7-July-24 (Mark 6:1-13)

Sometimes the people who are hardest to convince that you're growing up are the ones who have known you since you were little. That's some of the problem Jesus had in our gospel story for today.
He had come back to his home town and the people there expected him to go right on being Mary and Joseph's son, working in the carpenter shop.
It's kind of odd. These are the same people who watched Jesus grow up. They had seen him asking hard questions to the Rabbis. They had seen him grow wiser. They thought they knew him already. They couldn't stop thinking of him as that little boy and let him be the teacher that was now asking them some hard questions. And they certainly didn't want him to challenge them.
Sometimes we, especially those of us who have grown up in the Church can act like that too. We can think that we already know all we need to know about Jesus. We can think that we don't have to think again when we hear a story we've heard before.
But we have to. Because we're human and we don't understand everything right away the first time. Sometimes we have to rethink things, especially those things we think we know already.
So let's remember to let Jesus and our understanding of him grow up. Let's let Jesus challenge us and help us to think and act in new and better ways.
Let's talk to God about that.
God, we thank you that you gave us Jesus to show us your love and how to live a life serving you and others. Help us not to think that we already know all there of what you have to teach us. Help us to find new ways to think and to act as we learn from you.
We pray in Jesus' name. AMEN.