<\/p>\n
He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, \u2018Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter\u2019s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?\u2019 And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, \u2018Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house.\u2019 And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.<\/p>\n
Reflection<\/strong><\/p>\n This passage lays plain the sacrifice of following the way of Jesus.<\/p>\n There are times when being counter-cultural, counter-endless growth, counter-hate, counter-injustice, counter-despair, counter-division can cause offence to those who benefit from or are simply overwhelmed by the comfort of the status-quo.<\/p>\n Am I being pessimistic or realistic when I say that it doesn\u2019t surprise me that in Luke\u2019s account of this story (Luke 4: 16-30), the crowds don\u2019t simply \u2018take offence\u2019, they take Jesus \u2018to the brow of a hill, so that they might throw him off\u2019?<\/p>\n Any why? Because he points out their lack of care for orphans, widows, and leapers. <\/p>\n We can see around us the efforts to which people and organisations will go to stop a message of diversity, equality, and hopeful joy, with its ability to raise all humanity and creation to the fullness that God desires and of which, Jesus speaks and shows us through his life, death and new life.<\/p>\n Some thoughts for all of us:<\/p>\n What has your church community done recently that caused offence because of its radical love?<\/p>\n Who have you welcomed and included, causing a scandal?<\/p>\n Has anyone threatened to throw you off a cliff, because you\u2019ve \u2018brought good news to the poor and proclaimed release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind\u2019?<\/p>\n It does us good to be reminded that \u2018the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, because we are anointed\u2019 as we follow God\u2019s way. Hopefully this gives us the bravery we need to speak truth to power and to light a candle in the dark.<\/p>\n Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n Emmanuel. He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, \u2018Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter\u2019s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph … <\/p>\n
God with us and upon us.
Strengthen us, we pray, and renew our hope and strength
to be salt and light
and to speak the truth, in love.
Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"