Great Expectations

" Jesus began to speak to those in the Temple. All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. 'Isn't this Joseph's son?', they asked?
'I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed -- only Naaman the Syrian'.
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.  But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way." -[Luke 4: 20-30].


When Jesus spoke in the Temple, it was as a visiting rabbi, who were allowed to preach in the synagogues. In this Scripture, Jesus was speaking in Nazareth, where He grew up.

Perhaps you have spoken to a group, and what you have to say is not what they had expected. Or, you walk into a room and the audience apparently expected someone younger, or older; or, a tall male rather than a short woman. The audience becomes the quintessential "tough crowd."

When Jesus speaks here in Nazareth, He reads from the prophet Isaiah, regarding the coming of the Messiah. Then, He announces, "Today, this Scripture [prophesy] is fulfilled in your hearing."

The reaction is swift: 'Isn't this [an ordinary man from Nazareth] Joseph [the carpenter's] son?'
In other words, 'You are just Joseph's kid, who do you think YOU are?'

What Jesus says next enrages the crowd. He points out that He is not here to rescue just the Israelites after their return from Babylonian exile. He has rescued instead, not Israelite widows, but a widow from Sidon, who is not Jewish. Jesus has also rescued Naaman the Syrian, a Gentile. Hearing themselves compared to the "wicked" Canaanites and Gentile infuriated the Israelites.

The Israelites expected a political leader from the line of David, a strict observer of rabbinic law, a brilliant military strategist who could deliver the Israelites from oppression, a judge who is wise and fair, but a human being. The notion of God as man was heretical. [Judaism 101: "Mashiach: The Messiah."]

So, the crowd drove Jesus out of town. They even tried to throw Him off a cliff.

Jesus was NOT as they expected. The crowd mocked Him: "He's the carpenter's son." They drove Him out of town. They tried to kill Him.

All my life, I have dealt with difficult people. People with whom I have a fundamental difference. People who have been cruel to me. Incredibly rude. Gossiping about me behind my back. Telling lies about me. Judging me, when they know nothing about me. Maneuvering against me, because they feel threatened by what I represent.

Am I "too smart" for a woman? "Too kind",  for a woman from the North ? "Too humanist" for someone coming from a well-established family?

All I know is how I bristled, when my family tried to mold me, like a piece of clay, into their image. I am creative and soulful; my family tried to turn me into a hard-nosed business woman.  I am a gentle and sensitive lady; my parents sent me to work with the "Wolves of Wall Street".   My family was stripping me of my essence. I became a cipher. I could not become them; I could not be myself. I became a ghost, nothing, empty, useless.

And yet, my tactic when I meet a difficult person, has always been to try to change the other person!

Recently, I have begun to see that maybe I have had a bit of a "God complex." I have been going around trying to "tweak" the difficult person, to my liking. Rather egotistical of me, to believe that the other person will change, just for me! I am spending vast amounts of time and energy, trying to shape others in my image, just as my parents did to me. I don't guess the other person likes this, any more than I did. . .

OR, I have been running away and hiding from difficult people, thereby foregoing the opportunity of speaking the Truth to them.

I notice that Jesus simply speaks the Truth to the crowd. He does not try to defend Himself, or change Himself to force them to like Him. He does not apologize for Himself, or sweeten His talk, or water down His message, to make His preaching more palatable.

When the crowd becomes aggressive towards Him, mocking Him and threatening violence, He does not flee in cowardice. Nor does He accept their abuse.  Nor does He stand His ground and speak louder, or gesture emphatically, so as to act out His message. Jesus walks THROUGH the crowd and disappears. He concludes, "Some folks are not ready to hear my message."

This is not a devastating defeat for Jesus. To the contrary, this is the start of His brilliant ministry, where He goes about "teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease."-- [Matthew 4:23].  In other words, at the first sign of resistance, Jesus did not give up! He keeps going. . .

 I know now that I cannot transform another person. Only God can do that, and only if He gains the cooperation of that person!

BUT I CAN speak the Truth. I can remain calm, and true to the message. And, if I have lost the person's attention and respect, then, I can pass on through, and go on my way--  speaking and BEING the Good News, and bestowing the blessings of healing upon others.

[Related Postings : "The Tyranny of Conformity", Jan. 20, 2016"; "Confronting Sin", Sept. 3, 2011.]

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