Thoughts From Luke - Day 17

                                        Luke 4:22-30

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”
²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷ And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.


      Are you ever amazed at how quickly people turn on you? One minute they are your best friend and the next minute they are stabbing you in the back. My niece, this past year, invited her four very best friends to an indoor waterpark for her 11th birthday. Two months later, one of these girls, for unknown reasons became her worst enemy and has made her 5th grade experience so bad that the family has considered home schooling or changing schools. Another friend, who she was sledding with just last winter, has also become a nemesis and sends her home from school, crying. My wife is well aware of this, too, as two of her best friends teamed up against her because we didn't homeschool and they felt our kids were a bad influence on theirs. Paul experienced this in Lystra in Acts 14. He went from being a "god" in verse 13 to being stoned in verse 19.

      Jesus experienced people turning on Him throughout His ministry. In this passage we go from "all spoke well of Him" to throwing Him off a cliff in the matter of  7 verses. He had throngs following Him throughout the three years of His ministry but at the end they were yelling "crucify Him" and in the upper room we were left with 50 people. At the beginning of His ministry, when He turned the water to wine, here is what John records,
 "Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name²⁴ But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person." John 2:23-25

Jesus knew what was in people - they are fickle. How did this help him, knowing this? Mainly it made Him live for an audience of one. If the father was pleased with Him, that was enough. Why do we spend so much energy trying to please and be admired by people when the first chance they get, they will slander or desert us. Secondly, I think it helped Him give grace to people. When His disciples all deserted Him, He didn't give up on them but sought them out and welcomed them back. It enabled Him to say "Father forgive them - they know not what they do". When people stab you in the back, don't give up on them, don't get revenge, don't hate on them - that ability to stab is in you also. Lastly, He knew who He was, He didn't need them to tell Him how wonderful He was. I look at all these 5 star athletes who believe their press and are so full of themselves thinking how wonderful they are. I think of me, being a doctor. I mentioned my law suit in the previous blog. I had received a card during her pregnancy from her, stating how wonderful I was. Six months later, she is hating me and suing me.

     Don't live for the approval of people, live for the approval of God. Give grace to people when they wrong you knowing that same ability to wrong people is inside you. And think soberly about yourself, you really aren't that great - fortunately God thinks you are and that's what matters!

  Lord, I confess my desire to live for people's approval and be decimated when I don't get it. Forgive me for that and help me live only for You. Amen