“The word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  

These words are from the passage of scripture written by the prophet Jeremiah; which we heard read today.  Jeremiah wrote these words approximately six hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Yet, I believe that they are very applicable to describing Christ’s ministry also.

Before Jesus was formed in the Virgin’s womb, He was One with the Father God as the Son of God and He was chosen by the Father to be the Redeemer of the World. As the Son of God and the chosen Redeemer for humanity; this was a calling and consecration greater than Jeremiah’s. Yet, like Jeremiah, Jesus was also called to be a prophet to the nations. In fact, Jesus’ words of prophecy have been preached and taught throughout the world.

Although we as Christians do not usually think of Jesus as a prophet, Jesus describes Himself as such in His own words to the people of Nazareth. In today’s gospel reading from Luke, Jesus states,

“Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we heard you did in Capernaum.” And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.”

The definition of a prophet is ‘one who proclaims and interprets divine revelation’.  Jesus’ reference to one of His many spiritual gifts does not lessen His divine authority as the Son of the Living God. In fact, if Jesus did not have the gift of prophecy, then His interpretation of the Word of God would be invalid.

I find it interesting that both the Jews and the Muslims, who do not accept Jesus as the Son of God, do acknowledge His gift of prophecy. He is even upheld by the Muslim faith as a good prophet. In Jesus’ speech to the people of His hometown, Jesus refers to the prophets Elijah and Elisha as examples of why His own ministry does not include the folks in His hometown.

Luke writes,

“But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

Needless to say, Jesus’ words angered the people so much, that the scripture tells us

“all in the synagogue were filled with rage.  They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”

The Amplified Bible gives us a more detailed version of what happened. It reads,

“And rising up, they pushed and drove Him out of the town, and (laying hold of Him) they led Him to the (projecting) upper part of the hill on which their town was built, that they might hurl Him headlong down (over the cliff). But passing through their midst, He went on His way.”

The scene we are shown is one similar to a lynch mob. The Amplified Bible gives us a more detailed picture of what was happening. Jesus was their captive. They were hauling Him off to throw Him over the cliff to His death. Then suddenly, Jesus is gone. Can’t you just see the townspeople yelling at one another when Jesus slipped away from them, “Where is He?” “Is Jesus over by you, Samuel?” “We can’t find Him!” “Where did Jesus go?”

In most Biblical cases, God reveals Himself to us in a tangible way that it can be either seen or heard or both. Here in Nazareth, God’s Son just vanishes before them. One moment Jesus can be seen, the next moment He is gone.

How many here have ever been angry with God? Maybe you lost a loved one, your health, your wealth or a job? Or maybe you just stubbed your toe. Instantly, our human reaction is to blame God. After all, if God is really and truly sovereign, then why does He not prevent bad things from happening to us?

Well, the folks in Nazareth had heard about Jesus’ miracles in curing the sick and healing the lame and the blind; they wanted their sick loved ones healed also. After all, Jesus was one of them. He had grown up among them. He had played and studied with their children. He had eaten in their homes. He was the son of Joseph the carpenter. Everyone knew Jesus. He had always been a good kid, except that one time he scared his parents half to death by staying too long at the Temple in Jerusalem. Now that He had been given a special gift from God, they deserved more than anyone else for Jesus to help them out. It was His duty.

So when Jesus refuses to heal their sick or do just one small miracle for them, then they got very angry. Then when they thought they had Jesus under control and were about to punish Him for His rudeness to them. He disappears from their sight and goes His own way. This is an important lesson for us today.

God will not be controlled. God is God. God will do as God wills. We cannot punish God. The mere fact that we think we can is ludicrous. It is like an ant telling a human that the human cannot step on it. Yet, it is the human’s choice on whether or not the ant will live or die. The Lord is mightier and more powerful than any human being.  Our lives are in His hands.

As humans it is innate in us to want to be in control. From the moment we are born, we demand to be heard. As the old saying goes, we think, ‘The world is our oyster’. Yet, that is not how the Lord God sees us.

Let’s go back to Jeremiah, “The word of the LORD came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” As much as we do not want to believe it, before we were formed in our mother’s womb, the Lord God already knew all about us. Our life and death has already been foreseen by our Creator. Some of us do not even live long enough to be born; yet, the Lord God knows even these tiny souls. Before we are formed within our mother’s womb, we have a spirit and a soul that is known by the Lord.

We are all important to our Creator. Even the unborn that never experience the comfort of a mother’s arms or the protection of a father have a purpose. We may not understand the tragic death of a child lost in miscarriage, still born or aborted, but then we are not God. The Lord is sovereign and all of His creation is for His pleasure.

It is during the times of our lives when we may want to push the Lord away from us, because of our anger or grief that we need to draw close to the Lord. For only the Lord can turn our sorrow into joy and our anger into praise. There is a Taize song we sing that goes like this, “Within our darkest night, you kindle the fire that never dies away, never dies away.”  It is the Lord alone who can brighten the darkest times in our lives.

The people of Nazareth were unable to receive Jesus as the Son of God. Because of this, they lost out on receiving His healing. Instead of accepting Jesus, they ended up rejecting Him and literally pushed Him away.

The scriptures tell us that after Jesus left Nazareth, He went down to Capernaum where He was accepted. Luke writes, “They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.”

Sometimes, the folks who think they know us the best; do not know us at all. The Lord raises up prophets, teachers and leaders within the Body of Christ to build up the Church. Yet, too often there is a lack of willingness to listen and learn from them, because we are so good at seeing the human frailties that we refuse to submit to their divine callings. When we do this, then we are behaving like the folks in Nazareth who missed out on the blessings of God. May we be like the people in Capernaum and adhere and submit to the teachings of Christ.