Rejected at Home

~~~ 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ~~~ Psalm 119 ~~~ Luke 4:16-30 ~~~

They rose up, drove him out of the town...

Jesus came home, went to synagogue as was the custom,

 read from the Isaiah scroll, amazed and infuriated 

the elders so much they were enraged.

They were so angry that he would dare put himself in a category

 with the great prophet Elijah that they tried to push 

him off the edge of the cliff.

Clearly they were not ready to hear him publicly 

identify with the words he read.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me...

Imagine putting yourself in the synagogue hearing

this young local boy making such claims before the whole assembly.

I might have also had reservations.

I remember when I returned home after a year away at college;

I really thought I knew so much.

I wanted to share my new found knowledge, 

but there was resistance.

No, my family did not run me out of the house

 or think of pushing me down the stairs, but there was resistance.

Jesus met with resistance from the very beginning, 

but he did not let that stop him.

Jesus had the wisdom given to him from God. Jesus knew 

the prophet Isaiah was speaking of him.

The 'anointed one' was in the midst and they rejected him 

as someone who was speaking out of line.

They never even heard the rest of the prophecy concerning the poor.

...to bring glad tidings to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

In effect Jesus is saying to the men of Nazareth, 

you missed your chance for to see the workings of God among you.

It takes the wisdom of the Spirit before we can learn to 

care about the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed.

Even then it is not so easy or convenient to take action.

We live in a world where taking action can put one in great danger.

We live in a world that has forgotten who put us here.

We live in a world where most think they deserve everything.

We have forgotten.

We are the poor.

We are the captives.

We are the blind.

We are the oppressed.

We are poor because we are not rich in the spirit of God.

We are captives of our own desires to the 

exclusion of God's plan for us.

We are the blind because we do not see all 

that is possible for us to become.

We are the oppressed because we live surrounded in fear.

Jesus may have fled his hometown 

but his message of love kept them thinking.

The elders did not like what they heard from Jesus.

I can imagine many days later they were still sitting

 around discussing what had happened.

What about us?

We must pray for greater wisdom from the Holy Spirit.

It will then be possible for us to have abundance, 

freedom, restored vision, and to be released. 

May we be Blessed with true wisdom

that can only come from the Holy Spirit.

~~~Peace~~~

Rejected for Doing Good Works

~~~ Jeremiah 20:10-13 ~~~ Psalm 18 ~~~ John 10:31-42 ~~~

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, 
“I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”

The crowd picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
They are accusing Jesus of speaking irreverently against God.
They accuse him of the serious crime of blasphemy.
They are taking issue with Jesus claiming to be the son of God.

Jesus tries to explain to them that he is doing what the Father
 has sent them to do.
Jesus did appoint himself...
God consecrated him...
God sent Jesus as his representative.
Jesus gives these non believers an option.
He says to them.
Look if you don't believe me what about my works?

"...even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

Jesus had been healing the lame, casting out demons,
making the sick well, even raising the dead,
but still they reused to accept.

Jesus must have been frustrated that his own people rejected him.
It gives me great comfort to know that Jesus
went around only doing good works and was labeled as a blasphemer.

It is important that we find our selves in Scripture.
We have all been rejected at some point in our lives by someone.
Perhaps we have we have been rejected by our own family members.

If Jesus, who went about doing good works is rejected;
we should not be surprised or hurt when
 we find ourselves in a similar painful position.

We are on the cusp of Holy Week.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus will be triumphantly welcomed
only to suffer the greatest rejection through his passion and crucifixion. 

Lord, please bless us with hope in you even
 in spite of rejection.

Let not the fear of rejection halt
our continuing endeavors to perform good works.

Peace.

Rejected and Dismissed

~~~ Jeremiah 26:1-9 ~~~ Psalm 69 ~~~ Matthew 13: 54-58 ~~~

Jeremiah and Jesus both rejected and dismissed by those in

closest proximity to their hometown.

"...When Jeremiah finished speaking
all that the LORD bade him speak to all the people,
the priests and prophets laid hold of him, crying,
"You must be put to death!"

Jeremiah had been given the inspired words of God, but the people rejected him.

Often when the truth is revealed to us we prefer to deny what we are hearing.

When our ears hear words that are not flattering to what we hold as truth

we tend to turn away.

We so want to believe what we want to believe no matter what.

It is a common struggle we all face.

Jeremiah was trying to warn the people...

God was giving them a chance to change, but they would not listen.

They remained hard headed which translated into

hardness of heart as well.

It must have been very discouraging for the prophets when they were

dismissed as speaking foolishness.

Years later enter a humble and lowly man, Jesus.

The son of a carpenter; not well schooled by their standards.

"Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter's son'
Is not his mother named Mary..."

After all the scribes had all of the knowledge. They were the highly

educated. What did this man know? Who was he to be telling them

how things were?

Where was he getting his foolish ideas from? Who had he been hanging around?

He was obviously confused about the truths.

Jesus had no idea about branding and market research.

Even though The Father had sent him and the Holy Spirit had conceived

him in the womb of Mary; he was not a person of authority.

At least not to the synogogue officials.

They were puzzled by what they were hearing and his actions.

When something is puzzling it is much easier to ignore.

Think about the things you do not understand...

Do you really take the time to investigate and research or

do you just leave them for others to deal with?

It was inevitable that Jesus would need to leave his familiar surroundings.

The farther away he got from those who knew his background

the less likely he would be rejected.

Those in his area had created biases within themselves

especially the synogogue officials.

Let us join in prayer with the psalmist...

Are we willing to be outcast and insulted for the Lord?

Are we zealous for the Lord?

We cannot dismiss the words of the Lord.

It is these very words that bring life and joy to our soul

in times of tribulation.

You are free and open to believe without bias against this

lowly carpenter's son....

JESUS.