On Hearing These Things (Luke 4:28)


 

Tuesday, February 11, 2025


Psalms 95; 96

Genesis 24:22-49

Luke 4:16-30


On Hearing These Things (Luke 4:28)


If you could tell God what to do, what would you demand? I sometimes wonder if a popular misconception about God is that he is like a toddler. We look around at the mess on the floor, and we demand that he put his toys back in the box, put his dirty laundry in the basket, and sit quietly on the floor. He can amuse himself, but only if it is quietly, and he must make sure the toy either stays in his hands or gets packed away. And if he refuses our clear instructions, then we rant and rave and, cowering under the full force of our displeasure, meekly acquiesces. Let us admire the cuteness of the little child; but don’t let him be his own man and go against our desires.


Jesus, a man known to all in this small, intimate community declares himself to be God’s Messiah. He doesn’t exactly seem to fit the mental image of the Messiah the people had dreamed up in their heads. So the people demand something of him. A miracle, perhaps, like those he performed at Capernaum. (Next time you hear someone say “I will believe in God if he will prove to me he exists”, remember this passage.)


But rather than accepting this suggestion, Jesus sees that the actual problem is that they won’t accept that God can do whatever he pleases. Far from being the obedient toddler, God is the blazing light of the incomparable, peerless Creator. The Creator does not obey his creatures; it is the other way around. So Jesus makes reference to moments in Israel’s history, when the people of God were suffering from famine and leprosy, and Gentiles were blessed instead of Jews. The point is this: God can do whatever he pleases.


The response from the people is curious: they were filled with wrath. Surely, when faced with the lowliness of our created nature, and glorious greatness of our Creator, and the fact we are clay in the potter’s hands, we should bow in humble adoration that God does anything for us, ever, at all. Yet the response to God’s autonomy is wrath. If Jesus had performed a miracle for these people, would they have believed? The insight Jesus has into the human soul continues to be amazing.


What is your perception of God as God? What do you understand the relationship between yourself and God to be like? How might you learn to “rejoice always, and in everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:18)?


Jesus of Nazareth, Sovereign Lord, who does all things in wisdom, righteousness, and love: give us a spirit of humility, so that our eyes may be opened to all the good things you have done and continue to do for us.


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