Jesus Said “Go Away”

My first and foremost responsibility, as a Christian, is to get my family “saved” – isn’t it?

Or is it?

Not if we follow Jesus’ example.

Very little of His ministry was done in His hometown…in fact, He was a “failure” there.

Familiarity breeds contempt.

The townspeople knew Him; had seen Him grow up. They knew His parents and His brothers and sisters.

“He was unable to do many works there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13:58)

It gets worse –

Jesus’ mom and siblings came to where He was teaching.

Why?

They thought He was nuts, and wanted to take Him home where He wouldn’t be such an embarrassment. (Mark 3:21, 31-35)

Awkward!

If Jesus was to approach salvation the way we do, He would have stayed home and tried to get His mother and siblings to believe in Him. Yet, we find that He was rarely in Nazareth. The three years of His ministry were spent everywhere but Nazareth.

He taught His disciples the same thing. In Matthew 10, He gave the twelve their ministry orders. They were to travel throughout Israel and preach, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons.

While they were gone, did Jesus just “kick it” on the shores of Galilee?

Let’s read on:

Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, that He departed from there to teach and preach in THEIR cities. Matthew 11:1

While the disciples were about the Father’s business, Jesus took care of their business at home.

Why didn’t he assign the disciples their own towns, their own families for ministry?

“A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”

(Matthew 13:57)

So, are we about the Father’s business, going wherever He sends us?

Or are we beating our heads against a wall at home, trying to save our family members?

News flash!!

We do not have the ability to save anyone.

Very often our determined “ministry” to family members only gets in Jesus’ way. After all, they’re not going to listen to us…

…they think we’re nuts!

It wasn’t until His family saw Him as the risen Lord that they believed in Him. The same is true of our family and friends. It takes an encounter with Jesus before they can see Him for who He really is. We cannot do this for them. Instead of helping, we may be standing in His way.

Let’s obey Jesus, minister to those He sends us to, and entrust our loved ones to Him.

Go away, and let Jesus do His work!

*****

Thank you, Sue, for pointing out a couple of obvious things I failed to include concerning lost loved ones:

1. Love them well

2. Pray for them whenever they come to mind