Epiphany
January 31, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 4:21-30

And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. –Luke 4:24-30

“He doesn’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain” is a saying that I heard on occasion when I was a child. Of course I come from a state that must deal with drought at times and I have seen adults run into the rain with arms opened wide turning circles and throwing their heads back to catch the precious liquid in their mouths straight from the hands of God. Our common sense may not be the common sense of another living in other circumstances and may not even be right for anyone.

I have always thought of Jesus as a seer, one who takes in not only the evident, but also the realities of life not available to all or even most. He always seemed to see the potential in the people that he encountered even when they did not. He was well acquainted with what we call human nature. I can see him now looking down on Jerusalem when he said, How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37) yet he never quit trying. I don’t think he quit trying in Nazareth either, neither do I think he has given up on us.

That said, I think he would enjoy our surprising him by demonstrating through our lives Christ Sense, letting Jesus know that we get his message as we try to live life to the fullest in his way not as we design it for our own purposes, but as he meant it in the first place. I think he might enjoy playing in the rain and splashing through puddles of water, but his wings are always there to protect us from the storms of life. We need to turn to him to discern what is healthy nurturing rain and what are storms from which we need shelter and stop trying to throw him off a cliff when his way is not necessarily our way.

Prayer: Lord, I can be really stubborn and self-centered at times. Forgive me when my attitudes get in the way of walking close to you. Heal my soul, make me whole. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.