Luke 4: 21-30
Not Welcome
21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 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?” 23 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.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 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; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 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. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
At first "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth." (Lk 4: 22) but by verse 29, they were ready to throw him off a cliff. Such was the hometown debut of Jesus, but it also strikes chord in us and we can easily find our initial enthusiasm dampened but deeper reflection on what is being demanded of us. The temptation to run appears now and then to all of us, but we do have control, can face it, and overcome it.As the old hymn goes, "I never promised you a rose garden." Jesus ran into thorns at his initial home-town appearance; can we expect less? Let us be wary of immediate acceptance or "success", and rather steel ourselves against the inevitable challenge or rejection. If "the folks back home" gave Jesus a hard time, can we expect less?
Bro. Rene
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