Last Thursday and Friday, I was able to take a 2-day trip to New York City with my family and my friend’s family. For the first time, we took Amtrack, which was a good experience because I didn’t have to drive and could sleep on the train.

During this two day break, I was compelled to set aside work-related thoughts most of the time, although not entirely.

At the children’s request, we took a hop-on hop-off tour bus. Also, because of their insistence, we sat on the top deck of the bus. It was HOT, with no air conditioning on the top deck, of course.

We were directly under the sun, although tall buildings frequently cast shadows. We took a tour bus was between noon and 3-4 PM, the hottest time of the day. I believe the highest temperature was 85 or 86 degrees. I could feel sweat trickling down my back. 

To endure the heat and to stay cool, I focused on the recorded tour guide, which I listened to through earphones. In an effort to be a cool dad and to learn more about New York City, particularly its early history, I paid close attention to the tour guide. 

However, to my great disappointment, 95% of the contest was about movies, movie stars, celebrities, where they live, and the cost of the buildings they reside in. 

I believe that this is the epitome of our culture, focusing our attention on celebrities and politicians. Our cultural consciousness is evolving around the things or people to that we assign value and attention. There is no doubt that as a species, we invest in and place our values and attention on celebrities, athletics, and wealthy individuals, and their actions. This is an unfortunate cultural phenomenon that defines us as a human species. 

You may wonder how this is related to today’s scriptural reading! That is also my question! If you know the answer, please let me know. I might be exposed to too much heat to think clearly! 

I reflected upon today’s scripture during my two-day trip to New York. As a pastor, that is what you do. Your mind is constantly formulating the message you will deliver on Sunday. However, my mind, which was on the verge of heatstroke, might not have been thinking clearly. 

Anyway, today’s story is a well-known episode, perhaps too familiar to catch our attention. To put it simply, Jesus was rejected in his hometown and was unable to heal the sick. He was profoundly shocked by their disbelief.

The rejection and disbelief of Jesus by the people of his hometown become more pronounced when compared to the faith of the woman with a hemorrhage, who was healed simply by touching Jesus’ clothes. We read this story last week. This unknown and nameless woman was able to have faith and become whole, while Jesus’ own townspeople, who probably knew him very well, were unable to accept his teachings and the gift of healing.

A careful reading of the scripture reveals an interesting dynamic and shift in their response to Jesus, his teaching and his healing power. When they heard Jesus’ teachings, it is said, “Many who heard him were amazed.” Their amazement is reflected in their questions such as, “How can he do all this? Where did he get such wisdom and the power to work these miracles?” Undoubtedly, these are positive responses to Jesus’ teaching and healing. 

However, their responses to Jesus drastically altered in an instant when they realized that Jesus was a local man whom they already knew well. When they recognized that Jesus was a carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and other siblings who were still living in the town with them, they turned their backs on Jesus. We don’t know exactly what they did, but the scripture said, “They took offense at Jesus.

However, I find this translation misleading. The Greek verb for “took offense” is “skandalijo,” which means “to cause somebody to stumble” or “to entrap somebody.” (From this word, the word ‘scandalized’ originated.) In today’s context, this verb is used in a passive form. Therefore, a literal translation could be “They were drawn to error by Jesus” or “They were entrapped by Jesus.” 

It is fascinating to comprehend this original meaning. Whenever I read today’s scripture, I believe their familiarity with Jesus led them to reject him. Their old images of Jesus “caused them to stumble” and turned their back on him. Because they were absolutely convinced they knew him well, they failed to see Jesus as he truly was. The lens of their old images of him prevented them from hearing his teachings and witnessing the healing miracles happening right before their eyes. 

They were entrapped by their old images of Jesus. They were led astray, failing to recognize what was happening right in front of them, due to their outdated concepts and ideas about Jesus.

This is not only what Jesus’ townspeople did two thousand years ago. This is, in fact, our unfortunate mental conditioning. In psychology, this concept is known as “habituation.” It is a term that describes the process where we become less and less likely to notice a stimulus that is presented over and over again.

Like Jesus’ town people, we are also habituated with almost everything in our lives, particularly, as today’s scripture points out, with people around us. Like Jesus’ town people, we often look our neighbors and people around us through the lens of old images of them. 

The problem is that, due to the habituated seeing, we are unable to see our loved ones and people around us in their true nature. Also, we are unable to see them growing and changing spiritually. 

Due to our habituated way of seeing, we easily feel bored about and uninterested in people around and even people close and dear to us. Because of this, probably, many people in our society pay more attention to celebrities, athletes, and so-called VIPs. From this, it is understandable, though not agreeable, that one of the most well-known New York City’s tour buses designates the majority of the content of their recorded guide for movie stars and other celebrities. 

Based on my reflection on today’s scripture, which I pondered while on the deck of that hop-on-hop-off bus in New York City last week during a hot summer day, today’s story invites us to overcome our mental and spiritual habituation towards the people around us. Today’s scripture is an invitation for us to truly pay attention to our neighbors and the people in our lives by letting go of our preconceptions about them.

To hear God speaking and revealing through them, we must look deeply into the eyes of our neighbors and our loved ones so we can recognize the divine in each of them. To be continuously aware of their growth and transformation as God is constantly working in and through them, we must meet each of them as a divine child of God. To avoid being “entrapped by their old images created and maintained by our mental habituation, we must continually renew our old and current perspectives and embrace the divine changes that occur within them.

We must not let our preconceived notions or past experience limit our understanding of their divine nature. Instead we must strive to see them as God sees them—ever evolving, ever growing, and every-becoming. For in doing so, we are not just seeing them or their actions, but we are also witnessing God and God’s actions through them.