Jesus in his home town

Summary

Jesus grew up in the town of Nazareth and to all of the other Nazarenes he wasn’t anything special.  He was simply Joseph’s son, the eldest of Mary and Joseph’s children.  As the oldest son, he would have learned his father’s trade and been working as a carpenter since he was a young teen.  And it was as a carpenter that he would have been identified amongst the townspeople, until that is, he changed course and began his ministry of preaching, teaching and most amazingly, the working of miracles.

Now Jesus didn’t start preaching, teaching and healing folks in Nazareth, all of that had begun up in Northern Galilee.  Word of him though, had made its way to Nazareth.  We don’t know how long he had been away or how far into his ministry he was at the point that he came back to his hometown, but word of what he was doing had spread in Nazareth before he came and taught in the synagogue there.

Jesus was coming back to Nazareth in a very different role and as a very different person than when he had left.  It was not as if he had grown up with everyone pointing at him as he walked by saying, “There’s Jesus, Josephs son, he’ll be the Messiah some day!”

People didn’t know who he really was, and even Mary, who had been told by the angel who her son was, didn’t quite understand.

So, what I am getting at here is that no one in Nazareth was expecting him to declare himself as Messiah using Isaiah’s words of prophecy as he did that day.

Let me share with you from last week’s text what Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah.  “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Now the interesting thing was, that after he had said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The text says that the people, “spoke well of him and were amazed at his gracious words…”

So if they spoke well of him, why did Jesus then go and accuse them of speaking ill of him and share with the Nazarenes the story of Elijah only helping the gentiles and not the Hebrews?

I believe it’s because he knew them so well.  In their eyes, he was simply, as it says in the text, “…Joseph’s son…”

Yes, they wanted to see, and even more experience the miracles of which they’d heard, but they wouldn’t have had any true faith in the miracle-worker, only a desire for the miracles themselves.  They were entranced by the stories they had heard of Jesus, but probably not necessarily his teachings.

I am sure that they wanted to experience his healing touch but had no faith in his preaching or even more so him.  The old saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt” hits the relationship between Jesus and his hometown on the nose.  They ‘knew’ who he was, and he surely wasn’t the Messiah, maybe he’d become a magician or healer, but he was not the anointed one of God.

There are times when I think that we resemble too closely the townspeople of Nazareth, I think, we can become too ‘familiar’ with Jesus and so are not able to see or to believe that he is whom he says he is.

If you’ve grown up in the church you have been walking your whole life as faithfully as you could with Jesus.  You know he’s God the Son, the Savior of the world, but you’ve got him pegged too, you think you do anyway.  You know what he’s capable of, how he really helps, and your faith might feel more known and familiar almost.

With myself, I think of it as my, “God in the box” mentality.  I have become so familiar with how I think God works, especially in my life, that I act as if I have him all figured out.  Hey, I’ve known him my whole life, what’s new?  What’s he really capable of, that I haven’t seen already?

And so, I start to think and act as if I have God in a box!

Let me tell you, that’s a dangerous way to think.

How many times have I been surprised in my life, when someone I know very well does, or accomplishes something that surprises me, because I never even imagined that they had it in them?  Well, when it comes to God, none of us have or are capable of figuring out God.  I read recently where someone wrote, “God is mysterious and in his mystery we can discover wonder.  We can’t fully understand God, but we are fully astonished by him.”

Jesus was and is, astonishing.  He didn’t come to rule, or even govern, but to love.  And in his quote from the prophet Isaiah, I see his love and only his love.  Jesus shares that he is the one come “to preach good news to the poor.”  That’s me, I am poor of spirit, of faith, of belief and so I am still astonished that his good news is for me.

Jesus said he came to, “…proclaim freedom for the prisoner.”  I am in chains, imprisoned in my sinful nature, bound alternately, by my lack of trust and my over confidence, and yet Jesus proclaims me free.

He told them he had come to give, “…recovery of sight for the blind.”  And once again I’ve realized in my perceived familiarity with my Lord, I have lost sight of what he can truly accomplish in my life and the world, that is until he makes the scales to fall from my eyes.

Jesus came, “…to release the oppressed.”  And oh my Lord, do I know that’s me too.  I am so often, overburdened, pushed down and incapable of rebellion to the world, and know that my only release is by God.

And in all of this, Jesus proclaims, “…the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He is so much more, and capable of so much more than we can ever imagine, or believe.  Like the Nazarenes we need to keep watching him and believing and our suppositions and preconceptions of Jesus will be blown apart, again and again.

We must turn a fresh eye upon Jesus for he is so much more, than we have become familiar with and so much greater than we can imagine.  We must go to him each day expecting everything and ready for anything, for our God is way too big for a box and to unknowable for true familiarity of expectations.  Instead we need to accept the mystery of God and live in the astonishment of all that God is and all that God does…in our lives and in the world.

Amen.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.