All four Gospels include Jesus pointing out that prophets are generally not accepted in their hometowns. And Jesus usually has that experience. In Luke, His former neighbors get ready to kill Him after a synagogue service in which Jesus takes part. Jesus has to escape their wrath.
In John, this gets pointed out right as the Galileans accept Jesus back into Cana. Recall that Cana is where Jesus turned water into wine. Perhaps the free alcohol had something to do with Jesus' reception. Either way, it seems that Jesus is wrong about not being accepted.
As a rule, I don't walk around with the conception that Jesus was wrong about things. So I took another look at the passage. And while Jesus was accepted, Jesus was also treated with skepticism. Jesus was treated as the miracle worker who came to do some neat tricks. Jesus reveals the heart of the people- that they need to see miracles in order to have faith. In that, Jesus did not have honor in Himself, but needed to prove Himself.
And so when a royal official comes, having exhausted every method for healing his child, Jesus saw not an opportunity to prove Himself, but a child who needed healing. Jesus did not take the crowd down to watch the healing take place. Jesus did not even go for the spectacle of going with the royal official. Jesus healed the child from a distance.
I have to admit that I am a spectacle. I love things that make a spectacle out of me. It goes hand-in-hand with being a public speaker. And so, to become more like Jesus, I have to ask myself the question of when being a spectacle is important. When hanging out with friends, it may be entirely appropriate. In ministry, it is often (not always) more important to be in the background. Interesting questions to ponder, always. May we all be more like Jesus.
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