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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Jesus is rejected in his hometown February 20, 2010 |
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Frontline Devotion for Saturday, February 20, 2010 by Gary Shaffer
Luke 4: 23- 27
"But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown." Luke 4: 24
The story of Jesus' return to his hometown is quite dramatic. If you have the opportunity to read the entire passage telling of Jesus' visit home, you will encounter a story of tension and conflict. Jesus has great power, but many still reject him. As a result of their spiritual blindness people often miss what God is doing, are unable to hear what God is saying and reject the message of God and God's messengers. It is no different for those of us in the hometown crowd.
In verse 22 preceding our reading today the gospel writer states, "All the people started talking about Jesus and were amazed at the wonderful things he said." When we reach verses 28 and 29, the verses immediately following today's reading, we read, "When the people in the meeting place heard Jesus say this, they became so angry that they got up and threw him out of town. They dragged him to the edge of the cliff on which the town was built, because they wanted to throw him down from there."
"But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown."
Jesus' teaching evokes both wonder and rejection, the two reactions being the same when the words were originally spoken and in our world today. Throughout history the prophets were as likely to be rejected in their home towns as elsewhere, and Jesus reminds those hearing him in Nazareth of this truth. "A prophet is not honored in his own home." We should ask ourselves why this is true and carefully consider the possible answers. In a way, most of us are effectively part of Jesus' hometown crowd. We grew up with him. For many of us he was part of our neighborhood. Our friends knew him, we knew him and we were told he loved us. I can't be very critical of the hometown crowd in this story. I think that just as most hometowns expect to be honored by a local who achieves great success, the citizens of Nazareth may have expected to hear Jesus say how especially blessed they would be.
That is not what they heard. The words were harsh. The price of rejecting God's message is severe and the result is that God's mercy moves on and is extended to others. Jesus ministry brings a choice of high stakes. If we are honest, we may admit that the message that we are expecting to hear is, "With you I am well pleased and therefore you shall be especially blessed my friend." We may have very real difficulty when the message we hear is different. Perhaps the message is a rebuke that calls attention to a weakness, a failure. Perhaps the words we hear God speaking remind us of our spiritual blindness, our sinfulness, our need to repent and ask forgiveness at a time that our hardness of heart makes us unreceptive to that message. Perhaps, like those in Nazareth, this is a message that we choose to reject and consequently we refuse to honor the messenger. Perhaps, the hometown connection isn't always as reassuring as we would like.
"But you can be sure that no prophets are liked by the people of their own hometown."
Heavenly Father, please give us the wisdom and courage to honor your prophets, to hear and accept the messages they bring. Help us to always be mindful of the fact that you are still speaking to us and fill us with the holy spirit so that we may recognize your voice. Amen