The people of Nazareth are excited, there is this rabbi
in town who does miracles and claims to be the Messiah. So they ask him to do a miracle like he’s
done in Capernaum, and that’s when the story turns.
Read Luke 4:13-30 especially 4:24-27 and journal some of your thoughts
It’s when Jesus is accepted in his hometown that he drops
this line about not being accepted in his hometown. Jesus then references two
stories, one about Elijah who while there was a drought in Israel went to
Zarephath (pagan country) and brought a widows son back from the dead. The
second story is about Elisha who doesn’t heal people in Israel but heals Naaman
a Syrian. It’s after he says this that the crowd gets angry and tries to kill
him. We’ll talk about that tomorrow, but the question for today is what did
Jesus say by referencing these verses, that made everyone so angry?
The first reference comes from 1 Kings 17, which begins
with Israel experiencing a drought for 3 and a half years because of their
faithlessness. During this time God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath which is
pagan country and go to this widow who will feed you. As the story unfolds, she
is the one who shows faith in God (seriously read 1 Kings 17). The second
reference comes from 2 Kings 5 where Elisha heals Naaman (a Syrian – GASP) from
his leprosy while he curses his disobedient servant (an Israelite) with the
very disease the Syrian had.
If you were part of this Nazarene crowd, who believed so
passionately that the Messiah would come from Nazareth, how would you respond
to Jesus quoting these two stories about God’s servants healing foreigners
while showing the weakness of the Israelites?
Meditate on this for today, what is Jesus telling these
people?
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