Only a Carpenter's Son

Today I am going to ask one of you to help teach the lesson. Who would like to be my helper today? (Choose a child who is well known to the other children.) Thank you, John for volunteering to be our helper today. You all know John, don't you? he may go to school with some of you. Does anyone here go to school with John? John might even be in your class. Is anyone here in the same class with John? Some of you know John pretty well. I am going to tell you some things about him and you tell me whether you believe.

• John likes the color red, Do you think that could be true? We may not know what his favorite color is, but it is certainly possible that he likes the color red.
• John likes ice cream. Do you think that could be true? Sure, what kid doesn't like ice cream?
• John likes to play sports. Could that be true? Sure it could. Many boys and girls like to play sports so it is quite possible that John does too.

Here is something you probably didn't know. John has the power to heal the sick of all their diseases. Do you think that could be true? You don't? Why not? Well, you know John and he is just an ordinary kid like you. He lives right here in the same town, you go to the same school, and play on the same soccer team. There is no way he has the power to heal sick, is there?

In the day that Jesus lived, many people had a hard time believing some of the things that they heard about him. This was especially true of the people in his home town of Nazareth. People had heard about the miracles that Jesus had done in Capernaum and they just didn't know how they could be true. After all, wasn't he Joseph's son? How could the son of a carpenter do all of the things that they had heard about?

Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

The people in the synagogue became furious. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him up on the hill on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him off of a cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

What a way to treat a hometown boy! It seems that no matter what Jesus did, he just couldn't seem to please the people in his own hometown. I wonder, if you and I had lived in Nazareth during Jesus' day, would we have treated him any better, or would we have gone along with the crowd?

Heavenly Father, even when others refuse to believe that Jesus has the power to heal and forgive, help us to remain faithful and true. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.