Here's this week's Bible study blog post for i.ucc:
In this week’s Bible reading from Luke 4:21-30 (following what we started last week), everyone loved Jesus. They were all so proud that he had healed folks, welcomed folks, and proclaimed that God’s promises were now being fulfilled.
Until he started to say more. . . It was sort of like this.
“You don’t really respect me. I’m going to say stuff that is going to make your brains hurt and that will make you angry. You think that you’re the ones who are the oppressed? You’re the oppressors! You don’t get it! Just because there are people being healed and there’s a whole bunch of people following me, it doesn’t mean that you’re going to somehow become rich or powerful. Quit thinking of yourselves and notice that I’m talking about God’s good news for the whole world!”
Anyone who heard harsh words similar to that from someone they thought was going to let them reap some rewards might get angry. They did. They tried to throw him off a cliff.
Maybe, though, for just a moment, they started to understand what he was trying to say. Maybe they took a deep breath, thought about Jesus’ message of Good news being for everyone, and watched, thoughtfully, as he walked away.
Do Jesus’ words provoke us to anger today? Can we take a breath and look at the bigger picture still?
1 comment:
What, I wonder would Jesus have to say to the purveyors of the prosperity gospel, whose Jesus is more like Oprah than like the Jesus who proclaimed good news to the poor. Too many Preachers of what is ultimately bad news want Jesus to be the one to announce: "And you get a new car, and you get a new car, and you get a new car."
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