Читать книгу With My Eyes On Jesus - Dale Goldsmith - Страница 9

Luke 4:18–29: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, (19) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” . . . (21) Then he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” . . . (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.

Context: In his hometown synagogue, Jesus offers himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of a compassionate Messiah.

Meditation: Betrayal. Hasn’t it happened to each of us? Jesus would get a lot of it: rejection by political hacks and religious bureaucrats. They were somehow distant, at “city hall,” or far off in the seats of power. But back home?

Here is Jesus, virtually at the start of his mission on earth, given a terminal diagnosis by so many of those around him. Threatened with an ugly death by popular opinion. Though the immediate riot fails in its intent, we are getting a clear picture that Jesus’ future promises to be fraught with danger.

Why are the people and the authorities focused on killing Jesus? Many of us “grew up” with Jesus—at church, or even in popular culture’s lite version of Christianity. Have we been complicit with this hometown mob who would throw him and his message over a cliff or under the bus?

He brings what sounds like good news. It is new; it means change; obviously it is news that his hometown folks don’t like. Are we a part of that? This Scripture demands close reading to see what Jesus has claimed and why that should have called for a lynching.

Prayer: Help me to hear hope in Jesus’ prophecy-fulfilling vocation and keep me close to him as he navigates these rough seas. Amen.

Today: Would this be a good day to start undoing a betrayal?