His reputation goes before him. Last week we saw that Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth and read from the prophet Isaiah and then announced that the text was being fulfilled even as the people listened. In other words, Jesus was firmly placing his own activity of preaching, healing and bringing deliverance within the context of the promises of the Old Testament. He was laying claim to being the fulfilment of the Scriptures. Indeed, he was revealing himself to be the very heart and centre of Scripture – the goal towards which the whole plan and purpose of God was moving. This was an enormous claim, and it is perhaps not entirely surprising that the people of Nazareth were unable to come to terms with it.
The evidence for the truth of what Jesus was claiming lay in the very actions he was performing. Unfortunately, the people of Nazareth made it difficult for Jesus to carry out his ministry – either preaching or healing. When Jesus quoted examples from the Old Testament where the people prevented God’s action through their lack of faith, his countrymen were enraged and drove him out of the town – even attempting to bring him to a violent end. It almost seems like anticipation, a rehearsal, of what is to happen later in Jerusalem. We might also remember the violent reaction in Jerusalem when the news was brought to King Herod by the wise men of a star rising in Bethlehem.
It seems that whenever there is a suggestion that the promise of a Messiah is about to be fulfilled and become a concrete reality, there is an extreme and violent reaction. As long as the promise just remains a promise it is not really a challenge. When Jesus claims to fulfil the promise, then everyone’s life is challenged. Do we accept Jesus as the Saviour, promised by God, or not? If we accept, we are required to re-orientate our lives around a new centre. It calls us to become disciples and to place every aspect of our lives under his Lordship.
