Faith Column: Jesus anointed at Nazareth and despised

Jesus Christ called on the sacred prophesy of Isiah 61 when he took up the scrolls of Scripture and professed that he was truly the anointed of God. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” In a profound and prophetic way, Jesus was accepting God’s commission upon him to be the Messiah of God!

Yet, for all the prophetic pronouncement and scriptural integrity, the people rejected Christ’s message. Luke records that the people, “Got up, drove Jesus out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” The tragic story in the fourth chapter of Luke illustrates the vehemently violent way in which people who presume to follow God react with vicissitude when God’s will conflicts with one’s own cultural comfort, status quo, or personal prestige within the community.

One can easily imagine that the people of Nazareth were enraged because Jesus was calling their own relative comfort and position into question. Traditionally, it is believed that the people of Nazareth who watched Jesus grow up as a child were on the fringes of society. They were not rich and they likely knew modest means, if not outright poverty. Yet they were also outside of the heart of contemporary political and economic conflict. The oppressive occupiers of the Roman regime were known, but hardly the dominant and terroristic presence that was known in places like Jerusalem. They felt the pressure of Roman subjection, but not the daily humiliation and degradation that had come to define the Roman dominance of the Palestinian Jewish culture. In many ways the people of Nazareth simply wanted to keep things as they were, not cause any troubles, and not upset the system they knew—albeit a system that was technically a contradiction of God’s will. The corrupt and distorted social norm they knew was better to them than accepting a radical system that took the needs of poverty, discrimination, equality, and justice seriously.

Yet, into this false reality of presumed peace and justice, the hometown boy Jesus dared to invoke sacred scripture to proclaim a new reality. The chosen of God was not to uphold the Roman rule, its idolatrous presence, and the sinful corruption of many in Jewish leadership. Such systems were in place to promote the political regime, keep the powerful in charge, keep the voiceless at bay, and prevent equality and God’s justice from challenging accepted norms, standards, or assumptions. Rather, the Messiah of God dared to proclaim a different reality!

In adopting God’s word from the prophet Isaiah, Jesus announced that the realm under his rule would be different. The followers of Jesus would be dedicated to fulfilling his commission. The good news of wholeness and salvation would be afforded (not just preached but actually made available) to the poor, those in bondage would be released, those who were blind to God’s true vision would receive their sight, anyone oppressed under the powers of evil, military domination, hatred, and discrimination would be permitted to go free, and to all the world the Year of God’s favor—often understood as the year of Jubilee when debt would be forgiven, land restored, and freedom to slaves granted—would be proclaimed. Then, for choosing to accept God’s commission on his ministry, the people of God would turn against Jesus and attempt to have him killed. It would take three years, but eventually they would succeed. Jesus was killed because people preferred the status quo to God’s will in scripture.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Faith Column: Jesus anointed at Nazareth and despised