daily java

Daily Java:

Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.” When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.  (Luke 4:22-30)

Jesus came home after preaching around for a while. When he did, he shared with them the passage from Isaiah 61 that promised the coming of the Messiah. When he got through, he began to speak to them. And he told them that he was the fulfillment of that passage.

They were all amazed at how well he spoke and marveled at the fact that here was the home-boy, Jesus, and his words were so gracious.

Then he said something they disagreed with and instantly, they were mad. He was fine as long as he said things that agreed with them, but when he departed from their ideas, they were through with him. In fact, they got so mad, they were ready to throw this son of Joseph, the one they admired just a few minutes ago, off a cliff.

I have talked to people who have told me this same thing. They were irritated by something I had said. And one in particular kind of summed it up for all those who came before and those who came afterwards. He said, “When you came here I thought you were smart. But then you begin saying things I do not agree with and now I don’t think so.”

As long as I agreed with him, I was smart. But if I ever got out into unfamiliar territory, I ceased being smart. Being smart involved toeing a company line perfectly. When you go outside the parameters they have set up, you are dead. And they will kill you, career-wise if no other way.

Jesus told them that God loved somebody in addition to them. That’s all. He reminded them that one of the prophets in the Old Testament healed someone who was not a Jew.

That small thing was too much for them. In many ways, the Jews of the first century share attitudes with the Muslims of the 21st century. They were crazy and demanded orthodoxy (their idea of orthodoxy, of course) from everyone. And if they didn’t get it the way they felt it should come, they would kill the messenger.

It was their way or the highway.

And it didn’t even matter that Jesus’ mother was standing there listening to them rant. He dared to say something they disagreed with and that was that. He deserved to die for his heresy.

Of course, what was his heresy? Simply pointing out what had happened in their own scriptures (1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5) and that made them mad. Yes, it had happened, but they didn’t like that it had and they didn’t want him to point it out to them.

The fact that is was true was beside the point. They wanted what they wanted and they would kill anyone who didn’t give it to them.

Jesus got away from them. I don’t think this was necessarily miraculous. There were a lot of them and he just kind of slipped away in the crowd.

But you know it must have hurt him to see them rabid like this against him. He had probably seen this once or twice growing up in that town, but the fact that it cold come to him and against him must have hurt him.