Familiarity breeds contempt
Day 293, Saturday, May 31
Mark 6:1-29
When Jesus preaches in his hometown, the reaction is mixed. Many who heard him, we are told, were amazed.
Others, though, were offended at his teaching, unable to respect this man they thought they knew so well. Isn’t his family still with us, they asked.
And Jesus responded, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” They were unable to believe that this man who had grown up among them and was one of them was also the son of God.
The more current expression for this is “familiarity breeds contempt.”
You can see that in action in many things, whether its a lower opinion of one’s own hometown, or the tendency to magnify the failings of those closest to us or the refusal to recognize our own strengths and gifts.
Today’s reading also has accounts of two pivotal events in Jesus’s life: sending out the twelve two-by-two, and the death of John the Baptist.
Sending out the twelve in pairs with authority over impure spirits is their first taste of what it will be like ministering in the name of Jesus without Jesus being present—something they will devote their lives to after his death.
The death of John the Baptist is also a hint of things to come as it brings out the seriousness of the opposition to Jesus’s message and ministry, and the danger he and the apostles face.

Saturday meditation

Proverbs 29:7-8
The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.
Mockers stir up a city, but the wise turn away anger.

Prayer focus
Let us see the God-given wisdom and ability in those closest to us and not be distracted by over-familiarity. Give us eyes, too, to see the wisdom and ability you have given each of us.

-Mark Fleming