Jesus Rejected in Nazareth _ Manger to Messiah _ Episode 8 _ Lineage

One disappointment lay in the early days of Jesus' ministry. Despite the miracles that had been done, despite the teachings that had been given that had moved and inspired the masses, Jesus was rejected here in his hometown of Nazareth. During his childhood and youth he would have attended the synagogue here and would have known the people, but he had never been back to his hometown during his public ministry. Now the Bible says he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day The passage of Scripture that Jesus chose to read was Isaiah 61 verse 1 and 2, which reads, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. This was a messianic prophecy that they were all familiar with, and Jesus had spoke this about himself. Standing in front of them he said, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. This prophecy spoke about their spiritual bondage and captivity, that the Messiah would free them from the power of evil and restore the light of truth. This offended their pride and indicated to them that the work that Jesus was going to do was entirely different from that which they expected Messiah to do, namely free them from Roman rule. They were not so much interested in spiritual freedom as they were in literal freedom from their Roman oppressors. The Bible records that they started to ask, Who is this man? Is this not Joseph, the carpenter's son? Maybe they were mocking his lowly profession, or maybe they were casting doubt on his parental claims. Having been born of a virgin with no biological father, it was a story that no doubt brought laughter and disbelief. The Bible says that they were actually offended. Offended that he, a carpenter's son, would stand in front of them and claim to be the Messiah. Jesus then said that the prophet has no honor in their home country, and gave some examples of Elijah, who was fed by the widow of Sidon, and Elisha, who was largely rejected by Israel, but whom Naaman, a captain in the Syrian army, listened to and was healed. Jesus had come to his hometown and instead of being welcomed with open arms, instead of them being his biggest and strongest supporters, he was rejected. Sometimes those we love are the hardest ones to reach, and they don't think we have their best interest at heart. If you have been shunned by your family or your friends, then understand that Jesus knows what you're going through and has both sympathy and empathy with you. They were so angry that they dragged Jesus out of the city to a nearby clifftop or gorge, and were going to throw him down to his death. But he slipped away from amongst them and went to safety. Jesus had not completed his ministry yet. There was still much to accomplish, and it wasn't the right time for him to die. Truth was unpopular in Jesus' day, and truth is unpopular in our day. They had incorrect views of prophecy that Jesus sought to correct. He had spoken the truth with power and with humility, and they had rejected it. Today Jesus calls for us to speak the truth with boldness, with humility, in the power of the Spirit, fearless of consequences like Jesus did back then.