Luke 4:22-30 (The Message)
22 All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he (Jesus) spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was a youngster?”
23-27 He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”
28-30 That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.
Jesus ‘blew’ his first sermon in his home synagogue. He really blew it! He said some things which he could have left unsaid. More then just nice sounding words which we like to hear. He told them they were way off base, and he, Joseph son, was here to set them straight.
So what was he saying?
He was saying that God’s goodness and mercy does not limit itself to a chosen few; it goes out to all, even strangers and aliens. We can reject God’s goodness but we can not stop it. It will find a receptive heart and there it will do its work. For with God there are no outsiders!
Jesus began his ministry with this clear message, and we still find it hard to swallow.
“Jesus was ‘a reject who
rejected rejection’"
Virgilio Eliizando
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, help me remember that you do not reject those I reject. Your love is beyond my understanding or control!”
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