“Blunted expectancy”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Sunday, January 23, 2022

Luke 4:14-21 (Forward, p. 85) CEV p. 1060

We are told by Biblical scholars that the worldview, the perspective, of those living in Palestine at the time of Jesus was thoroughly eschatological. That is, they were entirely focused on ‘the end times’ and were fully convinced that the end was near and that the reign of God (variously described as the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven) was able to be inaugurated here on earth. That was the thinking behind Jesus’ ministry and behind the expectations of pretty well everyone He spoke to or interacted with.

So, what happened there in the synagogue in Nazareth on that particular fateful day? Jesus is present in that synagogue on the Sabbath, which was His custom. And Jesus, whether by accident or intent, was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, the very scroll where this prophecy from Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1-2), a very definite and well attested Messianic prophecy, is recorded. So, why did this audience fail to pick up on it, yes, even when Jesus drew it to their attention?

Interestingly, when John the Baptist sent messengers to enquire of Jesus whether He was the One to come or not (see Matthew 11:4 and Luke 7:22), this very passage from Isaiah, plus another one from Isaiah 35:5-6, was what Jesus appealed to in His answer to John. So, obviously that this passage was Messianic and was part of the current thinking of the day. So, again, I ask, what happened there in Nazareth?

I have often tried to surmise just what might have happened, but unfortunately, much of it must remain purely as conjecture. There is the very real problem of familiarity (‘familiarity breeds contempt’), and of the lowered expectations that come with a local, hometown boy, someone that everyone feels that they know so very well. It certainly suggests that there was little or nothing from Jesus’ background, or from their experience of Him, that would prepare them for such a claim. And perhaps it was that claim itself that gave them pause, that irritated them. “Who is He to claim such a thing! they may well have thought. Maybe they saw something of presumption on Jesus’ part: after all, we know His family and His lineage. He is the son of a lowly carpenter and peasant girl. There is nothing there to suggest such an exalted status!

But maybe there is something more at work here. We know from the comment of Nathanael (John 1:46) that Nazareth was looked down upon, that it was seen as a lowly, inconsequential backwater, backwoods town. And certainly we know that Bethlehem was widely considered to be the place where the Messiah would be born (Matthew 2:5-6; John 7:42). So, I wonder, had the people of Nazareth ‘bought into’ this lowered expectation of themselves? Had they deceived themselves into thinking that nothing significant or important could ever happen so close to home, nothing so personal or immediate, whether in terms of time or of space?

I think that this kind of thinking is all too prevalent in our world today, and in our selves. We tend to think that salvation, solutions in general, must happen somewhere else, with someone else—and certainly, by the agency and actions of someone else. We somehow have come to think that nothing quite like this could ever happen to here, or to us. Sadly, unfortunately, we have come to have blunted dreams and hopes for the future, blunted expectations. And yet these things do take place, right here and right now. Jesus has been born into our world, our space, and into our lives. The incredible, the unimaginable, takes place in our own lives, right now. Let us believe this, hold on to this, and expect this, both now and always. Amen.

Forward notes: “Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (verse 21).

“Imagine being in the synagogue as Jesus reads from the scroll containing the words from the prophet Isaiah. I wonder what it must have felt like to hear Jesus proclaim his cause to the poor, the blind, and the oppressed. After he rolls up the scroll, he sits down with all eyes on him. Upon hearing Jesus speak for the marginalized, the scripture is fulfilled.

“This passage illustrates the power of speaking something into existence and the importance of receiving words meant to liberate and humanize those on the margins. When we tell stories of triumph and not only of sacrifice and pain, we humanize the marginalized; when we listen and respond to their witness, we experience the fulfillment of scripture. We can champion the cause of the poor, the blind, and the oppressed by honoring the truth of God’s words.”

Moving Forward: “Who have you championed lately?”