Rejection!

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners,

and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of our Lord’s favor.

Luke 4:18-19 (Isaiah 61:1-2)

Jesus was at home in Nazareth, and on the Sabbath day, He went to the synagogue, which was His custom.  He was asked to read, and handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  Unrolling it, He read the words of our scripture today – a prophecy of the works of the Messiah.  At the end of the reading the returned the scroll, sat down, and said:  Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

They were all amazed at His gracious words, but Jesus wasn’t finished yet.  He challenged those who refused to believe in Him.  He brought up the story of Elijah during the famine, when he was sent to a widow who was not of Israel.  He followed that with the story of the healing of Naaman, who was also not from Israel.

The congregation was not amused by these putdowns to the chosen of Israel.  In fury, they drove Him out of town to a cliff, where they intended to throw Him down to his death.  But Luke records that Jesus simply walked right through the crowd and went on His way.