Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Today's Scripture
Luke 4:21–30

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

This passage deals with several themes of upstart: the idea that God might have turned away from us, that prophets tell heavy truths — that are usually not listened to — and finally that Jesus was almost killed by his own people, by his own hometown. Almost thrown from a cliff to be exact.

Jesus refers a lot to Elijah, refers to footnotes of scripture that only those who have really been paying attention to ancient texts would portend and hold close, and even his interpretation of Elijah’s words is upsetting to those listening. There were many widows in Elijah’s time, but God was not sent to them. He was sent to another, one in Zarephath, an outsider. There were many with leprosy, but Elijah was not sent to them; instead, we have the troubling story of Naaman, who is at first angry at being instructed to do something so simple to cure himself.

Jesus uses these stories to illustrate how his own reception is riddled with hypocrisy and devilish intentions. We know already the story of Jesus’ temptation, and the townspeople’s words mimic that “Heal thyself.” They call, “Do here in your hometown what you have done in Capernaum.” But he states that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. From this there is anger. Heated and strong. Expectations have not been met, and people are angry.

This calls to mind many cinematic stories of a youngster striving for the ambition to leave their town, make a name for themselves somewhere, do something incredible. Only to come back and realize the people who nurtured them, the stories they must tell, the people they modeled themselves around exist only in their memory. That, in fact, a version of themselves exists only in memory. And no one has claim to that. We all impact one another, and sometimes that impact is from absence.

But the anger comes from what we think is ours that no longer is ours. Ours to control that is. “Is this not Joseph’s son?” The carpenter? The one we made build things for us? Yes. Yes, this is Jesus. He is building for us. He is just no longer building what we can control, what we can see. He is building the idea that God is not just for those in Capernaum, in Israel, in Nazareth, but for us all. For the widow in Zarephath, for Naaman, for all of us angry and hungry and poor.

Sometimes those closest to us have the hardest time truly seeing us. Especially as we grow and change. Especially as we make the decisions that are not just for us to continue being who we were: the builder, the good girl, the helpful one, the angry one. Jesus is demonstrating that for us to be who we truly are meant to be in God’s eyes we will not always be accepted. We will sometimes be threatened to be thrown off a cliff. It will be difficult. It will hurt. But walk through the crowd and be on your way. Jesus walks with you. Jesus walks with everyone.

Prayer
Gracious and loving God, help us to remember that through Jesus your plan is being made known to us, bit by bit. We can sometimes only know the difficulty, the anger, the fear, the demands that we see being thrown at us, but we know your message is of love, of encompassing something more than we can know now. That is where faith comes in. Help us to trust in faith, to believe when believing feels hard. God, we believe; help our unbelief. Amen.

Written by Jessica Wang, Member of Fourth Presbyterian Church

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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