Reflection
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Psalm 96
Luke 4: 16-30
Quite the display of shifting remarks in our gospel today. Jesus has traveled from Capernaum to Nazareth where He had grown up. Nazareth was not thought of as a prosperous and desirable place where people were suffering while awaiting the Messiah. Their whole lives they had been learning that a Messiah would come who would save them from their suffering, establish a new kingdom, and the people of Israel would be at the head of the class.
Jesus reads to them that very passage from Isaiah that prophecies of the Messiah, and He then tells them that He is that Messiah. Can you imagine the sense of happiness that initially filled that room? Finally, the one for whom they have been waiting for hundreds and thousands of years is finally here – right there in their presence. “Whew! What a relief!” Things changed pretty quickly though, now didn’t they.
This Jesus, this son of a carpenter…how could He possibly be the one who will do great miracles, set the captives free, and establish a new kingdom. C’mon….can’t be. Too good to be true, so they did not believe. The people of Nazareth had been comfortable with Jesus as the son of a carpenter, not Jesus the Messiah, the Christ.
We sometimes get too comfortable with Jesus don’t we. And when we do, our relationship with Him becomes stale, it stops fostering a richer understanding of how amazing God really is. Yes, God is amazing, and He does amazing things for and with us. So today, take time to just sit with Jesus. Go back and read the gospel passage again, and ask yourself “What amazing things has God done and I need to say thank you but have not yet done so?”
Beautiful day today! Smile at God!