Will you Throw Jesus Off a Cliff?

I am an ambitious individual.  I see what is set before me, and I go for it.  I want to be effective and successful in everything I set my hands to, be it ministry or the work that I do for the State of Vermont.  I have learned that as I am intrinsically motivated and driven, I need to continually search my heart and my motivations.  I often echo David’s prayer from Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”  I felt lead to study the following passage the other morning, and wanted to share what I learned.  I was struck by the question, “What is my motivation for being a Christian?  Am I in it for what I can get out of it, or have I received the call to His mission?” 

Luke 4:20, And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Jesus has just read from Isaiah 61, and from that passage declares Himself to be the fulfillment of prophesy.

22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”

Often times we read of the reaction His kin, in Nazareth, had to His self-declaration as negative, as if they did not believe that He was the fulfillment of the prophesy.  In actuality, their reaction was in reception of Jesus’ statement, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

“Is not this Joseph’s son?” is not a dismissive statement, but one where they are recognizing that He is one of them.  Their recognition of His self-declaration coupled with their limited understanding of Jesus mission leads them to understand His mission as a benefit to them first.  They receive Jesus as a blessing from God, but primarily to benefit them His kin, as He is one of them and should be expected to have His hometown in mind before any other.  

23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.

Jesus, knowing what they are thinking, responds to what is behind all that they are saying.   “Physician, heal yourself” is in reference to their thinking that He is one of them and should be there as a benefit to His kin first.  In verse 24, Jesus presents what their true reaction is to the real purpose of His mission.  His mission is to the lowly, the outcast, those who have no hope, and He goes on to parallel Elijah and Elisha’s ministry to Gentiles (those who were not people of the promise).

25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.

Now their true reaction to His ministry is seen, as, in finding out that Jesus mission is not to benefit them first, they want to kill Him.    

Do we receive Jesus as the answer for all, or only as our answer, individually, for our own benefit?  In our ministry to others, as we are all ministers, do we take joy in and glory in the Lord as others are healed and excel in their place and calling, even while we may suffer to bring the message?  Do we expect that Jesus’ ministry in our own lives will benefit us first and others after?  Or have we received His heart and love others before ourselves?  Do we expect Jesus to prosper us as a result of our ministry to others? 

We may never know great success, wealth, and full physical healing in this life, but will we continue to go out and proclaim the good news of a savior?  Or because we have not benefitted from Jesus directly in the way we expect and see others benefit, will we look to throw Him off a cliff?  Can we, as the Church, see that the beauty of the Gospel is the glory of the Father in Heaven, and that we may never know our reward in this life?  The minute we become Christ followers, it immediately stops being about us.