call of Nathaniel - what city would you liken Nazareth to?

We read the call of disciples from John's gospel last night.

RC added some fun details. I love the nerdy tidbits. For example John the Baptist showed a couple of disciples Jesus and they went to follow Jesus. When Jesus asked them what they wanted, they responded by asking where he was staying. RC said this was the equivalent of asking themselves for dinner. Jesus did not say "no". He just said, "Keep following." RC mentions this is the start. Three men eating together. From this more people were asked and his followers grew. Now we too eat with Jesus in the form of communion.

Secondly Andrew is named as one of the pair. The unnamed disciple, RC said, was John himself. This fits in well with John never naming himself in his gospel.

A question came to me concerning Nathaniel's response. He said, "What good ever came out of Nazareth?" Nazareth was a sleepy little hamlet off the beaten path. No roads went through Nazareth. If you took the path to Nazareth you went not passing through. So my question is. "What small town in Texas would be equivalent to Nazareth?

I asked this question of my fellow chorus members after church. One man mentioned Waco. Another lady said Pasadena. Both of these town have some of the qualities I think Nathaniel had in mind but not all of them. Waco is too big. Pasadena is a suburb of Houston. It is not isolated.

I do not have a perfect one either. In east Texas I can think of Woodville or Jasper. Not isolated enough. People go through Woodville to get to Jasper. Leabau? Anyone heard of that? It's too small though. But the people I met there were very countrified. Marathon is small and isolated. But the times I have been there so many people I met had left the big city to go to a place that ran at a slower pace. They were not true country bumpkins.

Luke 5:16

"He would often slip away to the wilderness and pray."

Why did he have to do this? Wasn't he completely God so he and God were to same? If he already is God and knows God why must he pray?

Well yes but he was also completely man. We believe Jesus was God. But we also understand him to be completely man. I believe he was limited in his human body. He could only be in one place at a time, an obvious human limitation. Also he needed to get to a quiet place to hear God's still small voice, just like we do.

I do not believe Jesus, as a man, had the ability to heal. His ability was simply as ours is, to ask God to heal. He gave up that ability when he became a man. Only God can heal. We pray to God for healing. The difference was that Jesus had perfect faith. And it was God's will. Jesus knew God's perfect will.

So Jesus needed to get off by himself to pray. And he did it often. He wanted to because he loved his father and desired to be with him as closely as he could. Just like when we love someone deeply we want to spend time with them. Jesus prayed to be with his Father.

DW suggested Jesus needed to pray so as to resist temptation. I'm sure there is that aspect of it too.

I pray. I sort of know how to pray. Did Jesus pray differently than I do? I suspect it was different but I do not know how. I suspect Jesus did more listening than I do. It must have had similarities to my own. I pray for people. Jesus must have prayed for people that he met. I pray for guidance. I am sure Jesus prayed for guidance as well.

Four verses later in 5:20 Jesus is teaching in front of some Pharisees and a man is lowered in on a stretcher for healing. Jesus wants to make a point so he sees that the men have faith so he tells the man on the stretcher that his sins are forgiven.

The scribes and Pharisees rightly agree that only God can forgive sins. The reader agrees but they have faith too and believe Jesus is right, he is God. He prays like a man prays but he is certainly God as well.

The Pharisees see this as blasphemy because they cannot even consider that Jesus might be right. To them he is a normal man claiming to be God. I can certainly understand their consternation. How can a man also be God? It is a lot to take in. Yet his signs show him to be not an ordinary man. He asserts he is God. We know it to be true.

Luke 4:18

Jesus read Isaiah 61:1-2a. He stops before the second part of verse 2: "the day of vengeance of our God." That part was not yet. Jesus did not come to judge. That was later, he will judge after all.

However today he proclaims that he has come to bring salvation. He speaks of the Messiah, the Savior. He has come to turn the world up side down. All those in attendance will remember the rest of Isaiah 61. This prophesy is about the servant-messiah. The people will be restored. Those living in Jesus' time had mixed all this in with revolt against the hated overseers, the Romans. They cannot imagine how liberty and restoration can occur without release from Roman rule.

But Jesus leaves off vengeance.

It is clear to all who hear that Jesus is proclaiming himself messiah. We will bring release, freedom, a double portion. We will be comforted, given oil of gladness, rejoice with everlasting joy.

Verses 1-6 are in the voice of the savior himself. Verses 7-9 are God's response. Verses 10-11 are Isaiah's reaction to this proclamation.

Isaiah prophesied his coming. Jesus proclaimed he was here. Because of his actions, the signs and wonders and his final resurrection from the dead, we see that he fulfilled his mission. It did not work out as the Jews expected. But Jesus came for all men, Jews and Greek. He is my savior. Is he yours?


