“That was it…he
was gone…booked out of tow…didn’t take his tools…and I didn’t hear anything
from him or about him for a couple of months…then…then…some strange reports
started filtering into Nazareth…seems there was someone else now preaching and
teaching besides John the Baptist…and this someone else was healing people and
casting out evil spirits…someone had taken the things John the Baptist was
doing to another level…I couldn’t believe it at first…it was Jesus…my friend…my
coworker…why he was over in Capernaum doing these things…until…two weeks ago…he
shows up back here in Nazareth…shows up to insult us…to offend us…I don’t know
what go into him…
“And to think that he was such a
nice boy.
“It was the Sabbath…two weeks
ago…like I said…I’m not big on religious stuff…I go to synagogue because that’s
what folks do…and I’m content with that…well Jesus, he always goes to the
synagogue too…and he often reads the scrolls aloud to us and teaches a bit here
and there…he has a nice way about himself…that is…until two weeks ago.
“Things are moving along quite well
during the Sabbath service, and I figure we’ll get out in time for me to have a
nice long nap before dinner, when Jesus stands up to read…he’s given the scroll
of Isaiah the prophet to read from…unscrolls it…and reads a section about the
coming Messiah…God’s anointed…he rewinds the scroll…gives it back to the
attendant…sits down…and says, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your
hearing.” “Today, this Scripture is
fulfilled in your hearing,”?
“What is this? What’s going on? What’s he saying? Isaiah is talking about the Messiah, but this
is Joseph’s son? What’s the deal? Has he lost his mind? This is Joseph's son.
“Well, let’s see him prove it. Let’s see him do in Nazareth the kind of
things we’ve heard he’s been doing in Capernaum. Let’s just see about this Jesus, this local
boy gone loco.
“But before we can challenge him he
says, “No prophet is accepted in his own country.” And then he goes too far…too too far…he
crosses the line…he compares us…his own hometown…to ancient Israel in the time
of Elijah and Elisha…a time when God went beyond the boundaries of our own
people and provided for and healed foreigners, people who were not
Israelites…the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian. This is too much…too much…first he says he’s
the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy…then he implies that God is going to go
outside of the people of Israel with His blessings…too much…too much…he
deserves to die…you understand don’t you?
He deserves to die!!! And how he
escaped from us…I’ll never know.”
“And to think…he was such a nice
boy.”
END
OF NARRATIVE
The Book, the paper, the ink, the
cover, the binding…words spoken and written centuries…millennia ago…spoken out
of eternity…through the heart and minds and spirits of men…translated into
hundred of languages and dialects…carried across
oceans…mountains…deserts…through rainforests…
Jesus Christ…promised through one
prophet after another…born of the virgin Mary…announced to the shepherds…adored
and worshipped by the wise men…his death sought by Herod the king…his birth
unrecognized by the religious leaders…and if that were it…the entire story…just
the birth account…then we’d have no attempted murder in Nazareth…
But the Word was made flesh that the
Word might be fulfilled…that the Word might be translated into fulfillment in
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…for a book with only a preface
is no book…
And while the Scriptures may be
translated into hundreds and thousands of languages and dialects…and while they
may be carried across oceans, mountains, deserts and through rainforests…and
while they may be read over radio and television waves…until they are
translated into our lives…we have a preface but not a book.
It has been said that the greatest
distance is the 18 inches between the mind and heart…for until the Scriptures
are translated from the mind and made alive in the heart…we have a preface but
not a book.
God calls us to turn the page…and
the next page…and the next page…He calls us to allow His purposes to unfold in
our lives…to be people of destiny…people who say, “Yes Lord, let this Scripture
not only be fulfilled in our ears, but in our lives.”
Our life in Christ ought to be the
greatest adventure story we’ll ever read…the most exciting book, movie or
theater…for God is the author and finisher…the scroll is here…we have only to
open ourselves to it and allow the Holy Spirit to marry our hearts and minds
with the Word…and we will find that the Word will be made flesh…and live among
us…live within us…for His name is Immanuel, God with us, revealed in us.
God in me, for all to see, the Son
of God, from eternity. Immanuel,
Immanuel, Immanuel in you, Immanuel in me, Immanuel in us…allow Him to open His
book within you, to open Himself within you…for as Paul writes to the
Colossians…the goal of the Gospel is…Christ in you, the hope of glory.
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