Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Today’s Scripture Reading
Luke 4:14–30

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 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. (NRSV)

Reflection

My former theology professor, the late Shirley Guthrie, told my class a story about a rally he once saw in Atlanta. It was a political rally in the late 1980s. You had people lined up on both sides, placards in hands, marching and shouting slogans. A man on one side of the debate walked over to a woman on the other side. They began speaking. He told her that he was a Christian and asked if she was saved. She told him she was. She was actually very involved in her church.

The man then asked her if she knew that she was going to hell for what she was doing at that rally. The woman replied that she actually looked forward to eating at a table with him in heaven. After hearing her words, he looked her straight in her eyes and said, “If I get to heaven and you are there, I am promptly getting my hat and choosing to go to hell.” Dr. Guthrie said he was completely taken aback when he heard that statement. That man was so enraged by her claim that God’s grace and blessing could include even her, someone with whom he vehemently disagreed, that he would rather choose condemnation than see that kind of grace lived out for eternity. A quick move from gratitude to rage.

That story reminds me of what we see in this text. Jesus was in his own hometown, with the people who knew him the best. And because he “belonged” to them, it seems that they expected that Jesus’ work of miracles and ministry would also belong first to them. They would be first in line for all the goodness Jesus brought. But Jesus quickly turned those expectations upside down by including these stories about Elijah and Elisha. For just as Elijah had been sent to an outsider widow and Elisha had healed a Syrian, Jesus wanted to quickly let the people of his hometown know he was not only sent to them. On the contrary, no historical or ethnic boundaries would contain or limit what God was going to do through him.

And you know what happened in response? That congregation moved quickly from gratitude to rage. So much so, that they tried to push him off a cliff! And as a result of their rage, he left them all behind and did no ministry amongst them.

Prayer

Gracious God, help me to stop trying to limit your love and your grace. Help me to lift my eyes and to see, really see, all people as kin. Please open my heart to wherever you do your work, and help me to be a part of the goodness you continue to unleash. Amen.

Written by Shannon Kershner, Pastor

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