Rev Gav
Anger
Luke 4:22-30
22 Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
23 Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ 24 But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.
25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. 27 And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”
28 When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. 29 Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, 30 but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
Reflect
Jesus was in the synagogue and he had just told everyone that the prophecy (or prediction) made by the prophet Isaiah had come true, and that he was the fulfilment of that prophecy! It was a bombshell of an announcement and a historic moment, however, despite the people being amazed at Jesus’ teaching, they started to question the validity of his claims, and clearly some were very hostile to this idea. You see, to make this claim would have been considered blasphemy — a crime against God — and a crime punishable by death. To make matters worse, Jesus responded by telling two stories that drove them completely nuts, and they became enraged to the point where they wanted to lob him off the edge of a cliff. That was pretty angry, huh?
The two stories Jesus told were stories with which his listeners would have been familiar for they were both from the Old Testament — the Jewish community’s religious writings. They were two stories about prophets, and in both stories, it was not someone from the ‘in crowd’ that got a blessing, but a foreigner or outsider. Jesus was making a very pointed comment! He was essentially saying that like those prophets of old, he was a prophet, and that his listeners who were not listening were the ‘in crowd’ that missed out, and that outsiders would be the ones who would get God’s blessing!
There was no turning back for Jesus now. He had laid his cards squarely on the table, and this was the beginning of three years of ministry that would change the world.
Jesus, and those that follow him, still encounter hostility today. In some parts of the world this hostility manifests itself as all-out persecution, however, in our western world, such hostility might manifest itself as ridicule, insults, or criticism which can come from militant atheists, fundamentalists, or from people that simply do not understand what it really means to be a Christian.
Do
Today, decide how you will respond when people tell you that you are a liar or deluded for being a Christian.
Pray
Holy God
Your Son Jesus Christ did not have it easy.
He was humiliated, ridiculed, and worse.
Help me, when I encounter hostility,
not to take it personally or to seek revenge,
but to respond with love, wisdom and understanding.
This day and for ever.
Amen.
Think
How should we react when people tell us that we are liars or deluded for being a Christian?
What was Jesus saying to the crowd through these stories, and how did it fit in with his wider kingdom message?
