John 6

⁴¹ The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” ⁴² And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”


This must be human nature, to have preconceptions of someone because of having known them before. It seems that it is easier to discredit someone and not give them the benefit of the doubt when you have known that person for a long time. It is harder to believe that the person you've known could actually change, and for the better. Even if one didn't know a person for a long time, but one knew the person before for a period of time, one tends to expect the person to remain the same as when one knew them.

For example, if a person knew someone from childhood, who went to the same elementary school. The person happened to get bad grades all the time, then you lose contact when you go to a different school. Then this person goes on and gets a PhD later in life. Many times it would be very difficult for the person that knew this PhD before to believe that these two are the same person. Same thing if you knew someone and they were always mean, but then all of a sudden they became really nice, you may think it is a trick instead of thinking the person changed and improved.

This seems to be the same attitude that these Jews have who were from Jesus' home town. They have know Him and His family. They know that His is from the family of a carpenter. How could it be possible that Jesus, the son, can be anyone great?

Many times we make the same mistake and discredit someone without realizing that perhaps this person has become someone better than they were before. Many times we may be forgiving toward ourselves, but have double standards when it comes to others. Hopefully we can learn from the mistake the Jews made against Jesus, and not make the same mistake ourselves towards others. Let us give others rooms to grow, and believe that they can become a better person even if they weren't to begin with.