And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Matthew 13:58 (NAS)

They say, “familiarity breeds contempt.” Here was the son of the town’s carpenter, who spent his time building plows and yokes, perhaps furniture, teaching in the synagogue in his home town? Isn’t he just one of Joseph’s kids?

Today, maybe you’ll see a man with no pedigree rise up to teach, who has no formal training, but has received from the Word, by faith and the spirit of God, the truth. Maybe he’s been a friend of yours, or is your brother, who has “gone off the deep end.”

Unbelief focuses on the messenger not the message. Externals not internals. The tried but not the true.

Why is it that it wasn’t until Jesus died and rose again that his brothers accepted him as the Son of God? Jesus said to a doubting Thomas who had walked and talked with him for three years this:

“Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29

One day, Jesus asked his disciples who did the people say the Son of Man is, and the consensus was some kind of prophet, or as we might say today, a good teacher, or something. Then he turned the tables on them. Who did they think he was? And Peter said:

“You are the Christ, the Son of cthe living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:16-17

What’s it going to take to convince the gallery who hears and sees but somehow does not get it? Apparently a resurrected Christ. This did it for Thomas, and for brother James, who had a post-resurrection encounter with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:7), and the untimely born Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-4).

While they say seeing’s believing, it’s not automatic. If you see only a man with a hammer, saw and lathe, you’ll miss him. We need to see our Savior, the Son of the living God. But He’s the one who needs to open the eyes of our hearts. I know it’s a mystery, but that’s the way it seems to work.

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. Psalm 146:8