Lesson #9

A Bible Engagement Exercise

 Let’s start with an exercise to get more blood flowing to your brain. 

• Go to a window and look outside. 
• Have someone go to a different window that provides a similar view. 
• Take a few notes of what you both see without talking about them.  
• Share your observations. 
• What did you both see?
• What was unique in each of your lists?

Cultures & Conflict

God never intended His Word to be read and studied by one person looking through a single window. Westerners tend to interact with the Bible through the lens of innocence and guilt, truth and error. They are most interested in understanding “how” things happened. They are mathematicians. 1 + 1 = 2. There is one correct answer, and only one. If someone else sees it differently, they are simply wrong. Westerners think everyone should look out the same window. 

But the Bible isn’t a Western book. It is Eastern, and it is old, almost 4,000 years old. The ancient eastern mindset illuminates the event discussed in today’s Talk Thru the New Testament lesson, “Rejection.”

Rejection of a Hometown Hero

Luke 4:14-30 presents one of the most familiar accounts of Jesus’ early public ministry. Jesus had grown up in Nazareth, a small town in Lower Galilee. Everyone knew that Jesus was the son of the Carpenter, Joseph. Stories of Jesus’ birth and early years as a child, teenager, and young man were likely well known. Luke’s Gospel records that Jesus was “favored” by His family and friends, the community’s people. Jesus made His community look good!

Israelis, part of the larger Middle East, have a very different approach to life. To this day, decisions are not made, and actions are not taken without first considering, “how will this reflect on my family and community? Will I shame them, or will I bring them honor?” The people of Nazareth worried about how the outside world viewed them. Remember Nathanael? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Jesus had just returned from Jerusalem, celebrating the first Passover of His public ministry. He was on a world stage when He confronted the money changers and the corrupted priesthood. Many Nazarenes would have witnessed Jesus in action. They were proud of Him and wanted to know more.

After reading a portion of the Haftarah (Prophets) from Isaiah 61:1-2a, Jesus declared Himself to be the fulfillment of all Israel’s Messianic expectations. Imagine that. Who wouldn’t be ecstatic about Nazareth’s favorite son being the Jewish Messiah, the prophetically revealed deliverer of Israel? No more looking down on Nazareth! Instead of being shamed, Nazareth would be honored throughout the Jewish world.  

Not So Fast

Then, Jesus said something that sucked the oxygen out of the synagogue. What follows are the “cliff notes” of what happened next. Nazareth’s favorite son told the community that His message of deliverance was for the whole world, even for the Gentiles. 

The Jewish world had deluded itself into thinking that by virtue of their membership in national Israel, the coming Kingdom of God belonged to them. Israel had forgotten her calling, to be a Light to the Nations, inviting those outside God’s covenantal relationship with their Creator to join them in glorifying God!

More to the point, Jesus told those assembled on that Shabbat that the Jewish people as a whole would reject Him while many within the Gentile world would embrace Him. For example, He referred them to two Hebrew Bible accounts, the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Assyrian. The shock was too much for them. As one, the community of Nazareth decided together that Mary’s son had to be destroyed before He brought shame on them all. The community of Nazareth intended was to throw Him over a high cliff and kill Him.  

But passing through their midst, He went His way. And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee… – Luke 4:30-31a 

He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands

Even in the 21st Century, the people of the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia are predominantly driven in their thoughts and actions by whether or not they will bring honor or shame to their family, friends, and community. 

Jesus invites the people of every culture (Innocence/Guilt, Honor/Shame, Power/Fear) to view Him through different windows and engage with one another about what they see. In doing so, the fully orbed Jesus is revealed. As we lift Him up together, He has promised to draw women and men, enslaved people and those free, Jews and Gentiles, to Himself. This is what those who #DiscipleDaily do every day, everywhere. Join us, won’t you?