Stop Wanting What you Cannot Attain

If you help bake, you want to lick the bowl. 

Scripture:

Luke 4:16    When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke 4:20   And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³ He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵ But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶ yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷ There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Observation:

As was his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue. It was common for the reader to stand for the reading of the Scripture, and sit to teach. Jesus read from Isaiah, one of their favorite texts, but when he began to interpret the passage, they were not pleased. 

The emphasis in the passage from Isaiah on the Spirit and anointing is powerful. This is soon after Jesus’ baptism and he is coming to tell the hometown crowd that the passage had been fulfilled. The Isaiah passage provides an outline for Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. 

The people said good things about him until he began to talk about those outside of Israel who were touched by God. This made them angry. Neale puts it this way: “To suggest God will favor Gentiles over Jews in the plan of salvation was to reject the central tenet of Judaism: Israel’s primacy as the covenant community of Yahweh” (Neale, NBBC). 

Prophecy is fulfilled when the people within his own community reject him. Cyril of Alexandria said, “they returned to their usual ways and said foolish and useless things about him.” Ambrose explained, “Indeed, he still preferred to heal the Jews, rather than destroy them, so that through the unsuccessful outcome of their frenzy, they would cease to want what they could not attain.” 

The beloved hometown boy enraged the people by speaking God’s truth. They were so angry that they wanted to throw him off a cliff, but somehow he was able to get through the crowd and left them to their own devices. 

Application:

The Israelites were in a frenzy over the arrival of the Messiah. They had formed in their own minds what this would mean for them and they were excited. Surely he would bring political and financial security, and they would be willing to follow him wherever he led. 

One can only imagine the disappointment in Nazareth. They had known Jesus his whole life and no one thought that there was anything unusual or extraordinary about him. Believing the hometown boy was their Savior was a complete disappointment to them, because he did not fit their preconceived notions. 

The Israelites wanted to be victorious over their oppressors. Jesus reads from Isaiah where the good news is proclaimed for the poor, the oppressed and the blind. They all see themselves in this narrative, and that surely God wants to relieve the pressures under which they are living because of the Roman authorities. They see themselves as the poor, blind and oppressed. Jesus does as well, but he expands upon the vision, for it is not one that is defined by political boundaries. Instead, the good news is to cross every human made barrier and reach all those who are in need — and this includes those whom the Jews may consider enemies. 

They become incensed at Jesus, because, surely they should be receiving all the power and benefit of the Messiah. They have been engaged in frenzy for years, hoping to gain political freedom. If you think about it, this was such folly. The mighty Roman empire stretched from Central Asia all the way up to Britain. The Israelites were a tiny people group. Somehow they had lost sight of the big picture. They served a great God who could accomplish a lot more than they could imagine, but it wasn’t the way that they wanted. 

God wasn’t going to just save Israel, God had a plan to save the whole world. Today, God’s plan continues to be one for the whole world. Sometimes we want God to do things according to our perspective, or what we think is best. Often, we find ourselves right there with the people of Nazareth, thinking in self-centered ways. Jesus is telling us to open our eyes and see the people whom we may consider enemies and realize that the Savior has coming for them too. That’s the big plan that challenges us to stop wanting what we cannot attain — in our own human power. 

If we are not careful, we may reject the truth of Jesus, just like the people of Nazareth and find ourselves failing as participants in the mission. 

Prayer:

Lord, I need to hear from you and follow your leading in my life day by day. Help me not to get so busy in planning and organizing that I fail to see what it is that you want to accomplish in and through me that I may not have imagined.  Amen.