The Reading
Luke 4:23–30
In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
The Brow of the Hill near Nazareth, illustration by James Jacques Joseph Tissot
The Reflection by Linda Walton
There have been times in my grade or high school, career, or volunteer activities when adversaries have tried to “throw me down” figuratively. It may have been an exclusion from an event; inappropriate or negative comments made in my absence about something I said or did; deliberately inhibiting my visibility on key projects; or even some relationship where an alcoholic tried to take his own shortcomings out on me. At times, I thought these experiences and even rejection might be the death of me.
Thankfully, this passage tells me that with God’s help, I can walk through the midst of these trials. This passage reminds me of other times where people passed through: the parting of the water for Moses or how God delivered three from the fiery furnace.
Yet it saddens me that by walking through the midst in this passage, people were left behind in their inability to see the harm their actions have caused. It would sadden me even more to lose Jesus from the midst of my life.