Daily Devotional for July 29

​

July 29                                                               Mark 6:1-13

What are things like when you return home to your family?
You have changed in the months and years since you were
there last, but are the homefolks still locked in your yester-
day? This is exactly what happened to Jesus. The local boy,
now the man of Galilee, was not taken seriously by those who
had known him as a child. It does not appear that they failed
to recognize his wisdom or to marvel at his ministry of heal-
ing; it seems rather that they could not reconcile this new Jesus
with the carpenter's son whom they had known. In their minds
they had control over the carpenter's son, but this new Jesus
was another matter.

Some people would brood and become distraught at such a
situation. Jesus simply turned to the new family of God emerg-
ing around him. He did not dwell on the unbelief of his
townspeople, but at once "he went about among the villages
teaching." And he "called the twelve, and began to send them
out two by two." In other words, he forged ahead with God's
call on his energies and his life, for he had not returned home
to surrender his ministry. He used the callous reception to
expand his vision to a broader outreach to the world.

What are things like when you return home to your family?
Sometimes the homefolks will not accept our growing and
changing into our true identities. When that is the case, we
have two choices: we can revert to our childhood selves and
be accepted as children, or we can continue the process of
becoming all that God intended us to be, even at the risk of
losing family and community support.

The reward for a decision to be true to ourselves is a new fami-
ly of God, an expanded vision of ourselves and our world,
and a deeper peace. In time it becomes clear that sacrificing
our childhood identity is a price worth paying in order to have
lives in which we are truly at home with God, with ourselves,
and with others.'

     Jesus, help me to be true to God's call on my life as
  you were true to God's call on your life, even if it means
       the loss of my family's or my community's support.

​

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C