¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region. ¹⁵ He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶ When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷ The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
¹⁹     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹ Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

²² Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

²³ Then he said, “You will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal yourself’—meaning, ‘Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.’ ²⁴ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.

²⁵ “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. ²⁷ And many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.”

²⁸ When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. ²⁹ Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, ³⁰ but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:14-30

Dear God, they went from pride in Jesus to fury in one moment. And why? All because he said your glory was being extended to the Gentiles. It was only a year or two ago I heard someone teach on this. I had never noticed it before. I thought they were offended at his insolence. “How dare this boy from our hometown think he’s better than us?!?” But that wasn’t it. They were mad because he invoked the idea that he was there for Gentiles too. The captives released? Gentiles too. Blind see? Gentiles too. Good news for the poor? Gentiles too. And here’s the biggie. The Lord’s favor? Your favor? Gentiles too.

As humans, we are simply too focused on our own good and survival. Our own advancement. If Jesus were to walk into a Russian church today and say he was there for the Ukrainians too, they would be furious. If we walked into a Ukrainian church and said he was there for the Russians, they would be furious. And I could go down the list. An Iranian mosque and say he was there for Americans too. An American church and say he was there for the captive, blind, poor South and Central Americans too. In every case, we would be mad he wasn’t there for us. And we certainly wouldn’t be inclined to help him help them. Those are the other people on the other side of the proverbial fence. We need to take care of our yard first. And we expect your loyalty to be with us.

It makes me think of the older son in the Prodigal Son parable. Of course, the father in that parable represents you. And you have your rebellious child you love, Israel. But is that child only Israel? Is maybe the younger child the Gentiles coming home to you while the older child, Israel, says, “No way!” I’m not sure if I’ve ever considered the rebellious child who left to be Gentiles before, but I need to go back and look at the beginning of that parable now:

The setup for the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:12) actually starts before two other similar parables at the beginning of the chapter:

15 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. ² This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

So the intimation here is that Jesus is referring to sinful Israelites, but I would say Gentiles can certainly be part of the mix.

Father, you are not mine and mine alone. And I don’t demand that you do anything for my life here. Sure, I will gladly accept what you’re willing to provide me. I’ll gladly accept any answers to my prayers for people I care about. But I don’t demand it. I am your child. You are my father. You know so much more about this world and what is your best for me and all of us than I do. I am just here to learn to love you and others better. And I cannot love them well if I am jealous of your love for them at the same time. So I offer my worship to you. I offer my love and time to others. Help me to know how to live a life that draws others closer to you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen