At
first everything Jesus was saying sounded good to the folks from Nazareth, but
wait just a minute! They haven’t seen or benefited from any of the signs and
wonders they’ve heard Jesus had been performing elsewhere. None of their lame
had been made to walk, none of their blind had been made to see, and none of
their lepers had been cleansed. In other words, “What have you done for us
lately, Jesus?”
Then
Jesus reminds them about the Old Testament prophet Elijah who passed over
Jewish widows in order to perform a miracle for a penniless Gentile. And the
prophet Elisha who passed over Jewish lepers in order to heal a Gentile
occupier. In other words, God’s promise wasn’t just for the Jews of Galilee,
although they certainly needed it. Jesus was there to bring the healing and
loving activity of God far outside the boundaries of the supposed “People of
God.” God’s promise was, is, and always will be bigger and better and than what
you might expect or even wish for – it’s a promise for you when you find yourself
on the margins of humanity.
If
God’s promise of recovery and good news wasn’t just for them, then that meant
that something was required of them something big and uncomfortable, They
didn’t get to just sit back and hear the impressive words Jesus spoke and be
the lucky recipients of all kinds of cool miracles. They had to open their
hearts, extend their hospitality, and spread their arms wide. They had to think
differently, live differently, love differently.
And
so Jesus’ hometown crowd got angry. Beyond angry – they were filled with rage
at the idea that they might not be God’s intended “insiders.” And so they drove
Jesus out of 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. They were prepared to kill
the messenger, and hoping also to kill the message -- or at least the piece of
the message that said they weren’t its sole beneficiaries; the piece that
required them to join in welcoming others into its fold.
It
seems disturbingly familiar. To appreciate the message of God’s mercy but not
so much the judgment part, to crave the forgiveness part, but not so much the
requirement that you forgive others and yourself. Or to be comforted and
overjoyed by God’s love for you, but not so much the insistence that you have
to share that love with others that you don’t find so loveable. God’s promise
was, is, and always will be bigger and better and than what you expect.
You
are living in the eternal now of God’s coming among you. He is so unlike your
other experiences, He is in you. He only asks: Bring the hopes and fears of all
your years and lay them in front of My son Jesus.
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