Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” John 7: 41-42

Curiously Jesus never bothered to tell the Jews in Jerusalem the circumstances of his birth in Bethlehem or his ancestral line. Matthew, one of the disciples later wrote at length at the start of his gospel about Jesus’ birth and the subtle digs at Jesus’ legitimacy seem to indicate those in Galilee remembered his birth (Mark 6:3). Yet here Jesus says nothing.

Jesus knew these people wouldn’t be convinced by his family history, after all, they hadn’t been convinced by his miracles. We too need to be careful we aren’t so committed to our own ideas that Jesus is unable to teach us anything outside of what we already know. Jesus would have made sure these Jews had sufficient information to take a step of faith. Likewise, he makes sure we have sufficient information when he calls us. Sometimes we may wonder why he doesn’t give us more information. We might feel we need to know more about the “hows” and “whys” of his plans and purposes.

Parents will know there are times to keep information from children. Children’s life experiences are small and they find it worrying to hear things they aren’t mature enough to understand. Likewise, as God’s children, God doesn’t always tell us everything. In times of uncertainty, we can always ask Jesus to show us more of his plans and purposes but ultimately we need to trust that Jesus has told us what we need to know. Maybe we don’t have as much information as we would like, but nevertheless, we have enough.