Not Everybody Likes Faithful Preachers
"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 the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:27-30, NIV.
I have preached sermons that some people didn't like. But I have never faced the intensity of reaction that Jesus did as He spoke to His hometown people.
Interestingly enough, their initial response had been positive and supporting. "Great sermon!" And to think, He is Joseph's boy. And "all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22, RSV).
Jesus would have been the hero of the day if He had just stopped right there and let the crowds go on and on about how proud they were of their home-grown product.
But Jesus just had to be Jesus. They wanted healings like those that had taken place in Capernaum. But He had something they needed to hear, knowing all the while that it would lead to His rejection: "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" (verses 24-27, RSV).
And for those words they decided to kill Him (verses 28, 29). Why, because He preached something they didn't want to hear. Both of His illustrations uplifted God's saving grace to Gentiles. He had been scripturally correct, but that made no difference to them. They were mad enough to murder.
The church still has such people 2,000 years later. Preach something they don't like, even if it is faithful to the Bible, and they are out to get the preacher. Of course, they may not attempt to kill preachers and others they disagree with, but they do roast them, boil them, and fry them in their conversations with others who share the same spiritual illness.
We do well to consider the full scope of Scripture and the lessons taught by the congregation at Nazareth.
"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 the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Luke 4:27-30, NIV.
I have preached sermons that some people didn't like. But I have never faced the intensity of reaction that Jesus did as He spoke to His hometown people.
Interestingly enough, their initial response had been positive and supporting. "Great sermon!" And to think, He is Joseph's boy. And "all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke 4:22, RSV).
Jesus would have been the hero of the day if He had just stopped right there and let the crowds go on and on about how proud they were of their home-grown product.
But Jesus just had to be Jesus. They wanted healings like those that had taken place in Capernaum. But He had something they needed to hear, knowing all the while that it would lead to His rejection: "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. But in truth, I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian" (verses 24-27, RSV).
And for those words they decided to kill Him (verses 28, 29). Why, because He preached something they didn't want to hear. Both of His illustrations uplifted God's saving grace to Gentiles. He had been scripturally correct, but that made no difference to them. They were mad enough to murder.
The church still has such people 2,000 years later. Preach something they don't like, even if it is faithful to the Bible, and they are out to get the preacher. Of course, they may not attempt to kill preachers and others they disagree with, but they do roast them, boil them, and fry them in their conversations with others who share the same spiritual illness.
We do well to consider the full scope of Scripture and the lessons taught by the congregation at Nazareth.
RSS Feed