ISAIAH 61:1-11 [1] The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; [2] To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, [3] To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified. [4] Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations; And they will repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations. [5] Strangers will stand and pasture your flocks, And foreigners will be your farmers and your vinedressers. [6] But you will be called the priests of the LORD; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God You will eat the wealth of nations, And in their riches you will boast. [7] Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs. [8] For I, the LORD, love justice, I hate robbery in the burnt offering; And I will faithfully give them their recompense And make an everlasting covenant with them. [9] Then their offspring will be known among the nations, And their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them Because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed. [10] I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [11] For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise To spring up before all the nations. NASB

adventure awaits

Life can be an adventure. But what happens after this life? I suspect the next life will be an adventure too. We will all see someday. So friends and relatives went to find out last year. It's pretty real sometimes.

Are we preparing? How do we prepare? Jesus says, "be like me." Paul says, "Be like me." Do we know living examples of people we can emulate. To prepare we need to be working to be more like God. God is loving, forgiving, helpful. He also judges, discerns. We do that too but remember God withholds judgment on us and when he does bring consequences they are always much less than we deserve.

Jesus said he came to release, comfort, restore. As much as is in our power that is what we are to do as well.

I am thinking of the scene in Field of Dreams where the James Earl Jones character is about to enter the afterlife. In the movie he enters it be going into the cornfield. I know corny huh? But it is only the boundary for those who are ready, who God has called. (Well of course God is never mentioned.) This is one man's fantasy. In this fantasy afterlife some men play baseball. Will there be baseball in heaven? I hope so.

The character in the scene seems to see this movement into the afterlife as a new adventure. He sticks his arm into the cornfield and it disappears. Then he pulls it back. He laughs and looks back at his new friends who will be left behind. He sees it as a new adventure. He is apprehensive of course. But he seems joyful. He is no longer depressed as he was when we first meet him. His new friends have cheered him up. He has seen signs of a reason for life. I will interject here that God has allowed circumstances to occur so that he can see that. And now he is going on to the next adventure. It is his time.

We too have a time here on earth. But soon we will go on to our next adventure. Many who love us will be left behind to continue on. Are we preparing? Will we be ready? I know some who leave out scared out of their senses. Part of our preparation is to learn to trust God more.

"The truth is that if we would be acceptable to God at all times, we can take it for granted that we will be unacceptable to others some of the time" (John N. Gladstone).

Jesus provokes his neighbors here, doesn't he? My commentator thinks their anger rises out of the anger Jewish people have developed towards all non-Jews. The members of the synagogue cannot deny what he is saying. It is in the book. But they hate being reminded that God helps non-Jews.

Jesus spends most of his time ministering to fellow Jews. But he never denied Gentiles when they sought him out. Many great stories are of how he helped Gentiles in need. Jesus had compassion for all. No one is excluded unless they choose to be.

Why can't his fellow villagers simply accept his teaching and deal with it? Or "agree to disagree" so to speak? They would certainly have been better off if they had listened. But the Jews, as a group, were so bent on rebellion. Each succeeding rebellion caused stronger and stronger reprisals from Rome until finally in 70 AD they massacred all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and tore down the temple. (And robbed the temple treasury.) They forbid Jews from living in the city.

The Jews were expecting a messiah. Daniel's prophesies seemed to say they were living in the times. They never lost that expectation. But they would not consider that the messiah God would send would be so different. Jesus never stopped trying to tell them, like he did here in the synagogue of Nazareth.

This was an act of extreme caring. Yet the people could not accept it and even wanted to kill him.

Jesus' first desire was to bring the truth, not to win a popularity contest. What he told them: he was the messiah bringing peace and not war. He was bringing Good News to all men, not just to Jews.
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LUKE 4:22-30 [22] And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, "Is this not Joseph's son?" [23] And He said to them, "No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'" [24] And He said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. [25] But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; [26] and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. [27] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." [28] And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; [29] and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. [30] But passing through their midst, He went His way. (NASB)

Life group

We discussed new year's resolutions or more politely put, goals for the year. Marvin is so tactful. That was a much better term.

I think the most important one offered was to reduce stimuli so you can hear God better. I was not so sure that I wanted to do that. My games addiction is still alluring. I should cut some out. But instead I try to spend less time with each one.

Yet that is a great goal. And going along with that is more time at prayer, more time reading helpful things, and reading the Bible and listening to sermons.

My Greek practice is important but only if it helps me get closer to God.

I hesitate to mention my goal to blog each day. This is a very poor effort. I am pretty discouraged about it.

Brighton Gardens

I am still amazed I am doing messages at Brighton. I'm not sure how together it was. But it was cool that the normal message giver added a good charge for the folks to leave with.

Several of the people there give me comments after it is over and we go around and sa hi. One lady said it was good to hear the message of the gospel again. Yeah it was.

One lady who really knows her stuff asked me if I knew where in the OT the appearance of the wise men is prophesied. I did not know about that. She said she would search and tell me next time I come. I'll be interested.

The lady who told me last time I did not speak loud enough was not here this week. But I did speak louder.

The Joneses were very nice. I think I was able to make the message last 20 minutes. DW said it was coherent. I was less sure. But yes I guess so.

No evening service tonight. So I am relaxing with the football game on the TV.

Tomorrow is a holiday and the library is closed. I wish it was going to be open.