February 25

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

            When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He 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.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:16-21

            Jesus provoked intense reactions.  Sometimes it was grown men dropping everything, abandoning their family business in order to follow Him.  Sometimes it was a woman risking public ridicule and scorn to wash His feet with her hair and tears.  Sometimes he inspired rational men and women to try to kill him.  This was one of those times.

            He read one of the most sacred Jewish texts to the gathered synagogue, telling them that he was the fulfillment of their Messianic Prophecies.  They pushed back.  He doubled down and before you know it, verse 29 says,

The people got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff.

This is not how they teach you to argue in debate class.  What was it about Jesus that made people react so strongly to him?

            People usually only react this extremely when their greatest hopes or greatest fears are touched.  Usually the two categories are tied together; our greatest fears tend to revolve around the loss of our greatest hopes.  The Jews looked around and saw only signs of God’s rejection and abandonment of them.  There had been no prophets for centuries.  They were an occupied people, living under the oppression of Roman Legions and corrupt leaders.  However, they held firmly to the promise that one day things would be made right.  One day the Messiah would come, pouring God’s favor upon his chosen people and casting out the Romans and restoring Israel to Glory.  That was the kernel of hope that so many held so dear as they went through days that held so little promise.  When Jesus proclaims himself the Messiah, the hope of the coming Messiah and the fear that this hope might be a lie all flare to the surface, past logic and reason…past calm debate and discourse.  Those who believed had their hope fortified.  Those who did not believe breathed murder. 

            Our kids will often provoke extreme emotions from others.  Sometimes people look at our kids and remember a loved one who lived through a disability and they are filled with compassion and a desire to help our children just as their loved ones had been helped before.  This sums up almost every Care Provider that I hired.  They just wanted to assist our clients any way that they could.  Sometimes people look at our kids and respond with angry words and wild eyes.  My experience is that usually this happens when they have had a traumatic experience with injury and disability.  Seeing a child in a wheelchair reminds them of how helpless they were and they lash out because they have sworn that they would never be in that position again.

            Remember, everything and everyone has a context.  When people have extreme reactions to us and our kids, it is usually not about us.  It is because something extremely fragile inside of them has stirred and their reaction has skipped right past logic and reason.  We may have been the catalyst, but by no means is this about us. 

A moment to reflect:

What provokes extreme reactions within you?  When do your emotions shoot from calm to out of control in the blink of an eye?  What is at the root of that?