You’ve
just heard Luke’s story about Jesus coming back to his hometown…not healing
anyone, not doing any of the things he did in Capernaum, and not making his old
neighbors very happy.
Let’s do a ‘what if.’ What if Jesus
had grown up in Walnut? What if Joseph, his Dad, married Mary, his Mom, when
she was 6 months pregnant? What if his Dad was “just” a carpenter? What if he’d
grown up in this church? What if he’d been in your Sunday school class? What if
he’d been invited today to be the guest preacher?
What would we be saying about him? How
would he be received? And what if he told us what he told the folks in
Nazareth? What if he said, “I’m not able to do here what I did in Capernaum
because your hearts aren’t right?” What if?
What words would we use to describe
Jesus? What do you
say about Jesus?
Voice B: Joseph’s son
Voice A: One of our
own
Voice B: Hometown boy
Voice A: Nice to see
him back
Voice B: Preacher man
Voice A: Confident
Voice B: Eloquent
Voice A: Confrontational
Voice B: Controversial
Voice A: Learned
Voice B: Dramatic
Voice A: Daring
Voice B: It can’t be?
Voice A: What did he
say?
Voice B: Surely not?
Voice A: Where did he
get that idea?
Voice B: Amazing
Voice A: Arrogant
Voice B: Full of
himself
Voice A: Joseph’s
Son?
Voice B: In our
hearing?
Voice A: Fulfilled?
Voice B: Isaiah’s
words?
Voice A: In Jesus?
Voice B: Mary’s boy?
Voice A: I remember
him when he was 12
Voice B: I remember
him when he was 2
Voice A: He had less
to say then
Voice B: Heal
yourself?
Voice A: Heal your
own self!
Voice B: Spiritual
physician
Voice A: Theological
doctor
Voice B: Sailing
close to the wind
Voice A: Walking
close to the wire
Voice B: These words?
Voice A: About him?
Voice B: Shocking
Voice A: Terrible
Voice B: Outrage
Voice A: Disturbing
Voice B: Antagonizing
Voice A: Alarming
Voice B: Astounding
Voice A: Unnerving
Voice B: And what do you say of Jesus?
Spill the Beans Issue 6
What do we say about Jesus
today? What do we expect from Jesus today? How do we know what
Jesus expects from us?
What do we say about our church
leadership team? What do we say about our pastor? What do we
expect from them? What does the community expect from this worshiping
community?
What have we heard read from
God’s word for us today? What are we going to do with it?
God has known each of us since before
we were born and he’s known all along what he’d like us to be doing. The rest
is up to us to use the gifts of His Spirit, faith, hope, and…love.
Thanks be to God for his patient,
loving grace. Amen.
