Why don't we know him?

Our office devotional today was based on selected passages from Mark 6.  It's a jam-packed chapter, with the rejection of Jesus in Nazareth, the sending out of the Disciples 2x2, the death of John the Baptist, the Feeding of the 5000, Jesus walking on water, and a healing story.  Througout the passages, Jesus is alternatively accepted and rejected.

Those who think they know him best -- the members of his home town -- reject him.  The disciples, as he walks on water, don't know him.  There is a message in that for us.

What else is there?  Does it also say to us that our expectations -- our preconceptions -- can become a barrier to knowing the truth?  Are there times when we won't except what is most obvious because it is not what we expected?  Planned?  Hoped for?

Are we willing to drop our expectations when we are desperate?  In need of healing?

Or could it be that when we need Christ the most, we are the most willing to be hopeful?  The most desperate for hope?

The clipart in today's post is from Hermanoleon.  Great source for images.