Yesterday Jesus compared the people of Nazareth to the
people of Israel during their most faithless times. How do you think they would
respond?
Read Luke 4:13-30 especially verses 28-30 and journal
some thoughts
To say that they were angry is a bit of an
understatement! They are furious; they are on the verge of exploding! We are
Nazarenes! How dare this rabbi say we don’t have enough faith! They are so
angry that they set out to have him killed on the spot by stoning him.
In order to understand what happens next, we need to
understand a little about stoning in their world. Traditionally the person to
be stoned would be taken to a cliff which was about 18 feet tall, they would
have their hands bound behind them. Then the victim would be given a chance to
confess. Note if they confessed they were still stoned but they would then go
to heaven. Then anyone who thought the victim was guilty would pick up a stone
and throw it at the person. If the person survived the stoning (see Paul) that
meant that God thought they were innocent.
So often when we read verse 30, we read something
mystical into it. It’s almost like at this moment Jesus becomes a Jedi from
Star Wars and does a mind trick on everyone as he walks through the crowd. But
let’s ask ourselves a quick question; what has Jesus done wrong that would
deserve stoning? He called them faithless, but that’s not a stonable offence.
He claims to be Messiah, but once again Jesus was a rabbi with authority (S’mikah)
and lots of S’mikah rabbis claimed to be Messiah, so nothing there worthy of
being stoned. Jesus has done nothing wrong, he’s not guilty of anything and so
he walks through the crowd untouched.
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