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The Gospel Mark 6:1-6 is unusual, it seems that Jesus is returning to his hometown, likely to visit his family and friends. We don’t know if this visit occurred early in his mission work or towards the end. However, his family and friends have heard about his ministry, and they are not impressed. Jesus is understandably disappointed in their behavior and attitude.

Jesus did not always get support from his family. In Mk 3:21 we have the family of Jesus coming to get him because they believed he was “out of his mind”. In Matthew 12:46-50 we have Jesus’s family wanting to speak to him, but Jesus uses that experience to teach people about family. One cannot be too hard on his family. They were trying to protect him...from himself.

Families are important. It is in growing up within a family that we learn to love. How do you teach someone how to love? Only by loving them. How do you teach someone to trust? Only by being trustworthy. I suspect some people have difficulty with their faith because they have only experienced conditional love or have had their ability to trust bruised.

Families are not always easy. Even the members of the family of Jesus had to grow in their ability to be a healthy family.