may be at work here. It may simply be that the people

• didn't see the need to be healed (esp. by one of their own)
• didn't want to be healed (esp. by one of their own) and
• may not have been able to see healing even if it happened to them.

The spiritual law may be that people have to be aware of their spiritual needs and be willing to accept them as possible before they can receive them or see them at work. I remember an old pastor friend who told a story of a member of his church. The woman had a very difficult and often fatal form of cancer. The doctors had given up, although they continued to try things to keep the woman comfortable.

Then the miracle happened. The cancer disappeared. The doctors were pleasantly stunned. They had no explanation. My friend went to visit the woman as he had been doing on a regular basis. She gave him the biggest smile.

"Isn't it great what doctors can do today?" was the first thing out of her mouth.

"God sure helped, too," said my friend."

She gave back a condescending smile as if she were talking to some naive child. "No, pastor," she said with all the confidence she had. "If it weren't for the doctors, it wouldn't have happened."

She might have fit in well in Nazareth that day. You don't know it's happening if you don't know where to look.