Luke 4-5 You Missed!

Guest Blogger - Cheri Hudspith - sister to Terry

Luke 4 contains one of my favorite passages in scripture. I love the description of Jesus. I love that it is spoken by Isaiah first. I love that Jesus picks up the Isaiah scroll and reads it aloud to the people gathered in the synagogue.

What happens after Jesus reads from Isaiah is something I forget. It's disappointing. Unfortunately, it's not surprising.

The long awaited Messiah whose agenda is to bring Good News, free captives, give sight to the blind, and free people from oppression is passionately rejected. Jesus didn't meet their expectations so they rejected Him. They didn't know how to believe in Him so they rejected Him.

It makes me sit back in my chair and say, "Wow!".  It's so sad. They were in the presence of Christ and they couldn't receive what He was offering them.

I feel the sadness because we do the same thing today. Has Jesus offered Himself to you in a way that you haven't been able to trust? Do you live in denial about something because you haven't been willing to ask God to give you sight on a matter? Do you struggle to believe what Jesus has said about Himself?

Remember that when we are tempted to live in denial, we are  not condemned for that. Jesus is not surprised it's hard for us to trust Him. In the midst of our fears, He keeps inviting each of us to open our eyes and humbly seek the truth. I am thanking God we have the opportunity for a much different response than the people of Nazareth had on that day.