Mark 6:1-13

"Then Jesus said to them, 'Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.' And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them" (Mark 6:4-5)

            Home is such a tricky... thing. We tend to spend a lot of time investing in our homes, be it is the structure itself, it's location, or the lives in it. We work hard at our homes. And yet home seems to be allergic to the best Jesus has to offer. "And he could do no deed of power there..."

It is quite rare to hear Mark - or any of the gospels - speak of Jesus' powerlessness. Oh, for sure, He makes Himself powerless in order to care for the powerless, but making yourself powerless and being made powerless are two very different things. Jesus is almost never made powerless by anything... except home.

            I think, though, if we're honest with ourselves, we know the limits of home. We know that home can't be all we want it to be, but we keep trying to make it that anyway. A lot of good ink has already been spilt on the psychological and spiritual pressures that we put on home and they don't need to all be summarized here. Theologically-speaking, though, the problem arises when: We want home to be our security, but that's God's providence's role. We want home to be our love, but that's the Spirit's role. We want home to be our salvation, but that's the cross of Jesus Christ's role. No, home has its limits and if we try to make it more than it can be, it also starts limiting us. "And he could do no deed of power there..."

            This is where the Church comes in. The Church is a gathering of those who have declared themselves homeless except for when they are with their Lord Jesus Christ. All other homes - they've come to realize - demand too much, take too much, and return too little. Jesus is quite the contrary: He does not demand and take anything, but should we give over our whole lives willingly, we will find that He returns to us a hundred-share of what we gave Him.

None of this, of course, means that you must hate your home. Rather, it means that home can never become a challenge to Jesus and His role in your life. And if this is true, then our investment in this relationships with our Lord should take at least as much time and energy as we put into our homes, our cul de sacs, and our suburbs.