Luke 4: 21-30 v 29-30 “Jumping up they mobbed Him ( Jesus) and forced Him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push Him over the cliff, but He passed right through the crowd and went on His way.”
The story about Jesus preaching in his home town continues in the gospel of Luke started one week ago ( see blog Jan29th) . The crowd are asking Jesus to heal people and He points out to them that although many people are sick God chooses who to heal and when. Often it is the foreigner, as when Elijah helped the widow in the land of Sidon ( 1 Kings 17 :7-16) the outsider when Eisha healed Naaman ( 2 Kings: 1-19) Jesus then experienced the anger of humans and the force of a crowd gathering together to move someone where they don’t want to go, then the miracle occurred. Jesus parted the crowd and walked away.
Have you ever been swept away by a crowd? I remember a couple of times when I have. Once after a soccer match in the UK, the police divided the crowd into home and away supporters as we left the stadium and I was in the home crowd directed downtown, whilst the away crowd headed towards the train station which was the way I wanted to go home. Another time I was on the subway in London and when the train arrived, I thought it was full so made no motion to step forward but the people behind me used to the rush hour just surged forward and we all squeezed onto the train. In both cases it was impossible to move in any direction except where the crowd was going. I can imagine how Jesus felt swept along by the crowd. “But He passed right through the crowd and went on His way.” There are no details about how he did it , how an angry mob allowed Him to pass through them, without any fighting or injury . It seems like the crowd just parted and He walked away! With God amazing things are possible , a home crowd turned angry , intent on killing Jesus but He just walked away and continued teaching in another town.
Prayer: Holy Father thank you for showing us your love for us as demonstrated by your care for Jesus in an angry mob. Help us to trust you in all we do today and to continue to focus on sharing your love to the world. Amen
CrossWalk 