Day 10: Jesus is a Truth-teller

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” They were all speaking well of him and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” LUKE 4:16–22, EMPHASIS MINE

WHEN JESUS BEGAN PREACHING to His friends and family in Nazareth, that home crowd was initially supportive. They were probably packed into that little synagogue like sardines, curiously anticipating what Joe and Mary’s firstborn had to say. Archeologists estimate the population of Nazareth was less than five hundred people during the time of Christ,8 so surely most everyone in the crowd that day had known Jesus since He was a tiny tyke. They’d watched Him grow up and become an apprentice with His adoptive dad. Many had attended His going away party the week before He set off to become a traveling rabbi. Several nudged each other and nodded when He began to read from the scroll of Isaiah, thinking, He must do a lot of public speaking on the road because He’s gotten so eloquent. We should invite Him back to teach more often!

One of my favorite Gospel commentators, William Hendriksen, describes the scene like this:

The atmosphere in the probably crowded synagogue is surcharged with curiosity. Everybody in the audience is wondering what their townsman, the former carpenter, about whom they have been hearing so much of late, is going to say in elucidation and application of the Scripture passage he has read a moment ago . . .

All is quiet, so quiet that one can hear a feather drop. Every eye is fixated on Jesus. He opens His mouth. He begins his address. Does he start out by reminding the audience of the golden days, now gone forever, when Jehovah stretched out his mighty arm and performed miracles on the earth? He does not. Does he begin by entertaining his listeners with bright promises pertaining to the future? Not that either.9

Right when Jesus had the audience in the palm of His hand, He proclaimed something that was less popular than a WeightWatchers speaker at a Krispy Kreme conference:

“These Scriptures came true today!” (Luke 4:21b tlb)

In other words, “I’m the fulfillment of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy—I’m the Living Hope you’ve spent centuries praying for!”

And when it dawned on His friends and neighbors that Joe and Mary’s boy whom they’d known from the time He was in Pampers wasn’t just talking about God, He was declaring to be God, they were livid:

These remarks stung them to fury; and jumping up, they mobbed him and took him to the edge of the hill on which the city was built, to push him over the cliff. But he walked away through the crowd and left them. (Luke 4:28–30 tlb)

It’s one thing for strangers or rivals to attempt to push you off a cliff, but it’s a whole other deal when you went to elementary school with the guys doing the shoving. Truth is transformative; it will flat out set you free. But it can also get you in trouble with the folks who’ve grown comfortable with their own ingrained, unbudging expectations about who you are. None of us is divine, of course, but may we all take our cues from Jesus and tell the truth, no matter what our listeners might assume about us.

• WOULD YOUR CLOSEST friends and family describe you as a straightforward, “just the facts” kind of communicator or as someone who “seasons” or “softens” hard truths to make them less offensive?
• READ NUMBERS 23:19 and Colossians 4:6. How would you explain the synergy between always telling the truth and yet seasoning it with grace to a child or new Christian?