When things get tough ... Luke 4: 21-30

Luke 4: 21-30             Gospel reading for Sunday 31st January 2010

The reading for this Sunday is a continuation of the story from last week, where Jesus goes to worship in his home town, is handed the scroll to read from and in so doing fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah. The people initially react with amazement. Then some one says ...isn't he Joseph's son?

From that point in this week's reading things get a bit tense. Jesus baits the people a bit as we get into the  the old "can't make a prophet in your own land" proverb. We can speculate about the significance of this for a long time ... but I want to switch the thinking to what it means for us today as leaders in Lutheran Schools.

My immediate thought goes something like this. Perhaps there are times when we may feel this same resistance of the people in our community to the message of Jesus. What would he /she know anyway? Wasn't he / she the one who grew up in Moculta / Maggea / Mantung / Mootatunga / Carlsruhe / Cobera / Kulkami / Karoonda / Wharminda / Wanbi? (or substitute any other little insignificant homne-town location).

The bit that I love though, is what happens right at the end of the reading. According to Luke, the locals were ready to throw him over the cliff. (Incidentally this is something of an oddity with this reading, because there are apparently no cliffs in or around the town of Nazareth!) Anyway, Jesus simply "walked right through the crowd and went on his way".

When the going gets tough we know that we can rely on the amazing presence and strength of God's Spirit.

Blessings to you all for the week ahead and especially as you get under way at the start of a new school year. May you feel that special ever-abiding strength of God's Spirit to help you simply "walk right through" any tricky situation that may lie ahead.

Nev