Who's Your Daddy?

By John Stallings


Jesus' rejection in his own hometown is a story that gives me chills every time I read it.

Jesus, fresh from a preaching and healing campaign in Galilee has returned to his boyhood home of Nazareth after an absence of many months. He left a commoner, He returns a celebrity. In Nazareth He was known as a nice, hard-working young man from a good family.

The Nazarenes had been hearing about Jesus’ exploits from almost a year on the road. They knew about the water He’d turned into wine at Cana and the paralyzed man He’d healed in Jerusalem. Now Jesus was home and the people were waiting to be impressed. The “buzz” on the street was “that boy is back in town.” The Nazareth Gazette probably ran a story entitled “hometown boy makes good.”

In the temple on the Sabbath Jesus is invited to read from the sacred scrolls and comment on the text. Nazareth would see what kind of teacher He had become. Jesus reads from Isaiah 61:1-5, about the Spirit of the Lord anointing him to preach good news, heal and set free.

When He’d finished reading from the scroll He sat down and said, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." Huh? You could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet.

In essence, Jesus is saying;

“I’m the finale. I’m the completion of God’s plan to save you. Everything Moses wrote about in his books, everything David wrote in the Psalms, and everything the prophets promised, all of that pointed to me. I’m the seed of the woman. I’m the son of David. I’m the suffering servant. I’m the one God anointed. In Hebrew I’m the Messiah: in Greek I’m the Christ. Are you waiting for the Messiah? You’re looking at him!”

Mixed Reaction

The reaction in the synagogue on that Sabbath was one of astonishment. Luke says they were "amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips." Apparently they had never heard Jesus as a public speaker, or teacher. His life among them had been as a carpenter, never a public figure. This was an entirely new role, and they were, as Matthew and Mark put it "astonished." Jesus "gracious words" were impressive.

But was this the astonishment of appreciation or of skepticism? At first glance, we're not sure. Maybe there was a wave of approval, followed by a low guttural muttering, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

The congregation's quickness to pigeonhole Jesus as Joseph's son shows that their paradigm was unable to view Jesus in any other context than as a member of a Nazareth family. They may have been thinking of the “scandalous” events surrounding his birth. After all, this was a small town, and people talk.

"Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. “Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren't all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” Matthew 13:54-56

The people of Nazareth were amazed but skeptical. Sure, He was good with words. But how could He really be worthy of the acclaim and adulation He had been met with elsewhere in Galilee? The congregation "took offense at him" Matthew 13:57.

A Prophet without Honor

Jesus sensed the unbelief and skepticism in the room that day. The congregation made no attempt to hide their feelings. Jesus' next comments confront this anti-faith:

"Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.' I tell you the truth," he continued, "No prophet is accepted in his hometown." Luke 4:23

The words, "Physician, heal yourself" are plain enough. It's similar to our proverb which observes that the cobbler's children go barefooted. Probably the townspeople are applying the words to Jesus hometown vs. other towns where He had performed healings. In other words, they are saying, “you’ve healed elsewhere; how about in your own hometown?”

The skepticism in Nazareth was so pervasive that Mark records, "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith." Mark 6:5-6

If your family doesn’t accept your faith, have you ever wondered why? They remember your past, perhaps, and don't believe you've changed. Jesus’ family was convinced that He was mad though they finally came around and accepted Him, - His townspeople never did. Sometimes faith is a lonely road.

Jesus speaks to them of God's Blessing on Two Foreigners

In response to his townsmen's open skepticism, Jesus refers to stories of how God blessed two non-Jewish individuals, at a time that many Jews had needs that went unmet. Jesus tells of the widow at Zaraphath in 1 Kings 17:7-24. The Prophet Elijah had stayed with her and her son during the 3-1/2 year drought that preceded his victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The widow's small jar of flour and tiny jug of oil were not depleted, though they fed the three of them for years. Later, when the widow's son died, Elijah's prayers revived him from the dead. No Israelites received such a blessing.

Then Jesus told of Naaman, General of the Army of Israel's enemy Aram, whose capital was Damascus 2 Kings 5. Naaman had contracted leprosy, and heard that the Prophet Elisha in Israel had the power to heal. At Elisha's word, Naaman had dipped seven times in the Jordan, and after the seventh time his leprosy was healed and his skin restored like that of a child.

