The Road to Nazareth

The Road to Nazareth

Luke 4:16–30

“He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up…” (Luke 4:16)

There is something sacred about the road that leads home. Of course, as followers of Christ, our life is simply a journey home. As the old Gospel song writer put it... “I’m kinda homesick for a country, where I’ve never been before.” We’re making our way home.

Luke tells us that after Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, at the beginning of His public ministry, He returned to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit.” Eventually, His steps turned toward Nazareth—the town where He had been raised.

But this was no sentimental visit.

Jesus walked that road knowing exactly what awaited Him. He knew the skepticism. He knew the whispers. He knew the rejection. The Son of God never stumbled into suffering; He walked towards it. The Road to Nazareth (just like the Road to the Wilderness) was no accident—it was a deliberate stop on the way to Calvary.

Of course, we’re told that when Jesus stood in the synagogue and read from Isaiah 61—“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…”—He was declaring that the long awaited time had come... the promises of God, fulfilled in Him. The blind would see. The oppressed would be freed. The year of the Lord’s favor had arrived.

And yet, the people who knew Him best could not receive Him.

Of course, at first, the Nazarenes marveled. Then they questioned. Then they raged. Grace offended them. It may not be very clear to us 21st Century readers... but Jesus’ references to Elijah and Elisha were intended to arouse a response. Though there were many WIDOWS in need during a famine in Israel, Elijah was sent to none except a widow in Zarephath of Sidon, a Gentile region. And even though there were plenty of lepers in Israel, Elisha cleansed only Naaman the Syrian, again, a Gentile. The Jewish audience of Nazareth would have immediately understood the point. A Messiah who blessed Gentiles threatened their sense of entitlement - their preconceived assumptions concerning who should be blessed, and who shouldn’t. They were God’s Chosen... the Messiah belonged to them! Not the Gentiles... the Gentile Romans were oppressing God’s Chosen people! How dare Jesus imply their blessing.

So they drove Him out of town. The road to Nazareth became the road of rejection.

We say, “what a shame! How dare that treat Jesus this way!” And, yet, many in the church do they same things today. And we’re no different, at times. We live in a world that’s increasingly hostile to us... a world that doesn’t respect or adhere to the Christian world-view. And we say, “God how long? How few constitutes a remnant? When will you come and make all things new?”

We seek escape rather than engagement. The easy way out, at least for us. Yet, God waits... in fact He’s way more patient than we. The gospel of sovereign mercy still unsettles us.

Jesus came to us as one of us. And that scares us... because we know NOTHING of what it is to be God... but we are completely aware of what it is to be “one of us.” And we can’t fathom a perfect God doing such a thing! Especially if becoming “one of us” means becoming “one of them.”

The fact is, the Messiah had come: Jesus was truly God, and truly man. And even though we will never fully appreciate or adequately explain how God Almighty could ever stoop so low as to become anything close to human... He did.

Philippians 2:6... in the Amplified Bible, tells us, “although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man].”

That’s how Paul put it. Jesus emptied himself of what was rightfully his, to become one of us. He took upon himself the pain, sorrow, the heartache... and yes... the sin of those He walked among... including the likes of us (and our neighbor).

Maybe we have some emptying of our own to do this Lenten season. As we inch ever closer to the Cross, I wonder... are there people around us... people we know... or people we assume we know... that we don’t think deserve God’s grace?

Maybe the road to Nazareth will lead us to reconsider such assumptions.

Let’s pray:

Lord Jesus,

You walked the road to Nazareth knowing the cost.

Give each of us courage to walk the paths You appoint for us.

When we face rejection, may we remember Your rejection.

When obedience feels heavy, when it seems to much to bear... remind us that You remained faithful. And where we’re tempted to think anyone unworthy of your grace, help us to recall our unworthiness...

Lead us faithfully in Your footsteps... until we see you face-to-face.

In Your precious Name,

Amen.