Encounters with Jesus - Pt 4

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4:24-30 ESV).

Nazareth is located in the northwestern province of Galilee. Jesus grew up there working with Joseph in his carpenter's shop. He was simply known as the son of Joseph, the carpenter. At the age of thirty he returns to Nazareth after beginning his ministry. Everybody knew him. After all, he had lived there since he was an infant. They knew his brothers, they knew his sisters. They saw him every Sabbath day, worshipping in the synagogue. To them he was ordinary. However, when he returned as an adult, known throughout Israel as a prophet and miracle worker, the whole province was buzzing with the news. He came one Sabbath day to the synagogue, and, standing up, read the Scripture portion set for that day and began to comment on it. Instead of speaking in the normal manner of the rabbis he made a bold and startling statement: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (cf. Luke 4:21). As his message progressed, as he uncovered the truth about his identity, about the fulfillment of the Scripture in his person and his actions, and about the unbelief of his own hometown people, their response changed from one of approving amazement to furious and murderous antagonism. Rejecting his right to make these claims about himself, incensed by his exposure of their unbelief and alienation from God, they drove him out of Nazareth and tried to throw him over the cliff to his death. This record of the first rejection of Jesus throws out a challenge to each one of us. We must exercise great caution in our personal response to Jesus. Do we believe that this ordinary man, Jesus, is also at the same time, the One to whom the whole of the Old Testament points with eager expectation? Do we believe that he has the right to claim our total allegiance and our undivided faith? Do we believe that our relationship with God and our eternal destiny hang on our response to him? Or, do we, like his neighbors in Nazareth, reject and attempt to silence both him and his claims? These are essential questions for our faith. What do you believe?