There were many lepers in Israel at the time, commented Jesus, but only the foreigner Naaman was healed.

Jesus' clear implication was that the Israelites in these eras were unworthy of these miracles, and so God bestowed miracles on outsiders who believed. It was a not-so-veiled commentary on the absence of faith Jesus perceived in Nazareth. Outside this village Jesus had performed amazing miracles, but the unbelief in Nazareth was way too thick. Even though they wanted to see a miracle show, they were neither worthy nor ready. A prophet wasn't honored in his own hometown.

Murderous anger

As always, the truth hurts. The resentment and skepticism that seethed beneath the surface now erupted in murderous rage. The congregation rose up from their Sabbath synagogue worship intent to kill their homegrown boy. They took Jesus into custody and then they drove him out of the building and out of the village.

I’ve visited Nazareth several times and IMHO it’s the quintessence of a dreary, depressing back-water town built at the edge of a mountain. To the west the ground drops very rapidly to the fertile Jezreel Valley below. Without hearing or trial, and in violation of both Jewish and Roman law, Jesus’ townspeople intended to kill Him by throwing him over a precipice perhaps as a prelude to stoning.

I don’t know if you saw the 80’s movie Throw mama from the train, but in this case it’s—Throw Jesus off the cliff. Was Jesus justified in his judgment of their worthiness, faith, and character? Obviously He was!

Walking Away

What happened next is perhaps one of the most “unsung” miracles in the Bible. As we’ll see, this isn’t the only time it’s happened to Jesus. Strangely, though they forced Him to the cliff, they couldn't throw him over. Jesus just walked away, through the crowd, and out of town, never -- so far as we know -- to return to his hometown of Nazareth. It wasn't his time to die -that would be three years later. But the anger in Nazareth was emblematic of the kind of anger and resentment that finally killed Jesus.

JOHN CHAPTER EIGHT- ANOTHER CLOSE CALL

A man went on a long awaited vacation to Europe. Two days after he left he called home to check on his cat and his brother answered the phone. The man asked, “How’s my cat?” The brother answered, “Your cat is dead.” The man said, “Now you could have been gentler in telling me that, so as not to shock me and hurt my feelings. You could have said your cat is on the roof. Then tomorrow you could have said the fire department came to get the cat down and dropped him and your cat is at the vets. The day after that you could have said the cat couldn’t be saved and was peacefully put down. Then you wouldn’t have hurt my feelings.”

The man then asked, “How’s mother?” To which the brother replied, “She’s on the roof.”

GENTLE JESUS, -MEEK AND MILD?

Jesus didn't use that kind of subtly. He didn't "tiptoe through the tulips, nor walk on eggshells." Generally when I think of Jesus’ physical presence, I see Him holding a little lamb across His shoulders or with children surrounding Him. Other pictures of Jesus that often come to mind are Him sitting at Jacob’s Well talking to the Samaritan woman, standing before the multitudes teaching, silently facing His tormentors, or on the cross in death as He forgave those who were crucifying Him.

It’s easy to forget that Jesus didn’t write “How to win friends and influence people,” although He always spoke the truth in love. Jesus wasn’t always smooth and subtle, and definitely didn’t “tip-toe through the tulips,” either in His hometown of Nazareth or in this story in John Chapter eight. If we want to see Jesus “torqued,” and “in your face” it’s here.

It’s interesting that the conversation starts in John 8:31 with these words;

As He spoke these words many believed on Him.

So Jesus is talking to Jews who believed in Him and His message. As He speaks to them a debate ensues and it’s plain to see that the crown was in top form as far as not “getting” what Jesus was saying. Talk about confused, when Jesus told them “the truth would set them free” in typical argumentative fashion they said, “Free? We’ve never been in bondage,” conveniently forgetting the 400 years their ancestors spent in Egyptian slavery. Was that just a vacation? What about the 70 years they spent in Babylonian enslavement? Even as they spoke they were living in subjugation to a merciless, Jack-booted Roman occupation.

DON’T YOU TALK ABOUT MY MAMA!

But in verse 41 they crossed the line and said, “We were not born of fornication” an obvious slur on the conditions of Jesus’ birth.

