Pastor Ponderings #182: Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Familiarity breeds contempt is a phrase understood by most. Co-workers become well known and mysteriously begin to irritate. Your fiancé could do no wrong, until you married and discovered that prince charming puts the toilet paper roll on backwards. Sibling rivalry is a reality because of familiarity. Close quarters and the passage of time reveal the small annoyances that can erode trust and cause confidence to evaporate. Why is it that those we love most become the objects of our scorn? The shine wears off and the magic becomes mundane. We have normalized the things in which the other once specialized.

Don’t be surprised at the deficiencies revealed in others when you knew in advance that everyone bears flaws. In fact, even the flawless who have walked the earth have not escaped the contempt of the familiar. Jesus was known by His small hometown of Nazareth. He played with the neighbourhood kids and helped His father, Joseph, in what was likely the only carpentry shop in town.

This Jesus would have been known for plenty of things, but sin was not one of them. Still, disrespect and dismissal followed simply from knowing Him better than most others. We see this when Jesus reads in the local synagogue. Though the townsfolk are initially inspired, their inspiration soon turns to insurrection.

Luke 4:22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

Jesus tells them that a prophet isn’t accepted by his own country. After indirectly explaining that their rejection of the kingdom would lead to the Gentiles receiving it, they were ready to dispose of this goody-two-shoes by helping Him off a near-by cliff.

Sometimes my 4-year-old wants me to look at something in his hand and he proceeds to hold it an inch from my nose. I instantly recoil because at such a close proximity, I can’t focus enough to see what it is. I need a little more space to see clearly. So it was for the people of Nazareth. They were too close to see the truth or they may have recognized the promised Messiah.

Consider another example. Children raised in a solid Christian home sometimes struggle to make the faith they’re raised in their own. The familiarity of their upbringing has stripped Jesus and the gospel message of its novelty. Sometimes these dear ones run deep into darkness before becoming aware of their actual need. All must recognize a need for Christ and the best case is to see it before we wander far from the truth. In other cases, truth may still garner respect because so few are well acquainted with it.

The common does not have to lose its value. It may require some diligence on our part to sustain worth and rally our respect for truths we’re so used to. This effort is well rewarded in developing trust. Those who do so will be blessed to have built an immunity to familiarity that breeds contempt.