Show and Tell

I must admit that I am most intrigued when I can understand Jesus as a real person, struggling to achieve His life’s mission, navigating the social and political realities of His world, dealing with the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of the people around Him. In these respects, it is a life that we can relate to. The Gospels are an astonishing blend of mind-bending supernatural events- miracle healings, resurrection stories- mixed with the routine details of everyday life, and bestowed with a wisdom that continues to ring true 2,000 years later. Here's what I mean:

A few Sundays ago at church we discussed a famous Bible story- “Jesus Rejected at Nazareth.” Nazareth, of course, is where Jesus grew up. This story is the origin of the saying: “You can’t be a prophet in your own town,” meaning that the folks, where you grew up, will never see you any other way than how they remember you, no matter what you accomplish or become. In the case of Jesus, He’s still “the carpenter’s kid.” The story takes place at the beginning of His ministry, when Jesus goes home to proclaim that He is the hoped-for Messiah, the anointed one, the Son God. The town’s folk listen but are dumbfounded. They are impressed but demand proof. They ask themselves, maybe a bit sarcastically, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” And they feel entitled, as friends and family, believing that if anyone deserves a miracle, it’s them. But Jesus declines. In the section below, referencing “Elijah” and “Elisha,” Jesus explains to the crowd why. He is reminding those listening that God does not always do what is asked or expected.

Here’s the story from Luke 4. “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, ‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’

“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ they asked. Jesus said to them, ‘Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ‘Truly I tell you,’ He, continued, ‘no prophet is accepted in his hometown.’ I assure you that there were many 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.”

So, with blood in their eyes, the crowd runs Jesus out of town, presaging the betrayal and Crucifixion. After this backlash, Jesus appears to change course. He begins to demonstrate his divinity, as well as proclaiming it- giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, raising the dead. Seeing is believing, then and now. Show and tell. At the time, there was a multitude of self-proclaimed prophets, so people had good reason to be skeptical. And this is why I believe that Jesus’s miracles were necessary, including and especially the Resurrection. People needed proof for the Jesus story to stick. The Way, as the early followers of Jesus referred to themselves, took hold and grew, from a small handful of witnesses who passed along these accounts, to the many billions of us today who have absorbed the truth of the Scriptures, and created miracles in our own lives, which completes the circle. We become living proof to others of what is possible when we are in God and He/she is in us. Show and tell. Until next time, stay safe, be brave and keep walking in the light. The song pairing, “Water to Wine,” is about what is reported to be Jesus's first miracle.

Water to Wine
Now way back when
down in Galilee
a man was walking around
just like you and me
and He preached some words
and He broke some bread
and truer words have never been said

Now I'm standing here
and I'm doing fine
took my life
turned water into wine

From then 'till now
we have found
there is never enough
to go around
but in this life
you will surely find
He's taking water
and turning it into wine

Now I'm standing here
and I'm doing fine
took my life
turned water into wine