Luke 4:21-30 (NRSV)
Read Luke 4:21-30 on biblegateway.com
Verse 21Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Verse 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" Verse 23He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" Verse 24And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. Verse 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; Verse 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. Verse 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." Verse 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. Verse 29They 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. Verse 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Devotion
The people of Nazareth who gathered to worship in the synagogue knew Jesus as Joseph’s son. He was just another young man from down the street, and they were accustomed to hearing him read and teach—although his gracious words seemed to move them in a way others’ did not. But apart from his gifts as a teacher, he was an ordinary and familiar fellow ... until he began to carry out the task for which he had been anointed. He announced the restoration of justice not only for Israel, but among the Gentiles, and the crowd immediately turned on him. The neighborhood darling was not so ordinary after all!
We often witness God’s work through the ordinary and familiar, through simple gifts, such as water, bread and wine. But take note: the power of God revealed through them is not as ordinary as the gifts themselves!
Prayer
Surprising God, we give you thanks that from age to age, your love never wavers. Open our hearts and minds, so that we might notice the unexpected shape of your love in the ordinary. Amen.