Jesus at Nazareth

I love how Jesus always knew exactly what to say to get at the heart of things. This seemed to either really tick people off or cause them to leave all they had and follow him. I thought I'd share a section which caught my attention this morning.

Can you imagine being there for this:

"16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” 20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”"

And then, this section was what really got me thinking:

"22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 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, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 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.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 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. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away." -Luke 4:16-30 (ESV)

All speak well of Jesus until they seek to have him do the same miracles here as elsewhere. As we see more clearly in Mark 6 and Matthew 13, Jesus tells us that he cannot do these miracles here for lack of faith of the residents of Nazareth. However, here Jesus takes it even further. This section, vv. 25-29 (which is unique to Luke's gospel), becomes uniquely offensive to Jesus' hometown people.

Two instances are given where God specifically chose someone outside of Israel, over those inside Israel, to bless. On first reading, my mind went directly to the story of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 7:24-30. Here, Jesus speaks of his coming for the Jews, and not for the gentiles. In both cases, faith becomes the defining factor. Eventually Jesus grants the woman her request on account of her faith. The stories which enraged the Nazarenes were given to point out their faithlessness (the reason given for Jesus not doing great miracles there).

I love Jesus and his teachings. He is the only one who can make such claims with integrity and authority as "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." He is the only one who can use stories which seem racist and seem to contradict his later teaching in Acts 10 where he tells Peter that "God shows no partiality, in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." (Acts 10:34-35) to actually show that race plays no part in it, but faith.