So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; 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; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
He said to them, “You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’” Then He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way. (Luke 4:16-30)
The Lord returned to His homeland to preach, and entering into the synagogue He read the words of Isaiah the Prophet. These words described the very center of Christ mission -to liberate people from the slavery of sin and give them hope. Although His people could testify the veracity of this prophecy in relation to Jesus’ life, they refused to acknowledge He was the promised Messiah.
They had known Jesus all His life, and they couldn't believe He was so different from them. Since they chose not to believe, He refused to perform miracles there. When He revealed the wickedness of their hearts, they tried to kill Him.
The Lord says in His Word that, "a servant is not greater than his master". If they persecuted Him, we will be persecuted as well. Rejection will come, usually from our relatives and friends, and you have to be aware of it. They won’t understand why you behave different from them and sometimes will not want to hear the Gospel.
Christ doesn't want you to lose heart. He wants you to remain steadfast and fix your eyes on Him. There is hope, because He said, “If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” why means that even in the midst of opposition, some of them will be saved because of your testimony. That's an encouraging thought!
Fix your eyes on Jesus when rejection comes. “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.” We are training every day to be like our Teacher Jesus Christ.
Read more articles by Dinora Garza or search for articles on the same topic or others.
Read NEWEST ARTICLES by Christian authors
Read MOST READ ARTICLES by Christian authors
Read our most read and highly acclaimed CHALLENGE CONTEST ARTICLES
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW
The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
|
