The saying was originally used by Jesus when he failed to get a welcome in his own small town of Nazareth (Luke 4:23). ‘We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own country.’
Well, Jesus could not ‘do the same’ because there was no faith in him among his own. And he gave instances from the Old Testament to show that sometimes there was greater faith outside Israel than within it.
Marshall McLuhan gave us the quote, ‘the medium is the message’ and he coined it in the last century when communication technology was becoming so developed that it was in danger of obscuring what it was actually communicating. We look at who is saying it rather than what is said. Artists often leave their work without a title and writers on the whole no longer give a title to their chapters.
They want us to find out the truth for ourselves and not be handed their (the artist’s, the writer’s) version of it. How often have we wanted to hurry to understand and then move on! Our global culture feeds into that since its advertisements are usual direct and require little thought to get the message. Are we failing to take the time to ponder?
Are we getting used to judging by appearances? To quickly dismissing the words of someone because we do not respect the person. If a prisoner comes out of prison and says, ‘I have changed. Welcome me into your community. Help me get work.’ Is our first instinct to believe him? Or have I made up my mind not to believe him before he has even finished the sentence?
Jesus met prejudice and, if we are honest, we too stoke the fires of prejudice in our time. We are conditioned not to believe each other because to lie is often convenient. So we start off doubting whether what this person is saying is the truth. And this is the same thing as saying I doubt if this person is genuine.
A child will believe anything he or she is told until it reaches the age when it joins adults in learning the art of prejudice. Perhaps that is why Jesus held up children as models to us. ‘The truth will make you free.’ We have a challenge both to speak the truth and to believe that others are speaking the truth.
Post published in: Faith