Too-Familiar Jesus (revised)

You can find the video recording of this message at https://youtu.be/apuFIFZfl48

Or you can read the edited message below.

Mark records in the 5th chapter of his gospel several miracles of the Lord Jesus, such as His healing of the demoniac living among the tombs, the raising of Jairus’ daughter from death, and the healing of the woman who’d had a hemorrhage for twelve years.

Chapter six starts out telling us Jesus and His disciples then returned to His hometown of Nazareth – the town where the Lord grew up:

“The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” (Mark 6:2-6, NLT)

Of all places, Nazareth should have been the town where people flocked around Jesus. After all, it was the place He'd grown up -- the place His mother and family still lived. Yet, the Lord couldn't perform miracles there because His former neighbors thought they knew Him. Jesus is simply a carpenter, the son of Mary who lives down the street.

Like Jesus' neighbors and childhood friends, perhaps a reason we rarely see God's power in our lives is because the Jesus we grew up with is too familiar. Many of us have known about Him ever since we were in the cradle. We know the stories and the things He taught. We know about His mother and father. We know about His friends and disciples.

And so it is possible that our knowledge of Jesus can lull us into familiarity. Familiarity can dull us into complacency. And complacency can harden us to His ability to miraculously live out His life within us.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45-46). And the familiarity-complacency cycle can only be broken when we decide to seek the Pearl as if He is unreservedly the most important thing in our life.

But how do we do that? How do we seek Jesus as if He is unreservedly the most important thing in our life? I will answer that question by saying something both shocking, and theologically sound.

We cannot of our own and within ourselves seek Him at all – and much less with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Being able to seek Jesus in the first place is a supernatural experience given to us only by and through God’s grace alone. Like being born again, only God can give life to the dead.

Listen, we can know all kinds of facts ABOUT Jesus. But that is not the same as actually KNOWING Jesus. That’s why the great apostle Paul repeatedly cried out in his epistles, “[Oh,] that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” (Philippians 3:10) 

Paul told the Ephesians that he prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. (Ephesians 1:17-19)

Don’t you see? Our ability to KNOW Jesus is rooted in the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit alone. On and on we could move from one end of the Bible to the other demonstrating the utter hopelessness of KNOWING Jesus with our own wisdom and intelligence. No wonder He so often becomes a mundane addition to the Christian’s life relegated to Sundays, and perhaps a quick prayer over meals.

Let me reiterate to emphasize the point: To unreservedly seek the Lord can only begin with the supernatural work of God’s grace to awaken us to our spiritual need. Then WE must take the first baby steps toward Him. Here is what God tells us through Isaiah the prophet: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6-7) 

Has God ever awakened you to the recognition of your need for His mercy? If not, you need to beg God to do so.  And if you have seen and routinely repented of your sins, here is what you can do to avoid becoming complacent over time in your life with Christ:

First: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts.”  If we are unwilling to repent of what God calls our wickedness, our sins, our rebellions – then we should not expect to ever know Jesus better. It simply isn't possible.

The psalmist wrote: If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear [me] (Psalm 66:18).  St. Paul tells us: Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows is what he will reap. If we so to the flesh we will reap corruption. If we sow to the spirit, we will reap eternal life (Gal  6:7-8)

So, if we really want to know Jesus better – not just know ABOUT Him – then the first thing we must do is repent and turn from of every sin the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance.

And we need to learn to pray – to communicate with God much better than we now communicate with Him. I’m talking here of an intimate, one on one relationship with our God, creator, and savior.

Oh, that the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts with a love for communicating with our Father in heaven as Jesus loved to communicate with Him. Or as the psalmist loved to communicate. Or as Mary, the mother of our Lord, or saints Paul and Peter, or Augustine, or Francis of Assisi, or Charles Wesley, or John Hyde – known as ‘praying Hyde’, or George Muller, or Mother Theresa, or any of the thousands of Christian men and women throughout church history who learned to love to communicate with the Father. Oh! That the Holy Spirit would awaken in each of us a passion for prayer.

Another thing we must do to avoid complacency and a ho-hum boredom in our relationship with Jesus is to consistently read the Bible. St. Peter tells us in his first epistle: “[L]ike newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation”  (1 Peter 2:2) God’s word is food. It is drink. It is life-giving and soul-cleansing. Study God’s word. Memorize it.

Now before some of tune me out, answer for me this question: What did you have for dinner two nights ago? Unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or other celebration, you might be hard-pressed to remember.  But what about three nights ago? Or last week? Ten days ago?

Some of you are asking what that has to do with reading the Bible? Well, if we so easily forget what we ate a few days ago that gives us physical nourishment, how much easier is it to forget what gave us spiritual nourishment if it’s been days or even weeks since we last feasted on spiritual food in the Bible?

Martin Luther said, “We need to hear the gospel every day because we forget it every day.” That means in simple terms, unless we remind ourselves every day of the razor-sharp truths of Scripture, those truths will – whether in a short or a long time – those truths will lose their sharp edge, they will be dulled by the culture in which we live until the unthinkable happens to us – that we begin to call evil ‘good’ and darkness ‘light.’

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says this about Scripture: The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” (paragraph 133)

St. Paul wrote: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NLT).

I’ve spoken of this many times before, and I have no hesitation to repeat myself: Did you know if you read an average of three chapters of the Old Testament every day and only two chapters of the New Testament every day, you will read the Old Testament ONCE every year and the New Testament THREE TIMES every year?  Reading three chapters of the Old Testament is not as arduous a task as some might think. Many chapters – for example, in the psalms – are less than a dozen verses long. Most chapters in the rest of the Old Testament books are less than two dozen verses long. The same is true about the length of most of the chapters in the New Testament.

So, to summarize what I have shared in this message about avoiding complacency in our relationship with Christ, we need to first recognize a vibrant relationship with Him begins first with a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, followed by our ongoing repentance and turning from sin.

Then we must establish a routine of prayer during which we COMMUNICATE with the Father – not just talking at Him, but also LISTENING to Him. And we must develop a habit of reading the Bible.

And finally, for the sake of time I will be very brief, if you’re a Catholic, frequently receive the sacraments – particularly the sacrament of confession and of the Eucharist. Receive them in humility and purposely focused on what you’re are doing.

We all make time to do the things we think are important. If we think it’s important to KNOW God, and not just know ABOUT God, we will change what needs to be changed in our lives. 

There aren’t any shortcuts to knowing Jesus. Knowing Him takes time and effort. And it is not too late to start today – for the first time or to renew your determination – to make Jesus that pearl of great price.