Yesterday, I had a rebellious spirit within me when I got up in the morning. I kept finding distractions of other things to do rather than get started in putting down in writing what God had to say to me. I could blame it on ADD, but it wasn’t lack of impulse control. I was making decisions with awareness that I was squeezing time with my Father out. As the day went on, I thought more about what I had done and thought about how the prodigal son came home to his father and his father ran out to meet him. My heart became repentant and I went to my Father realizing once again how much his love for me consumes me. It was a personal ‘Jubilee’ for me – a time of being set free and restored.
After his baptism, Jesus returned to Galilee and on the Sabbath he was in the synagogue. He read the prophesy from Isaiah 61, “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.” Luke 4:18-19
Leviticus 25:8-55 describes Jubilee. Every 50 years, Jubilee is declared and each is to return to their family property and their own clan. It is a year of restoration. Isaiah 61 is a prophecy regarding a more complete restoration which was to come through Jesus Christ. After reading the prophecy, Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21
“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked.” Luke 4:22 In my mind, I hear Nathanael asking, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” John 1:46 Jesus looks into their hearts and minds and realizes that they have preconceived notions of who he is and have not let room for him to be more than Joseph’s son. Even as they are listening to him, they are putting up the bars in their minds, shutting him out because they don’t believe he is worthy of their respect. He is just the kid next door who happens to be able to put words together and make them sound good.
Rather than play games, Jesus addresses the situation. He tells them that he will not perform miracles in their town like in Capernaum because ‘no prophet is accepted in his hometown.’ Luke 4:24 He talks about the widow in Zaraphath getting the help from Elijah even though there were many who could have used the help in Israel and Naaman the Syrian being healed of leprosy by Elisha even though there were many in Israel with leprosy that were not healed at that time. By the time he was done, the people had gone from amazed to furious. “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” Luke 4:28-30
I wonder why the people became furious with him and wanted to kill him. What ‘buttons’ had he pushed? It doesn’t say that they accused him of blasphemy (which is punishable by stoning to death), but it would appear that is what they were doing. These were not nasty people who would rather shoot you than look at you. These were normally reasonable people. Why else would they try to kill Jesus? They had essentially tried him on the spot and found him guilty of blasphemy. He claimed to be the Messiah they were looking for. But in their minds, he could not be. He was Joseph’s son. So even when their ears heard the ‘gracious words that came from his lips’, their minds could not accept that he was the Christ.
Another button that he pushed was pointing out that God was reaching out to Gentiles even when his ‘chosen people’ had needs that weren’t being met. Why did Jesus bring this up now with this particular group of people? Jesus essentially said that he would not do miracles for them in Nazareth like he did in Capernaum. It seems that their hearts were not in the right place to see the miracles as a confirmation of his being the Messiah, but rather they would see them only as tricks done by the hometown boy.
We often write scripts for each other and put people in boxes and we won’t let them out. That is the basis of prejudice and stereotypes. We do it to our children almost daily as they are growing up. “You look just like your grandmother.” “You sound just like Uncle Harry.” “You can’t help yourself. It’s in your genes.” “You’re going to grow up and be just like your Aunt Sally.” And we do it to other people around us. We label them as “political right wing” or as “out in left field” or as “one of them”.
Jesus did not do miracles in his home town because the people said he was the son of Joseph and placed him in a box. They did not allow that he really was the Son of God and had a different purpose than they had scripted for him. They were impressed with his knowledge, but not with his purpose. Today, we often wonder out loud why we don’t see more miracles. Is it because we have put God in a box and placed him up on a shelf? Sure, he created the world. And we believe that he sent Jesus and our sins have been forgiven because he died for us. But what about Jubilee? “…preach good news to the poor… proclaim freedom for the prisoners… recovery of sight for the blind… release the oppressed… proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Was that just for the 3 years of Jesus’ ministry on this earth? Or is Jubilee still happening? Can I let God out of the box I have placed him in so he can continue to proclaim that Jesus is the Christ and he has come to bring healing and justice?
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