Today’s Scripture: Mark 6:1-6 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Tyler Connoley):
Memorial Day arrives at the end of this month. It’s a day when many families get together for the first cookout of the summer season. If you’re one of those people who will be “going home” for the holiday, then you probably already know a lot of what will happen that day.
Maybe you’re looking forward to having Mom or Dad make you the foods you loved when you were a kid. Maybe you and your brother will share the same in-jokes you laugh at every time you get together, or maybe he’ll push your buttons and make you want to cry, just like he has since you were five. Maybe you’re dreading yet another conversation in which your parents will say they want to understand why you’ve made the career or life choices you have — even though they never-ever get it, no matter how much you talk about it.
For most of us, spending a holiday with our birth families is like traveling back in time. For better or for worse, we fall immediately into the same patterns we had when we were living together. We become Mom’s kid again. On Memorial Day, we pick up with our siblings exactly where we left off at Christmas.
I think this is what was happening with Jesus in today’s text. In those days, villages were like extended families. Jesus was “going home,” and even though he had become an important figure everywhere else, his family just wasn’t able to let him grow up. It’s like they were saying, “Look, little Jesus thinks he’s somebody! He goes around doing all this fancy stuff, and doesn’t remember where he came from.”
In this story, we also see the extended family of the village trying to push Jesus’ buttons by bringing up old wounds. They refer to him as “Mary’s Son.” To our modern ears, that doesn’t sound unusual. It sounds like the Apostle’s Creed: “He was born of the Virgin Mary . . .” But in the context of his town and his time, the people were calling him his mother’s son, instead of Joseph’s son, as a way of acknowledging that they weren’t quite sure who his father was. Jesus probably heard that phrase, and was reminded of kids taunting him as a child and calling him a bastard. In this context, calling him “Mary’s Son” was a subtle way of pouring salt in old wounds — something families are very good at.
Thought for the day: If you find yourself falling into old habits with your family, give yourself some grace. Even Jesus struggled with family dynamics when he went home for the holidays.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.