Love hearing your thoughts! Hope you all are finding great power in your heart-felt searches of the scripture...
Today's reading is Luke 4:14-30. Pray for wisdom.
I apologize for not posting this yesterday. But maybe you didn't wait for me and have already read through it. And now is your chance to leave your comments!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Truth Hurts
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3 comments:
Jesus is in his home town and after reading the passage in the synagogue, claimed to be the the fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy. This shocked and offended those who had known him from childhood. Jesus frequently offended people and he still does today. I am reminded of the passage in Matt 11:6 "And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me." God wants us to break out of our preconceived notions of who He is, what He looks like and how He operates. If we are stuck in our traditions, we might easily miss the new radical move that God is making and He may be calling us to move out of our comfort zones. Ask me how I know. Ha!
I always thought the people of Nazareth were angry because of what Jesus was claiming, but when I read this tonight it seemed like they weren't angry until he implied that he wouldn't be performing any miracles for them. Or is this just when they pieced together the entirety of his claim?
Carol, you make some great points about traditions. I work with Hasidic Jews and can't get over how committed they are to following rules... all kinds of crazy rules. And then I've seen some of these people I know sin (big time), and I think, How can you justify that, and when you're doing such things does it even matter whether you're keeping Kosher or praying every few hours? And then I remember that I have the same problem, quite often... I get so caught up in traditions or routines, I miss out on those radical moves and calls...
It all comes back to Jesus. He died to fulfill the law and it is only through His grace that we are justified or made righteous. Any religion that denies Jesus came in the flesh and was the perfect sacrifice, has to have rules as a means to satisfying God's requirement for holiness. We know that just will never work because we would have to be perfect from birth. But we sometimes fall into the trap of striving instead of resting in the gracious gift of God through His Son.
Also in reference to Khara's comment of the people of Nazareth, the parallel scriptures in Matt 13:53-58, Mark 6:1-6, and John 6:42 give a little clearer picture of their attitude. Verse 58 reads: "And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief."
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