8/28/2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 2. 5-6)

“Leaving Nazareth, Jesus went and lived in Capernaum.  From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’” (Matthew 4.13, 17)

“But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way.” (Luke 4.30) 

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

We hear it often, and I have reflected on it or with it many times, “We must keep first things first.” Jesus didn’t have an issue with this at all. There were others within His circle of followers and friends who had difficulty understanding what was really “first.” The disciples themselves show this contrast from when they were called to follow Him and did so without question to when news came of Lazarus sick and nearly dead and Jesus delayed. But, the gospel story is filled with the challenge of “first priorities.” Again, Jesus didn’t have this challenge. His testimony then would be “We shouldn’t either.” And in this series of reflections, we have looked at a number of examples of “straight to the point” and “the strait mentality.” Jesus shows there is and has to be little variance in this line of thinking and the resulting actions of that thinking regardless of the consequences in this world. Yesterday, I reflected on Jesus’ returning “straightway” to His hometown of Nazareth. Regardless of the agenda to do so, the reality is that He did so. He preached there, taught there and did a little “work” there, too. But, it wasn’t His lifelong mission and purpose to stay there.

How easy it is to stay in a place where “this is all I know, have known and ever want to know.” In big cities, life goes on for a great long while usually our lifetime. In small towns, the fate is not so similar. In a drive off the beaten path, we find remnants of such small towns. We pause, even while we drive on, to consider “what must it have been like to live here.” But, Jesus’ loyalty to His “hometown” and His immediate family fell into the category of “My Kingdom is not of this world.” And while we may certain love to contextualize that statement made to Pilate as a geographic location of sorts, there is a much greater and more succinct interpretation of it we ought to consider. It is a context of faith, trust, authority and obedience. Jesus answers to a higher authority with unparalleled obedience by completely trusting in the faith of His Father. Jesus was a man of purpose that would be identified as “good,” that which serves the will of God. Even now, when the words of Jesus are uttered concerning “My Father in Heaven,” I have little doubt they carried a dual call to reality for Him. By the time Jesus returned to Nazareth as a man of thirty, His earthly “stepfather” was now in Paradise communing with His heavenly Father. Because of Joseph’s faithful trust and obedience to God His Father, he acted in full authority to raise Jesus not only as his own but as a vital member of the community of Israel. He knew full well what was said of those from Nazareth. It was repeated by Nathanael when Philip declared “We have found the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathanael responded, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” This wasn’t a spontaneous off the top of his head comment but an enduring evaluation of those from the out-of-the way city of Nazareth. Joseph himself must have heard it dozens of times in his workplaces in Capernaum, Bethlehem and Egypt. But, Joseph’s work spoke for itself. And so, too, did the work of Jesus. In fact, it was that “work” which created angst in His own hometown. However, it was not because He failed to do work there. The lack of work happened because the people had little faith in what Jesus said was His mission and purpose. Consequently, it was to be the mission and purpose of those in Nazareth. For many, that didn’t happen. Fortunately, for the Church of the Resurrection, it did as James and his family took up the cause and moved to Jerusalem to lead the local congregation there after Jesus ascended.

What we do see is that Jesus continued to keep first things first and moved without hesitation straight to the heart of His calling. When those in Nazareth railed against Him and lead Him to a precipice to be thrown down to His death, He walked “straight” through the crowd and (probably kicking the dust off His feet) went to Joseph’s work house in Capernaum and began to do ministry there with those who did believe and have faith. According to Matthew, what Jesus preached was the continuation of John’s preparatory message “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is Immanuel, God with us here and now.” Jesus was the walking, talking and working gospel of Jubilee. He set the captives free from sin. As it served good purpose, He healed the blind and made the lame to walk along with the deaf to hear. He restored families and hope. He sounded the urgency of living righteously with God and one another based on the word of God and not the purposes of men. He established the priority of “God’s people first” and the teaching of the mission which had always been theirs. That mission was not to be a community unto themselves but one whose light would shine into all the world. It was a light not contained in Jerusalem alone but in every synagogue, home church, riverside and campfire who dared to believe Jesus is the Christ and they were His disciples. This, mighty ones of God, is the “straight and strait way” which has been prepared for us and to which we are called to prepare for others….beginning but not limited to our own “home” town.

TODAY’S PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.