Friday, November 4
Amazed to enraged
Scripture: Ezra 7-8, Luke 4
Luke 4:22 They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
Luke 4:28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged.
Observation
When Jesus spoke in the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, the people were amazed. However, by the time Jesus finished, they were enraged and tried to throw Him over a cliff and kill Him! What did Jesus say that made people swing from amazed to enraged?
In v. 25-27, Jesus used the examples of the widow at Zarephath in Elijah’s day who was miraculously fed, and Naaman the Syrian army commander who was cured of leprosy in Elisha’s day. Two Gentiles. “There were many widows in Israel” but God sent Elijah to a Gentile widow. “There were many lepers in Israel” but God used Elisha to cure a Gentile leper.
What was Jesus saying? He was announcing that God’s salvation and favor were available to anyone, not just Israel. And it infuriated His Jewish neighbors. He included those they excluded, and He challenged one of their most cherished beliefs: that they alone were the chosen and favored of God.
Application
How fickle we are! I’ve seen many people leave our church when I said one thing that they found offensive. They flipped from amazed to enraged.
And I have to admit that I see that same fickleness in me.
When our cherished notions are challenged, we quickly become defensive, even to the point of rage and violence. But what if our notions are wrong? What if, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, we are clinging to a mistaken notion about God and ourselves?
Dr. Jim Edwards wrote this startling observation about this passage:
“We should not be surprised if Jesus was rejected by outsiders and enemies. The unsettling truth of this story is that the greatest danger to the way of God in this world is posed by those who are closest to it. Jesus is rejected not in Sodom and Gomorrah, but in Nazareth. He is betrayed not by the devil, but by one of the Twelve whom he chose. He is crucified not in pagan Rome, but in the heart of Israel at Jerusalem. The rejection of Jesus repeats the rejection of God in the history of Israel, whose ultimate adversary was not Baal worship or foreign nations, but “my own people who are bent on turning from me, declares the Lord” (Hosea 11:7). “[Jesus] came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11).” (Edwards, J. R. (2015). The Gospel according to Luke, p. 142. Eerdmans.)
There is a frightening thought: those most likely betray Jesus are those closest to Him. It should keep us humble.
Prayer: Lord, I see this fickleness in me—help me! I don’t want to be someone who is amazed by You one moment and enraged the next. Nor do I want to be that way with others. Give me a humble, teachable heart.