Nehemiah 8:2-4a,5-6,8-10
Ezra Read plainly…interpreting it so that all could understand
Psalm 19
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and Life
1 Corinthans 12:12-30
Body Talk;)
Luke 1:1-4; 4:14-21
And the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him
The Nehemiah reading sets up the Gospel beautifully
today. Ezra preaches and the people
understand, they respond, they are changed…all of them, the men, women, and
children old enough to understand.
In the Gospel, Jesus makes a public debut. The details are sparse. But there is a heaviness in the text.
He unrolled the scroll and found the text where it is written. It is quiet. It takes a few minutes for Jesus to locate
exactly the text he’s looking for. He
runs his fingers across that treasured scroll.
With each passing moment the anticipation magnifies. He reads.
And he sits. Doesn’t the text
make it seem like his task was done? It
wasn’t until all those eyes were upon him that he felt the need to
comment. And the comment was brief but
heavy. Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.
I sense tension.
His first debut and there is tension.
A few verses prior there is a litany of oohs and ahhhs regarding
Jesus. And a few verses later the
townsfolk are trying to hurl him off a cliff!
This is the beginning.
And in the beginning is rejection…in his hometown from his own
people. For Luke this is essential. Why?
Is the experience of rejection somehow necessary? Does it give a person an authenticity to be
among and to speak on behalf of those on the margins…authentically?
I don’t know how this fits in my life of discipleship.
But I think it is supposed to…somehow…
Not sure I want to dig any deeper…
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