Expecting the Miraculous: Open the Box

I slept in again today, and by that I mean, I didn't get up for my early, early alarm, but my daughter's alarm went off at six, so I woke up to that and still had a little bit of time to spend with Jesus this morning.

All that to say, this'll be short, because I've got to get ready for work, but here's what I read this morning: Luke 4:14-30. Jesus has just gotten back from the desert where Satan' done his best to tempt the Son of God into sin, and all his efforts are a big fat failure. 

Jesus could be proud of Himself, right? Except pride leads to all sorts of sin, so instead of the Scriptures saying: "Jesus, proud of Himself, returned to Galilee..."

Wait, scratch that: "Jesus return to Galilee in the power of the Spirit."

And because He is the Son of God, and because He operates by the power of the Spirit, He goes around the whole countryside up there near the Sea of Galilee, stopping in towns as He goes, teaching in their synagogues.

Until He gets to Nazareth. 

And this is where it gets really interesting. The people of Nazareth knew He was teaching and preaching nearby. They've been hearing stories. Luke 4:14 says: "...And news about Him spread through the whole countryside."

These same people who lived in Nazareth also knew Jesus the boy, Jesus the young man. They'd possibly seen Mary lead Jesus through the meat-market to look for a suitable animal to eat for supper. They may have seen Jesus in a playful wrestling match with one or another of his brothers. Maybe one of his sisters worked as a seamstress in Nazareth. Maybe another one of his sisters dyed cloth. 

What I'm saying is: People knew Jesus' humanity, because while we -- over 2,000 years later -- focus almost entirely on His divinity -- these people knew Him only as Jesus... the guy next door. Jesus, Joseph's son. Jesus, the carpenter's apprentice.

I watched Dallas Jenkins, director of The Chosen (an excellent show about the life and ministry of Jesus, by the way; it is not the Scriptures and should never be used in place of the Scriptures, but boy, does it help you see the life of Jesus in such a real and powerful way), hop onto Facebook yesterday to mitigate some anger roused over the latest episode where many people were offended, because there was a scene that showed Jesus practicing His famous Sermon on the Mount: "You are salt. Salt has to... No, hmm. You are the salt of the earth..." Etc.

Because I slept in, I don't have time to fully grapple with this idea like I'd like to, but I just want to remind us -- Jesus was 100% divine, God in the flesh, God stepped onto earth, perfect, sinless... and Jesus was 100% human -- a man who sweated and maybe had body odor if He didn't bathe soon enough. 

Okay, back to Luke: Jesus walks into Nazareth after several days of traveling around the Galilean countryside, and news has spread. So He comes back to His hometown. The place where He grew up. Keep in mind, his own brothers and sisters do not believe He is Who He claims to be. And it's possible that there are some awkward silences, perhaps some arguments at home, before the Sabbath when Jesus gets up and walks to the synagogue. 

What is going through His head, I wonder? This is a new role He's stepping into. He's filled up with the power of the Spirit, according to Luke 4:14, and He's done some solid mission work -- right up to this point. 

He knows what's going to happen, He know the unbelieving hearts of the people He's speaking to, but He does what He does next anyway.

I don't know if, in the synagogue, you can just apply to teach the day of, or if you have to prearrange your speaking role, but whatever the case -- Jesus stood up to read to the people gathered there. Someone handed him the scroll that contained the writings of Isaiah, and He opens it. 

He reads Isaiah 61:1-2: "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."

This is a passage that most of the Jews would agree is referring to the Lord's promised Messiah, the long, long, long awaited One. 

Jesus rolls up the scroll, hands it back to the guy who brought it to Him, and sits down (someone once told me that Jewish rabbis sat down to teach in synagogue). Luke says: "The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened to Him..."

All the things they'd heard about Jesus, preaching in surrounding towns, all the news stories are hovering in the silent air as they watch -- breath caught -- to see how their little Jesus Whom they've watched grow up -- will respond to the passage of Scripture that relates the promise of the Messiah.

And Jesus breaks the silence with the first words out of His mouth: "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Jesus drops a bomb, even though no bomb has been produced up to that point.

The conversation buzzes around the room: "Isn't this Joseph's son?" 

But this isn't even where the tide turns: The people are still waiting for Jesus to do the miraculous things they've been hearing about Him from Capernaum.

Jesus responds to this anticipation by telling two stories: One story of when Elijah had ignored the widows of Israel and went instead to minister to the widow of Zarephath (a foreigner). The other story about when Elisha ignored the lepers in Israel and instead healed the foreign oppressor Naaman. 

And the people in the synagogue were furious. Jesus was theirs. How dare He talk about ministry outside of their protection, outside of their boundaries!

So, as loving community does... they decide to kill Him. They drive Him out of town to a hill where they're going to throw Him over a cliff. It's not Jesus' time to die yet, so He turns around and walks right through them -- whether miraculously, or because they suddenly felt guilty, Luke doesn't say.

"And He went on His way..." Not the Nazarenes' way. His way.

God's way. God works in ways that are incomprehensible to us, and that's okay. That's good, even. If Jesus only worked in the ways that I, Tamara, found comprehensible, what a sad, small God He would be. 

God loves to blow our minds. Let's not box Him in.

And with that, I need to get to work. But keep that box open today. Watch out for the amazing thing Jesus does. Expect them. He's not going to disappoint you. :)

Love y'all.