Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Mark 5:17; 6:1-6
From the Sermon Series: “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America”
Sermon point: From a human perspective the adage “Familiarity breeds contempt” has some truth to it. However, from a divine perspective, God is fully familiar with us and loves us with an everlasting love. And the more fully we know God the more fully we can love Him too.
We are in the final stages of our sermon series, “Ten Cultural Myths that Drive America.” It is taken from the first six chapters of Mark. We discovered that Jesus’ worldview goes against the grain of much in mainstream America. We are highlighting different slogans or aphorisms that are imbedded into the American psyche. They reinforce our cultural philosophies. Specifically we have looked at:
• Might Makes Right (Mark 1:1-12) –we saw Christ’s counter-cultural ethic of serving humanity rather than working from a position coercion and manipulation.
• Image is Everything (Mark 1:32-39) – Jesus rejects this Western value. Jesus had the crowds eating out of his has but walked away from the populace specifically because their ambitions did not coincide with those of the Heavenly Father’s.
• Shop ‘till You Drop (Mark 2:13-17) - Jesus reminds us that there are better ways to find meaning in life than materialism.
• Rules are Made to be Broken (Mark 2:18 – 3:6 -) Jesus rebukes and challenges the worldview which says the ends justify means. Jesus says there is no place to bend or violate God’s eternal law. Period.
• Live and Let Live (Mark 3:1-6) Jesus challenges the individualism that dictates so much of the American lifestyle choices and offers us an alternative; community.
• Good Things Come to Those Who … Wait (Mark 4:1-20) Jesus calls us to task and challenges us not to delay when it comes to the maintenance of the soul.
• If It Feels Good, Do It (Mark 5:1-20) Jesus offers a solution to the “feel good” philosophy and quest for sensual gratification that drives our culture.
• God helps Those Who Help Themselves (Mark 5:24-34) Man says pull yourself up by your bootstraps but God does in not impressed with our works … God helps the helpless.
Today we will look at Mark 6:1-6
1Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.
"Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What’s this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! 3Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith. Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village.
Intro:
Our sermon title today was supposed to be “Stand Up For Your Rights.” But the more I prepared the more I felt inclined to discuss another common western proverb.
The earliest recorded use of the proverb is from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in 1386.
It caught on and has been used ever since. It was illustrated by William Godwin in his book, The Enquirer, in 1797. He said, “Excessive familiarity is the bane of social happiness” (page 86). He was making the argument that there is a tendency, when individuals live together, to fail to treat each other with respect and kindness.
John Wesley, a contemporary of Godwin would agree. He began a practice which Wesleyan denominations have to this day maintained (consciously or unconsciously). He relocated ministers from assignment to assignment every three years in order to keep them from developing relationships that would hinder their effectiveness. At least part of Wesley’s philosophy was that familiarity breeds contempt.
Others have given the proverb their spin and application.
• All objects lose by too familiar a view. (John Dryden)
• Nothing is wonderful when you get used to it. (Edgar Watson Howe)
• Familiarity breeds contempt; and children. (Mark Twain)
• When a man becomes familiar with his goddess, she quickly sinks into a woman. (Joseph Addison)
• Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the intensest (sic) hatreds. (Antoine Rivarol)
I must say, as I evaluate the axiom familiarity breeds contempt, I am inclined to believe it is all-too-often true.
Unfortunately.
You see it at every turn.
• Read our local newspapers
• Watch husbands and wives (or parents and children) interact
• Observe interpersonal relationships where you work
• Listen in on small-town gossip. (Glen *** told me when I first arrived in Potsdam that if I wanted to know what was going on in the community to frequent a certain barbershop downtown … he was right. And they are brutal towards their “neighbors” at times too.)
• Or, now hold on, watch a local Christian congregation.
My favorite use of this proverb is found in another quote attributed Mark Twain: “It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
Truth. Familiarity. Contempt.
Those three words just don’t seem to go together do they?
3Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.
The long awaited Messiah is discarded because of bias, prejudice, and familiarity.
How many times do we fail to see the potential and the wonder in a fellow human being? Sometimes it is because they are pre-judged. It could be based on race, gender, nationality, social status, religion … or just about anything else.
