Good morning, Jesus. Today, my thoughts follow you to your hometown of Nazareth. I watch you enter the synagogue, among the faces that knew you as a child, a boy, the carpenter’s son.
They welcomed you with a certain pride, yet also with definite expectations. They wanted you to be theirs, to perform miracles for them, to affirm their importance.
Let me not overlook you in the familiar
How difficult it was for them to accept you, Lord. They knew your family, your hands, your voice, but they did not recognize your divine heart.
They were convinced they knew you, and for that very reason, they did not truly see you. Closed off in their own preconceptions, they could not accept the Infinite One who stood among them.
“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:11)
How true were your words, spoken when you faced their unbelief and offense.
“And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”” (Matthew 13:57)
And then you told them a truth they did not want to hear: about the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the leper. About how your love and grace know no boundaries, nationalities, or our human prejudices.
Your heart is always open to those whom the world pushes to the margins. I ask you, grant me also a heart that makes no distinctions, a heart that does not judge or exclude, but is open to your work, wherever and in whomever you reveal yourself.
Your hour had not yet come
Your word enraged them, for it laid bare their narrow hearts. Their fury was so great that they wanted to destroy you, to silence you, and to reject the gift that was offered to them.
“They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.” (Luke 4:29)
But you simply walked right through the midst of them. What power in that tranquility! What sovereignty in your departure! Their fury was powerless before your peace, for all things are in your hands, subject to your time and your plan.
“At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.” (John 7:30)
Lord, how often I too am among those who hear but do not understand, who look but do not see.
“He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’”” (Isaiah 6:9)
Cleanse my ears and my eyes, Jesus. Today, let me not be like the people of your hometown, Nazareth. May I welcome you, may I hear you, and may I recognize you in everything this day brings.
May I not take offense at you, but instead cling to you.
Amen.
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