Despised prophets

We love celebrities. Especially when we they are from up the street, we’ve known them since they were born. We know their aunts and cousins or went to school with them. They’ve really done well for themselves. And we. Well, we have bathed in their reflected glory and let our acquaintances know of our outstanding luck in our relationships and we can pass on titbits of intimate information. Then, well, you know what happens. You can’t believe that they snubbed you when your ‘pal’ made a guest appearance at the school fair, or looked at you with disdain. What a snob. And how the mighty fall.

The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well in our neighbourhoods, towns and cities. We just love winners. But, quite surprisingly, we take a pretty unhealthy interest in their fall from grace. Alan Bond, Mark Latham, Richard Butler, Michael Jackson, Shane Warne, Peter Hollingsworth. Do they ring a bell?

Jesus tells the people in his hometown (Mark 6:1ff), ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country, among his own relations and in his own house.’ We must beware, that in holding up or putting down others, that we do not lose sight of the truth – their true gifts to us: financial wisdom, political leadership, arms reduction, popular music, sportsmanship on the field, social commentary. This does not deny their wrongdoing, only that we are all more than act of stupidity or criminality. Our neighbours’ gifts could well be companionship or friendship, laughter, encouraging support, independence, fellowship or prayerful presence.

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians exclaims, ‘to stop me getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud.” In reality it is not our job to beat up people to stop excessive pride, it is the acceptance of others. What surprised Jesus was how little his relatives really knew about him. All they could see was the outward person, not the inner person. For him it was their lack of faith – in God, in their story, in his message, but mostly, I suspect, in each other. You and I could make a difference. Believe it.