Amazement to Anger - A Reflection on Luke 4:16-30



When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 

 

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

 

If this was part of a movie, this scene would have been a director’s delight. Picture it. Carpenter’s son returns home. He goes to the temple. He picks up the scroll of Isaiah and reads: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, release for the captives, sight for the blind, set the oppressed free.” Then he rolls up the scroll and looks at his audience who have their eyes fixed on him. “Today,” he says, “this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And they all go “oooh” in amazement. 

 

But then somebody says: “Is this not the carpenter’s son?” And Jesus suddenly takes off on them. Why? We will look at that in a moment. He speaks about a famine in Israel during the times of the prophet Elijah when it had stopped raining for three and a half years, and how Elijah was sent to a widow at Zarephat. She was a pagan lady in a pagan town. Then he speaks about lepers that existed during the times of the prophet Elisha, and how Elisha had healed a Syrian named Naaman. He was a pagan man in another pagan town. 

 

In both these cases Jesus was saying that God had blessed outsiders — the traditional enemies of Israel, instead of blessing the insiders — the Jews who believed themselves the chosen ones. It drove Jesus’ listeners crazy and they went from amazement to anger in just a matter of minutes. They pushed him out of the temple and took him to the edge of a cliff intending to hurl him off it but he escaped miraculously and went his way. Didn’t I tell you? A movie director’s delight!

 

I’d like to make two points. One, God is gonna do what God wants to do. He might bypass all the Christians all around the world and pick a non-Christian to be immensely blessed. He might, similarly, bypass all the learned theologians and scholars in the church and pick some ordinary guy to become a powerfully anointed preacher. We set boundaries; God shatters them. We see evidence of this right from the time of the conception of Jesus. And we need to learn from this, all those of us who set boundary lines.

 

And the second point is in answer to the question we raised earlier. Why did Jesus take off of these guys who were praising him? Because he sensed their underlying hypocrisy. He doesn’t want our praise without our obedience. What’s the point of admiring somebody and not following what he says and does? It is why Jesus once said“Not everyone who raises his hands and says “Alleluia, Alleluia” or “Praise the Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven” (see Matthew 7:21).

 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here:  https://youtu.be/cWSNtdHKWB8

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let’s Get Healed - A Reflection on Matthew 18:21-19:1

Image
  Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me...
Read more

Patience - A Reflection on Luke 2:33-35.

Image
  And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”   This is probably the shortest passage that we have reflected upon this year. In it, we find a man named Simeon making a prophecy about three things. One, about Jesus. Two, about the people of Israel. And three, about the pain that Jesus’ mother Mary would go through. We have seen all his prophecies came true. But who is Simeon? And what can we learn from him? Ok. On the 40th day of his birth, Jesus is taken by Mary and Joseph to the temple to be officially inducted into the Jewish faith. When they were there, a man named Simeon came in to see them.   He is described as “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Isr...
Read more

Dying and Killing

  The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earl...
Read more