Confrontation in Nazareth (13)

 

 

 

As I continue to ask myself why Jesus begins His ministry in His hometown of Nazareth with confrontation, I am drawn to John 2:13 – 25 and the beginning of His ministry in Jerusalem. Consider that in this passage He introduces Himself to Jerusalem by making a whip of cords and driving out those who are making merchandise of worship. “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”

 

Then He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  These are words that will be used against Jesus in His “trial” before Caiaphas, the priests, and the Council (Mt. 26:61).

 

In spite of Jesus’ words and actions in John 2, in the next chapter a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Once again, Jesus begins with a challenge, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Why begin with a challenge, why not ease Nicodemus into things, into a relationship with Himself?

 

Unlike the crowds, unlike the group of religious leaders of which Nicodemus is a member, Nicodemus listens to Jesus, asks questions, and believes (John 7:50 – 52;19:39)

 

What else do we see in John’s Gospel? Consider this pattern:

 

In Chapter 4 Jesus challenges His disciples’ ingrained notions about people outside their racial, national, and religious identity, for He leads them to Sychar, a village in Samaria, and begins His ministry in Samaria with a woman and her village, remaining with them two days. It is unlikely that any of Jesus’ disciples ever contemplated having social or religious communication with Samaritans, they were unclean, they were despised, they were to be avoided.

 

Do you think that the disciples were going to write home and tell the folks of their own home synagogues of what they had done with Jesus? Do you think the first words out of their mouths on their return to Galilee was about the wonderful experience they had in Samaria?

 

Consider, when Jesus says that the “fields are ripe unto harvest” (Jn; 4:35) He is saying it while they are in Samaria!

 

Was this a great experience for the disciples, or did they reluctantly live with it since they wanted to be with Jesus? After all, you can hardly jettison a way of thinking and living that you’ve grown up with, that you’ve been religiously taught, in the course of one or two days. Ponder what Peter went through in Acts Chapter 10, in the council in Jerusalem of Acts 11, of the turmoil that he bought into in Galatians 2.

 

When Peter and John returned to Samaria in Acts Chapter 8, were their hearts and minds transported back to the events of John Chapter 4?

 

In John Chapter 5 Jesus heals in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, stirring up more opposition.

 

In John Chapter 6 He calls Himself the Bread of Life, teaching that we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus is the true Manna from heaven, giving food that is superior to what Moses gave. Not only does this teaching alienate the crowds, but many of His “disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:59 – 71).

 

John Chapter 7 shows us some in the crowd were accusing Jesus of having a demon, and the religious leaders sending officers to arrest Jesus.

 

In John Chapter 8 the religious leaders attempt to stone Jesus to death (we’ve explored this in a previous reflection).

 

John Chapter 9 shows Jesus healing on the Sabbath yet again and the religious leaders once again attacking Jesus.

 

In Chapter 10 the religious leaders accuse Jesus of having a demon and being insane, and they once again attempt to arrest Him.

 

We see a continuing conspiracy to murder Jesus in John 11:53.

 

Chapter 12 brings us to Holy Week, a week of escalating tensions leading to crucifixion.

 

I have preached through the Gospel of John in one morning with a focus on Jesus and His signs, with His revealing Himself to be the I AM; the Bread, the Light, the Life, the Resurrection. I could also preach through John with a focus on conflict, for from beginning to end there is conflict, indeed, we see the introduction to conflict in John 1:5, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

 

For decades I have viewed the unrelenting conflict in John in the framework of Sonship; the issue is whether Jesus will confess His Father or cave into pressure and persecution and deny Him. This is our challenge as well, will we confess our Father, our Elder Brother, and the sonship we have in them? Will we maintain, by God’s grace, our testimony that our Father is bringing us to glory in Jesus Christ? (Hebrews 2:10 – 13; Rom. 8:29 – 30; and of course the Upper Room).

 

Simply put, will we confess that we are saints and no longer sinners? What will be our core identity in Jesus Christ? (Christians are termed “saints” in the Bible far far more often than any other term). Why do we insist on denying this glory of the Gospel?

 

Also, in the framework of John’s Gospel, this attack on Jesus Christ’s identity relentlessly comes from the religious leadership, just as it does in our own day. The Romans are not the enemy of Jesus in the Gospel, the world at large is not the enemy, it is the people who ought to know better that are the enemy to the confession of the Son and the Father. Of course the resistance and outright persecution will come from the greater world and from the Roman Empire as the Gospel spreads, but it begins in the realm of people who should know better – and once they begin their attack they will continue it, from Jesus to the Apostles, to Stephen, to Paul, and beyond. Furthermore, the attack will come from without and within the professing church – then as now.

 

But what I want to say is that I’ve never realized how Jesus could have avoided much of this opposition, whether in Jerusalem in John, or in His hometown of Nazareth (and elsewhere in Galilee), by not directly challenging and confronting religious culture, and racial and national identities. Jesus did not have a gradual approach to His revelation of grace and truth.

 

Jesus could have healed on days other than the Sabbath, and of course He did. Why heal in synagogues on the Sabbath? Jesus could have accepted the following of those who were believing in Him (in some measure) in John Chapter 8, rather than confronting them with not being free and then telling them that the devil was their father…not a method likely to retain followers.

 

In Luke Chapter 4, Jesus need not have introduced the widow of Sidon or Namaan the Syrian into His message, He knew it would not be well received!

 

I’m not really sure what this all means. It is challenging to me and I don’t fully understand it. It does make me wonder how many times I’ve taken the easy way out in teaching and preaching, and in interacting with other pastors, in parachurch small groups, and so forth. I wonder how many times my own witness to others has been watered down.

 

I am surprised to be going down this road in my exploration of the Confrontation in Nazareth, Luke 4:14 -30. I had no idea I’d be here. I began this with simply a sense that I wanted to explore this passage, and now here I am…with questions…plenty of questions.