Jesus is reject at Nazareth
Luke 4: 16-30
What speaks to me
Imagine with me that you live in a small town (some of you may, so this wouldn’t be too far a stretch). You have been blessed with the wisdom and have what it takes to become the mayor of the town, but there is only one problem. You have been working your entire life as an auto mechanic and that is how everyone sees your expertise. YOU know that you have what it takes to be the mayor, but they don’t. So, you walk into a city council meeting that has long been struggling with their local economy and you tell them what the problem is, how to fix it, and that you WILL fix it. The council members and others attending the meeting just look at each other asking why an auto mechanic thinks he or she feels more qualified. They know who you are, and they just laugh the whole thing up and ask you to sit down.
Have you or someone you known ever experienced something like this in real life? You know you are qualified, but because people think they know you one way, choose not to see the whole you?
Well, for Jesus, this happened to Him in his own hometown, only on a grander scale. Here a carpenter walks into the “city council” and says, “I’ve been sent by my Father to save the world” (I’m paraphrasing if you didn’t figure that out yet), and the people looked at each other and at first just laughed telling Jesus to go back home and build them a table. However, when Jesus elaborated, the priests became angry and pushed Him out of town (they actually wanted to push Him over a CLIFF).
What I get out of this passage is how we as people don’t always look deep ENOUGH into peoples lives, especially the ones we know the best. We have seen our friends and family our entire lives and can mistakenly MOLD their characteristics into concrete with the idea that they will never change or improve. I also know that it is much easier for us to believe someone’s credibility of whom we only met a short while much faster than those we’ve “molded”. Why is that?
My challenge
As we see in this passage, Jesus was run out of His own town because people didn’t believe Him. There have been people that I have run out (of my life) for various reasons. I would like to challenge myself and anyone willing, to be more open to listening to those who say who they are, before automatically putting them in the box. In other words, Don’t be so quick to judge, that’s God’s job. Just listen to Him and he’ll let you know what to do.
What does this passage say to you?
This blog is only as good as the comments that are shared. I claim that I am not a pastor by any measure, rather someone who wants to learn and share the bible with others (I’m more like the Tim Taylor of the bible for those who are “Home Improvement fans.. you have been warned). What will make this study strong are the “constructive” comments others share each day as they read this. What the bible says to me may be different to you depending on your journey. So I encourage you to share how this passage speaks to you.
