Yesterday at church, the Gospel of Mark was proclaimed (6:1-6 NABRE); we learned that Jesus went to His “native place,” He “taught in the synagogue,” He “astonished” His listeners, and the crowd did not understand His wisdom and deeds. Upon experiencing this, Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house.” Jesus was “amazed at their lack of faith.”
As I consider this during America’s Independence Day weekend, I can easily comment that the people in Jesus’ hometown did not really know, understand, accept, nor respond to the truth of Jesus; I submit the same exists for the United States of America. The teaching of American history in our schools and mass media has changed for the past two generations, and our society has turned away from Christianity and its influence upon the founding, growing, development, and creation of the United States of America.
Many of us Americans as well as immigrants do not really know, understand, accept, nor respond to the truth of America’s founding! The United States of America was indeed founded upon the teachings, virtues, and morals of the bible (Barton and Barton, 203ff.). This makes America unique and particularly blessed.
Indeed, American history has not been perfect; yet, the history of Christianity has not been perfect either. We as a people tend to sin and we tend to turn away from God. That makes all of human history imperfect and problematic. With this, this does not make Christianity nor the establishment of the United States of America evil or wrong. With Christianity being of God, and with the history of the beginnings of our country being based upon the bible, I contend the problem is we the people.
We have the freedom in this country to really know, understand, accept, and respond to the teachings and life of Jesus, and America’s founding. May we do this for the benefit of ourselves, our families, our society, our country, and for the world. Yes, it is that important for now and for eternity!
Suggested Reading:
Barton, David and Tim Barton. The American Story: The Beginnings. Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 2020. This reference has over 1000 endnotes to support the information presented.
Ratzinger, Joseph (Pope Benedict XVI). Faith and Politics. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2018.