It could be that we know them so well that we fail to appreciate them and, therefore, dismiss them out-of-hand.
“It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
Jesus’ return to Nazareth was not a casual family visit. He was here with His disciples. He left as a resident but he returns as a Rabbi. This is why he was given “the pulpit” on the Sabbath. The town’s people thought they really knew him … he had been their neighbor for 30 years; he might even have worked for many of them. But this may have been the first time they had actually heard Jesus teach. Many of them were amazed. And many of them were skeptical.
None-the-less, they were in the presence of “Truth.” They were not only hearing truth they were seeing the very reality they had longed for (the coming Messiah) with their own eyes … and yet they couldn’t “see” it.
“It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
The questions they asked are astute. The questions they ask are the right questions … they are the questions that can produce faith.
• Who is Jesus? (Man or God)
• What is his wisdom? (Human philosophy or divine truth?)
• Where does His power come from? (Nature or God?)
But familiarity bred contempt and they could not obtain the correct answer. Their preconceived idea of Jesus served as a stumbling block to them. For them what Jesus was doing was scandalous … offensive. That’s what the word “offense” (v. 3) means … a scandal or a stumbling block.
• But they were not offended at what he said.
• And they were not offended at what he did.
• They were offended at who he was! They just could not accept it.
“It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
The hindrance that was Jesus’ person is revealed in their less-than-subtle insinuations.
• They know his birth … his suspicious and slanderous birth.
• They know his wisdom … he’s a commoner – a carpenter – who worked as a handy man
• They know his source of power … his siblings are nothing special – he is from people of no reputation.
It is sad that the neighbors got it wrong. They would not look at the bigger scope … they limited their evidence. They would look not further than their city limits. Hence, they could not see God in Christ.
Have you noticed the beautiful articles that I am surrounded by this morning? They are all items of craftsmanship. They are made by craftsmen and craftswomen right here in our congregation. Beautiful quilts, impressive woodworking, amazing knives, works with glass, and creations from cloth. These are all made from common everyday items. Items that could easily have been discarded but when fashioned by a craftsman they became exquisite articles! These are works created by people of skill … people who saw something more in them than just raw material.
Dale did not see a log blocking a trail ... Dale saw a beautiful chair. Terri did not see leaves and dead flowers, she saw decorations. Jill did not see old useless cloth ... she saw a quilt. And the same is true of the others.
The neighbors called Jesus “The carpenter.” The word used is “tekton.” It means craftsman. It implies the ability to create. This word is used in our word “Architect.”
Do you see the tragedy? Jesus was still a “tekton” … he was designing and creating wonderdul items. But now, rather than making them fro wood he was remaking human lives … he was bringing newness of life and he was offering it to those who had known Him since childhood. His mere presence was an invitation.
• But they could not get past his seedy origins and his commonness.
• They could not bow the knee to Him as Messiah.
• They did not think he had the credentials.
Their bias hindered them.
“It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
This is the only place in Mark’s Gospel where amazement is ascribed to Jesus. This must have been a very low point for Jesus. He must have been genuinely surprised by their rejection. He was offering so much … if they would only look outside their “city limits” and see the real Jesus.
I find the final words of verse six to be very disturbing. I think they imply more than they say.
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. There is no record of Jesus ever returning to Nazareth.
Think of what the “tekton” – the craftsman – could have done with these people. They could have been among the many new creations.
Wrap-up
Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?
He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:10-12)
From a human perspective the adage “Familiarity breeds contempt” has some truth to it. However, from a divine perspective, God is fully familiar with us and loves us with an everlasting love. And the more fully we know God the more fully we can love Him too.
“It is true that familiarity breeds contempt and the reason we hold truth in such respect is because we have so little opportunity to get familiar with it.”
The idea of being in the presence of “Truth” and not being transformed by it is frightening. But I see way to many people who know God’s word and “know” about Jesus but are yet, unchanged in a deep and fundamental way.
Thankfully this need not happen. The craftsman is here and eager to take the common parts of your life and make something exquisite from them.
Will he be “amazed” when this service is over because you have rejected him? Will he leave your presence and go to “another village”?
You have the power of opening the door wide or slamming the door of divine opportunity shut.
He who has ears
Let him hear.