Again he’s faced with people questioning His “spiritual paternity, or lineage.” If ever He had an “in your face” attitude, He had it when speaking to His townsfolk in Nazareth and with these people in John chapter eight.

Jesus is speaking to a group of people who were separated from Him because they belonged to another god, and were not true Believers. He figures that if they want to dabble around in “bloodlines,” He’ll lay it out for them and show them who their daddy really is.

JESUS OFFERS ONLY TWO OPTIONS

Jesus tells the crowd there are only two possibilities concerning who they are. They’re either God’s children or the devil’s children. He clearly proves these people are not able to receive Him because they were living under a different spirit and power, their “father the devil.” He tells them that they persecuted Him because of their spiritual separation. They were under the influence of their god whom He names; -“Ye are of your father the devil.” Bam, Bam, there it is.

Jesus then sets forth the evil activities of the people who were imitators of their father the Devil. They worship this false god and copied his evil ways. As proof of their pedigree, Jesus tells them that they want to kill him so that makes them like the devil, and He called them liars, the other trait of the devil. This of course didn’t thrill these folk much which is why at one point they picked up stones to kill him. It seems the attitude of the people was, “if you call us what we really are we’ll kill you.”

Jesus said, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”- John 8:44-47KJV

“YOU GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY”

Several years ago Bob Dylan wrote a song entitled “You gotta serve somebody.” There are two roads, the broad road that leads to destruction or the narrow road leading to life eternal. There are two masters, God or the devil. And there are two places to go when we die, heaven or hell.

There’s a popular saying that-“We’re all God’s children.” That’s true in one sense, since God made us all. But nevertheless, spiritually speaking we all have a “daddy.”

Listen to 1 John 3:10;

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither loveth not his brother.

Paul told the Galatians;

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revel lings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance…

Listen to John;

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.—John 1:12-13

This verse makes it clear that unless an individual receives Christ they don’t belong to Him in the sense that their eternal address will be heaven when they die.

In John 8:43, Jesus said;

“Why do ye not understand my speech, even because ye cannot hear my word?” That is, ye cannot bear my doctrine: it comes too close to you; it searches your hearts, detects your hypocrisy, and exposes your iniquitous intentions and designs; and as ye are determined not to leave your sins, so ye are purposed not to hear my doctrine.

Jesus then exposes the unregenerate character of the unbelieving religious person that serves
their god Satan.

THIS EVENT PARALLELS THE NAZARETH EXPERIENCE

This story closes almost exactly as the Nazareth story closed. With a huge crowd mad enough at Him to kill Him, somehow Jesus just walked away out of harms way, because as in Nazareth His time to die hadn’t come.

CHARACTERISTICS OF OUR FATHER

If you and I can truly call the God of heaven our Daddy,

We’ll have no problems trusting Him,
We’ll enjoy talking about Him,
We’ll seek to do His will,
We’ll have a longing to be like Him,
We’ll suffer willingly for Him, and we’ll obey His words.
We’ll use our father’s vocabulary,
We’ll have love one for another, [God’s kids are known by their love not their t-shirts.]

It would be a terrible thing not to know who our father is.

My father is the Alpha and the Omega, He’s the Almighty, He’s the Bread of Life and the Bishop of my soul, He’s the Christ, the Captain of my ship, the Daystar and the Deliverer who brings joy in the morning, He’s Emmanuel and the Eternal One, He’s the Father of all who trust Him and a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, He is God and the Good Shepherd, He’s the Holy One and the Horn of Salvation, He’s the great I AM and the Invisible God, He’s Jesus and Jehovah, He’s the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He’s the man of sorrows and Manna that fell from heaven, He’s Nazareth’s Son, He’s the Omnipotent God, Prince of peace, Righteous Judge, Son of God and the Savior of the world, He’s the truth, the Way, and the Life, the Unseen hand that’s providing when we’re not looking, He’s the Voice of the Lord that speaks sweet words of life to me, He’s Wonderful, and He’s mysterious, He’s Zion’s King.

He wants you and me to stop acting like we’re illegitimate and take our place at His table and be His son or daughter.


Who’s your Daddy?


Blessings,


John