Not Being Accepted At Home

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away. - Lk. 4:24-30

This is event is really the start of Jesus' public ministry. This is where he announces that his message isn't what his own people want to hear. It also serves as almost a bookend to how his minstry ends. He begins by being run out and almost killed in Nazareth and within three years he will be welcomed into Jerusalem and then executed.

In today's view, Jesus really doesn't say anything too radical in his announcement. He is absolutely right, no prophet is ever accepted in their hometown. Why? Because no one likes someone telling them that they are wrong, especially someone who is a member of that very community! To them, it is almost treason.

Elijah and Elisha were despised in their native lands. The queen tries to have both of them killed just because they spoke out against her immoral and pagan ways. They are only saved by God and the kindness of widows who are not of their own people.

In the time of Jesus, to have someone come into the synagogue and then tell the audience that they are the savior who is not meant to be accepted by his own people is almost like shooting yourself in the foot. The Jewish view of the Messiah was a warrior king, like David, who would destroy the Roman power and wipe out all other people in the region. However, Jesus does not meet any of those requirements. He is a pacifist who preaches love not hate and is more accepting of the "outcasts" of Jewish society than he is of the Jewish leaders.

So the audience reacts with fury. They run him out of time and are about to cast him down the cliff. Then, Jesus miraculously walks through the crowd and escapes without any other confrontation. How is this possible? Did Jesus just "pull a Moses" and use his heavenly power to part the crowd and make his way out unharmed? Did God put up a barrier to separate his son from the angry mob? No one knows. Jesus is just saved from being tossed headlong to his death.

How often do we fear confronting others, especially those who are like us? How often do we fear retribution for standing up for what is right rather than what the popular trend tells us to believe? We should ask God for the support and protection that he gave his son on that day in Nazareth. May we be blessed with the ability to stand tall and confident in bringing attention to the problems we as a society have brought upon ourselves and the need to seek redemption.