Hometown

Luke 4:22-30 (The Message)

All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, "Isn't this Joseph's son, the one we've known since he was a youngster?"

He answered, "I suppose you're going to quote the proverb, 'Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.' Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn't it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian."

That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.

Who out there just won't let you overcome your past?

Your mom and dad? Siblings? Old classmates and friends? You?

I have no idea what it's like to have a true hometown.

My dad is also UM clergy, and my family moved from place to place throughout my childhood, never really staying anywhere more than 3 or 4 years, sometimes much less.

It hasn't been a bad thing for me...in fact, moving around has its advantages.

But it does leave you without geographic roots. But from what I can tell from other folks, and from the example of Jesus, that's not necessarily too bad a thing.

Folks who knew you "back then," have a hard time remembering you any other way.

What are the chances that the Messiah could have come from their own little village?

The people of Nazareth rejected Jesus more completely than any other group.

Two lessons for us:

1) Don't let others define you by your past...and don't do it to yourself, either.

2) Don't overlook the miracle that God might be working right in front of you. Our little towns are just as likely a setting for the handiwork of God as any other.

And maybe there's a (3) as well...if we stiff-arm Jesus, he'll "give us the slip" and move on to somewhere more inviting. Don't miss him.

Father, today we ask for eyes to see, and hearts that don't judge. We need these gifts from you.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.