Thursday 26 September, 2019

22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[a] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 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. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

When I read this passage, I consider the first words “all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips” and then 6 verses later “they were furious and tried to throw him off a cliff”.

How quickly the words of Jesus were loved and then hated.

Truth to those who love it – find it refreshing and life giving.  Truth to people who hate it and are convicted by it – find it challenging and dividing.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and life, no comes to the Father but by me” (John 14 v 6).  Let’s not be afraid of the truth but allow it to reveal the deeper things within us.  Allow it to convict us of our “stinky” attitudes and refine our worldliness.

Lord help me to love truth.  Help me to take a hold of the truth and run with it.  Make me not afraid but someone who is willing to be strengthened, knowing that you are good and love us completely.

Written by Ps. Sue Botta