(Audio)
Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter's son?
We exempt ourselves from shared culpability with the people of Jesus's native place. We know that Jesus is the Son of God, or we imagine that we know it. We know that he possesses wisdom and mighty deeds. Yet when Jesus enters into our hearts as he does into their synagogue and begins to teach us do we not look for excuses just as they do? He tells us to be perfect as his Heavenly Father is perfect. Rather than seeking the grace to do it his way, we excuse ourselves because we can't do it our way with our own strength. We were used to the way things were and are reluctant to listen when he calls us deeper. There was a certain level to which we were comfortable relying on grace. But when he calls us higher we resist.
The risk of familiarity is just this: that we no longer listen to the new thing Jesus is doing. This, perhaps, is why God chooses to sanctify time with special feasts. These feasts make unique graces available to us. In the case of Christians they call us to enter more and more deeply into specific aspects of the life of Jesus.
These are the festivals of the LORD which you shall celebrate
at their proper time with a sacred assembly.
The feasts (including the weekly celebration of the resurrection on Sunday) remind us of what God has done, call us to be attentive to what he is doing now, and give us good grounds to hope in his plans for the future.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our solemn feast.
When we don't let faith backslide into familiarity Jesus is free to work mighty deeds in our midst. He wants to do so. Let us open wide our hearts to Christ!
Sing with joy to God our help.
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