Devotional for the week of February 2, 2025

He Goes on His Way

It wasn’t so long ago that we sang a song about the “meek and mild” newborn Jesus. But we see he is anything but that in today’s gospel! When he makes the audacious claim that Isaiah’s messianic prophecy “has been fulfilled in [their] hearing” (Luke 4:21), the crowds are delighted and glad to claim him as one of their own.

Jesus instigates a conflict, though, by recalling instances in which Elijah and Elisha ministered to Gentiles instead of to the people of Israel. That the people of Capernaum so quickly turn on him shows how easily we all become focused on ourselves, our status, and our desires, instead of on God’s mission to reach those who do not yet know God’s love. The crowd’s reaction points, for example, to a perennial temptation in faith communities to prioritize insiders’ preferences over ways to invite and make room for newcomers to hear the gospel. We are quick to draw lines around “our” people and look at anyone beyond those lines as an outsider. But what if Jesus leads us, as God led the prophets, to someone unexpected? How would we respond if Jesus called us to embrace people whose socioeconomic class or language is different from ours? Would we pick up stones if Jesus announced he was off to go bless folks who voted for that candidate?

Even though this story ends with the Nazareth crowd stuck in their anger, it offers hope for us when we find ourselves struggling with the call of Jesus. Luke tells us Jesus simply “went on his way” (v. 30). The crowd’s rage could not deter Jesus from his path to the cross and the empty tomb. He redeems even those who deny, oppose, and reject him. Just so, our resistance does not prevail. No matter what our ways might be, his is the way of mercy for all. Jesus fulfills God’s plan to rescue the world, to reconcile all creation!