October 30th

Jesus Picks a Fight

            “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.  I assure you that there were any widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.  Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.  And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed- only Naaman the Syrian.”

            All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.  They 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.  But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:24-30

            Jesus was well known for his teaching and his healings and his miracles.  One of his favorite, if lesser-known, activities was picking fights.  Look at the passage above.  Jesus walks into a synagogue and starts teaching about how God ignored the needs of His people so that He could do miracles among Gentiles because the people would not believe that God had sent a prophet to them…just like they would not believe that He was sent from above.

            The congregation did not respond well to His message.  They responded so poorly, in fact, that they tried to kill Jesus by throwing Him off the cliff that their town was built upon.  He performed a miracle and walked, undisturbed, through the mob.  He knew that what He was saying would be unpopular.  He knew it could incite a riot.  He even knew that there might be an attempt on His life.  But Jesus was not concerned because He knew that He was equipped for anything that might be thrown His way.  Nothing would happen that He was not prepared for.

            My son and I were in Ecuador on a class trip.  We were riding on the tour bus to the big city market before heading out to the Galapagos Islands the next day.  The tour guide was explaining that the market was full of amazing food and crafts and clothing and souvenirs…and pickpockets.  There were people around who would try to take the money out of your pockets so have fun looking around but be careful.

            A wry smile spread across my son’s face.  He finished his chocolate bar and carefully refolded the green wrapper so that it looked like currency and placed it so that it hung out of his pocket.  “I’d like to see them try.”

            See, the boy had been taking Tae Kwon Do classes and was supremely confident that anything that the pickpockets tried on him would be thwarted by his keen senses and panther-like reflexes.  The thieves must have sensed this too because while I had someone try to steal my wallet, no one made any attempts on the boy and his wily traps.

            Do you know where I have this level of supreme confidence?  Nowhere.  There is not a single moment in my life where I walk around with that level of swagger.  Every step is filled with self-doubt and worry and anxiety as I look around for where the catastrophe could come from.  You know what I am reminded of when I look at this?  God calls us into things.  He calls us into different situations and different roles throughout our lives.  Those could be jobs.  Those could be relationships.  Those could be parenting.  Anything that God calls us into, He equips us for.  He gives us the skills and abilities and passions that are best suited towards us thriving in that calling.

            I am called to be a parent.  I have been gifted with the ability to run on minimal sleep and survive off of sandwich crusts and cereal dust.  I have been gifted with the ability to hear my child’s voice across a crowded room.  I have been gifted with the ability to weather the emotional storms that come with this life.  I have been gifted with incredible parents and family that have been our support system through the years.  I have been gifted with the ability to work in non-profits that allow me the scheduling flexibility to be where my family needs me.  The list goes on and on. 

            I don’t know if I will ever have the absurd level of confidence of Jesus in that synagogue or my son in that market, but I can walk into each day knowing that whatever God has prepared for me in that day, He has also prepared me for.

A moment to reflect:

What has God called you into?  How have you been equipped for that calling?