Ignorant familiarity
This week's study is on Luke 4:23-29:
Jesus was in his hometown preaching. The problem is, the people there suffered from a fatal mix of familiarity and ignorance. They thought they had him all figured out, and yet they couldn't learn a thing about who he actually was. Instead of giving him a loving hometown welcome, they were filled with murderous rage and chased him away.
Because they'd seen him in every day life, the people thought they knew all that was worth knowing about Jesus. And because they'd heard the stories of what he did elsewhere, they thought they knew all about how he worked. Jesus was here to make tables and make good on every promise they'd made on his behalf and that's all there was to it.
But at the same time, Jesus was the son of God. And he wasn't there to make furniture and perform tricks. But they couldn't see that because all they saw was their hometown boy and the things they wanted from him. Their preconceptions prevented them from opening their eyes and seeing the opportunity they had in front of them.
In Elijah and Elisha's time there was the same issue. The people who grew up with a knowledge of God didn't believe there was any more to be had. The people who believed didn't believe that there was any more to be believed. So only the people who encountered God freshly, with an outsider's perspective, encountered the fullness of what he had to offer them.
In a lot of ways, the modern church is a bit like the town of Capernaum. We have had the gospel for so long that we just assume it's something mundane. "Oh Jesus? I used to color in pictures of him in Sunday School. On prom night we all locked ourselves in the church basement and did an all-nighter with him so that we wouldn't have sex. And at Christmas we hang angels on the tree, and put baby Jesus on there too. Yeah I know Jesus. I cross myself every time I buy a lottery ticket." And yet we don't know him. Not fully.
I wonder sometimes if this is why we hear of more miracles in places like China or Africa. The church hasn't been entrenched in those places for so long as to become mundane. When people encounter him for the first time, they don't mistake him for someone they think they already know.
Without reading these verses and knowing what the Spiritual response should be, I think most of us would be upset if someone came up to us and told us we don't know who Jesus is. Maybe not as upset as the folks in Capernaum, where we take the person and try to murder them, but offended nonetheless. And yet when Jesus shared what he shared, I think it was to spark curiosity, to make the people pursue him, not as a lynch mob, but because of hunger to know more.
So consider the possibility that you might not really know Jesus. Are you curious? Do you want to know more? Say a prayer and share your heart with him. Ask him to show you what you had no idea was possible. And be thankful to have encountered him without chasing him off in anger.
Jesus said to them, “No doubt you will quote to me the proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ and say, ‘What we have heard that you did in Capernaum, do here in your hometown too.’” And he added, “I tell you the truth, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up three and a half years, and there was a great famine over all the land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a woman who was a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, forced him out of the town, and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff.
Jesus was in his hometown preaching. The problem is, the people there suffered from a fatal mix of familiarity and ignorance. They thought they had him all figured out, and yet they couldn't learn a thing about who he actually was. Instead of giving him a loving hometown welcome, they were filled with murderous rage and chased him away.
Because they'd seen him in every day life, the people thought they knew all that was worth knowing about Jesus. And because they'd heard the stories of what he did elsewhere, they thought they knew all about how he worked. Jesus was here to make tables and make good on every promise they'd made on his behalf and that's all there was to it.
But at the same time, Jesus was the son of God. And he wasn't there to make furniture and perform tricks. But they couldn't see that because all they saw was their hometown boy and the things they wanted from him. Their preconceptions prevented them from opening their eyes and seeing the opportunity they had in front of them.
In Elijah and Elisha's time there was the same issue. The people who grew up with a knowledge of God didn't believe there was any more to be had. The people who believed didn't believe that there was any more to be believed. So only the people who encountered God freshly, with an outsider's perspective, encountered the fullness of what he had to offer them.
In a lot of ways, the modern church is a bit like the town of Capernaum. We have had the gospel for so long that we just assume it's something mundane. "Oh Jesus? I used to color in pictures of him in Sunday School. On prom night we all locked ourselves in the church basement and did an all-nighter with him so that we wouldn't have sex. And at Christmas we hang angels on the tree, and put baby Jesus on there too. Yeah I know Jesus. I cross myself every time I buy a lottery ticket." And yet we don't know him. Not fully.
I wonder sometimes if this is why we hear of more miracles in places like China or Africa. The church hasn't been entrenched in those places for so long as to become mundane. When people encounter him for the first time, they don't mistake him for someone they think they already know.
Without reading these verses and knowing what the Spiritual response should be, I think most of us would be upset if someone came up to us and told us we don't know who Jesus is. Maybe not as upset as the folks in Capernaum, where we take the person and try to murder them, but offended nonetheless. And yet when Jesus shared what he shared, I think it was to spark curiosity, to make the people pursue him, not as a lynch mob, but because of hunger to know more.
So consider the possibility that you might not really know Jesus. Are you curious? Do you want to know more? Say a prayer and share your heart with him. Ask him to show you what you had no idea was possible. And be thankful to have encountered him without chasing him off in anger.
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