⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Dear God, Jesus’ relationships with his family of origin have always been a little curious to me. Of course, there are different theories about whether Jesus was the oldest among his siblings (Mary was Joseph’s first marriage) or younger than all of his siblings (Joseph was a widower who had children from a previous marriage before he married Mary, and she remained a virgin after Jesus’ birth). I have to admit that, in this story, I kind of like the idea of Jesus being the youngest because he points out that he is not only without honor in his hometown, but “in his own home.” Having grown up in a family as the youngest, and even being in my forties now, I have always felt like everyone in the family sees me as the baby and it has been hard to feel grown up.

One of the things that is difficult to do as a parent is figure out how to let your child grow and mature into an adult and then recognize that change when it happens. On the other hand, I think that sometimes a teenager can trick us into believing they are grown up because they seem so grown up, but they still need training and guidance. It is a really hard line to find and draw.

Father, as I raise and train my children (and as my wife does as well), help us to find and draw these lines. We don’t want to disrespect the adults they are becoming, but we also don’t want to abandon them as parents and the training they need before it is time. I think I tend to draw this line on the more childish side of where the line actually is, and my wife tends to draw it on the more adult side of the actual line. So my prayer is that you will increasingly help us to draw the same line in the correct place, and then unite together as we parent both of our children for your glory’s sake.