Familiarity Breeds Contempt

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself.' What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luk 4:22-30)

Though they didn’t believe in Christ…that He was the Messiah…they still marveled at His gracious words. Even unbelievers see something of God’s grace in Christ…as they also see something of God’s grace in believers. God tells us that we will silence the foolish by our good works that are wrought by God’s grace…

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. (1Pe 2:15)

Though these may not come to Christ for salvation, yet they will be affected by our witness. And in our passage, those who heard Christ were affected by His grace though they did not come to Him in repentance and faith.

Once the people begin to talk about Jesus being Joseph’s son…a clear denial of Him being the Son of God…Christ tells them that those who think they know Him intimately are the very ones who are more apt to deny Him. Again, as Christians we face this as well. When we come to Christ those who are closest to us are, many times, the most difficult to accept the change in us. They think, “what’s so special about them…I remember when…[thus and so].” In regards to the Christian, they think that we went through some kind of behavior modification, when what we have really gone through is a renewal of our very nature…

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2Co 5:17)

And so the adage is true, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” (Aesop’s Fables)

Unfortunately, this can also happen within the Body of Christ. When we become familiar with those in our congregation there can be a certain amount of contempt that is sown. When those who we’ve considered least in the church begin to rise above us our hearts can become troubled and jealous at the grace that God is showing them.

This is an indication that our heart is not right before God and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And if our heart is not right, would God show us the grace that we are jealous of in others? Rather, we must conform ourselves to God’s Word as it directs us to…

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Php 2:3-8)

Take time today to go into your prayer closet and have God search your heart for any seeds of contempt. Ask Him to bring your heart into submission to His Word and count others as more significant than yourself.