Luke 4:16-30
28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They 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. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Within about six verses in this chapter of Luke the crowd in the synagogue goes from loving what Jesus says to literally driving him out of town “so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” Whenever I hear someone say that we should be more like Jesus, or that I as a preacher should be more like Jesus, I pray that they aren’t referencing this particular example. So, what had the people so enraged?
Jesus seems to say (using the examples of the prophet coming to the widow at Zarephath, and another prophet healing Naaman the Syrian) that the Word of God comes to the foreigner – and the people in the synagogue didn’t like that idea. They wanted the Word of God to come to them, and believed that it had and would. So, I suppose, while I certainly don’t want anyone to hurl me off a cliff – or even to try – I hope that the message we proclaim is one that continually expands our idea of who gets to be the audience for God’s message.
Peace,
Pastor Jenn
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