Monday 28 May 2007

And He went about the villages teaching

“And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.” - Mark 6v6

We would think that Jesus being God would be a success at everything He did. Surely His teaching would always work and people would always be moved to respond. He was the Master Teacher after all - everyone was going to listen.

However, when we see Jesus coming home we see that people there were not so quick to believe. In a way this really makes sense. They, after all, had seen Him grow up. They knew Him as the carpenter’s son. Many had seen Him play in the streets as a child. They knew His family after all. How could Jesus be Messiah?

Somehow, because of their unbelief, His work was limited there. He marvelled at their unbelief (now that alone is amazing, how the omniscient God could ever marvel at anything). Now, if we are trying to serve God and no one is believing, and little is being done we might be tempted to say, “What’s the use, I am going to shake the dust off my feet and go on my way. I’m tired of nothing happening.” If we did that, no one would blame us.

What did Jesus do? In the very next sentence we read that “He went about the villages teaching.” He still kept going to the villages of His home region teaching them. They did not believe, but He kept teaching. He kept on “keeping on.” How can I do any less?

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