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
What have you done for me lately? Such an icky question. Is someone only worth the last good thing they did to meet our need, affirm our sense of self, or gift us generously. The folks in Jesus’ hometown were in awe of his wonderful words when it sounded like there was something in it for them. Which indeed there was! But once they realized he was a mere “mortal,” Joseph’s boy from the neighborhood, they began to doubt. Does God only show up as dazzling light, a resonant voice booming from the clouds, smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand? The whole Jesus event is predicated on the “with-us-ness” of God—walking with us, hurting with us, weeping with us, eating, praying, growing tired, fearful, or frustrated—upending our expectations of how God is for us by being so surprisingly with us. Even when we are ready to pitch the whole idea over the cliff.
Prayer
God of surprises, what if we could just let go of what we think you should be and open our hearts, our bodies, our lives to who you actually are. Could we bear the wonder of it? Oh, loving God, let us try! Amen.
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