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Luke 4:28-30
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
Today we accept the Virgin Birth as foundational to our faith. In the little town of Nazareth, however, Mary’s pregnancy was whispered humiliation from father to son, from mother to daughter. Philip Yancey writes:
Nine months of awkward explanations, the lingering scent of scandal—it seems that God arranged the most humiliating circumstances possible for his entrance . . . when the Son of God became a human being he played by the rules, harsh rules: small towns do not treat kindly young boys who grow up with questionable paternity. [1]
The “scent of scandal” followed Jesus throughout His life, particularly in Nazareth; so when He read the Scripture in His hometown synagogue about the coming Messiah and applied Isaiah’s prophesy to Himself, those in Jesus’ hometown were furious. How could Jesus, who grew up down the street, be the Son of God? The worship service ended with Jesus being driven out of town to the nearby cliff.
Preconceived notions form a barrier to understanding. Something you heard in Sunday school or from your parents or friends may be keeping you from grasping the Person of Jesus. Here is the issue: Have you fully embraced Jesus as Lord of your life?
Father, I don’t have to try to throw Jesus off a cliff to reject Him. Open my eyes to see Jesus in His fullness. Then help me bow before Him every day in every area of my life. In His name. Amen.
[1] Phillip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1995).
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