Because of their Unbelief...the Wayfarer 10/19/14

Because of their Unbelief
10/19/14

“And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence.

And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

And his sisters, are they not with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?

And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house.

And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”

(Matthew 13: 53-58)

Jesus was a wayfarer! 

 He was a wanderer and a stranger in many places, and found as does any wayfarer that the place he is most alien is in his own country, in his own home.

After having delivered the message of redemption through repentance to a great number of people, (scripture calls them a multitude), many of which were receptive to the way that he taught, though few, including his own disciples, comprehended the true message being delivered, until given its meaning by him, he chose to go where he came from…Home, if you will.

Instead of welcome and appreciation for this one of their own, he faced derision and contempt from those who thought they knew him better than he knew himself.

He taught them willingly, lovingly, longingly and hopefully, as well as forcefully with authority.

This angered those who knew his background and family who considered him just another local boy gone uppity, and trying to get above his raising and station in life… as they saw it to be.

They assumed that he could not possibly be as wise and perceptive and gifted as he was, that he could not be who he claimed to be, because they knew his father, his mother, his brothers and his sisters.

They attempted to pass judgment based solely on what little they knew of his lineage, and what was known about the family they thought to be equally as uninformed, uneducated, powerless as they, themselves.

This, in turn, engendered unbelief in what he taught.

All that could have been given was lost to them because of that unbelief.

A requirement exists for belief, if miracles and great works are to occur.

 It existed then, and it exists now.

Judgment based on hearsay, and on nothing concrete is, as it was then, bad judgment.

It remains extant, and is most prolific in the same place it was found by the Son of God… in our own country, in our own homes.

Jesus chose not to waste his time, or God’s favor on a people that could not believe in Him, simply because of false perception.

Jesus was a wayfarer.

The requirement for belief continues, Belief in Him, who He is, what He has done, what He can and will do.

Without that belief, the greatest miracle of all, the restoration given through redemption  that grants eternal life to the believer is impossible.

It is unbelief that condemns  the unbeliever to an eternity in separation from the love and life that was brought by Christ,

It is belief that allows repentance to be given  opening a door to eternity in the presence of God.

John 3:16-21 King James Version (KJV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

²⁰ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

²¹ But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

That belief demands rebirth, rebirth of the entire thought process, the entire being of the one seeking eternal life.

Without that belief, the rebirth offered, the redemption offered, the life offered is impossible to attain.

Belief only comes through having been exposed to the TRUTH.

Belief opens the Way to the LIFE  promised  by the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus, which is Proof of the promise of our own resurrection.

The way of unbelief in Christ is the way of belief in man and the lie given him by the serpent in the garden of Eden where a choice was made whom to believe, God, or that selfsame serpent that would deny the reward promised by the Creator. 

The WAY of belief is the TRUTH of Christ Jesus and the LIFE given us freely by HIM in return for the repentance that comes only through that belief.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer