But the truth is...

Luke 4:21-30
Rejection of Jesus’ Ministry 
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%204%3A21-30&version=NRSVUE
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In the fuller reading of this chapter, within two verses, we go from the “beginning of Jesus’ ministry,” to the “rejection of Jesus’ ministry,” particularly from his own people from his childhood synagogue. So quickly do the people go from having their eyes fixed on Jesus to wanting to hurl him off a cliff, which only proves Jesus’ declaration that “no prophet is accepted in his hometown” (v.24). In their search for truth, they were not open to hearing it from one of their own.

“But the truth is…” (v.25), the phrase that changes the course of action in this holy moment in the synagogue, is the phrase that we long for from Jesus. We are all searching for truth. In a time of misinformation and disinformation used to create a narrative to uphold power, we are all searching for someone to tell us, “but the truth is…”

However, the truth is hard to hear. We all bring our own self-serving biases when searching for the truth, so it is truly hard to listen with an open ear. The people in the scripture were mesmerized by their hometown boy who had obtained local fame in nearby towns. They were so excited for him to return to their little town, in hopes that they would get some of his healing miracles that others received in other towns. After all, they raised him. Shouldn’t they get special treatment since Jesus knows them personally?

But the truth is…there’s no special treatment in God’s grace. We are all loved equally by God. We can’t call in special favors to God. God holds all of us in the palm of God’s hands, but it’s hard to hear that God loves our enemies as much as God loves us. Truthfully, we don’t really want to be grouped together with our enemies in the palm of God’s hands.

But the truth is…God will do what God will do. The truth that Jesus shared with his people was that he was sent by God to bring good news to the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. Even though his own people were poor, oppressed, and marginalized by the Roman Empire, God will extend merciful grace to all within the Empire. Jesus used two examples from Elijah’s and Elisha’s ministries where God did not send them to heal and care for their own people, but to Gentiles who were also oppressed by the Empire. God’s hand reached through the barriers to lovingly care for the non-Jewish people, and that went against their own expectations of being God’s chosen people.

But the truth is…God does not stay within the bounds of our expectations. In fact, God thrives on going beyond our expectations. That’s when we know that God is present and working to change our hearts. The mystery of God seeps in and turns everything we thought we know as truth upside down.

But the truth is…we have to be open to it. The people in scripture were open until the truth got really hard to hear. The people turned their focus off Jesus back onto themselves, in order to uphold their own self-serving expectations of their God, and they were “filled with rage” (v.28). They closed their hearts to the truth and lashed out at Jesus. Forming a lynch mob, they tried their best to get rid of the truth.  

But the truth is…Jesus was “in the power of the Spirit” (v.14) and “he passed through the midst of them and went on his way” (v.30). God was not finished with the truth. The truth of Jesus’ good news would continue to spread beyond their boundaries and expectations. God’s truth is still being shared with all who are poor, oppressed, and marginalized, but it requires us to speak truth to power. It will take courage, but in the end, the truth will remain.
 
Reflection Questions:
Have you ever heard something from Jesus that you didn’t want to hear? How did you respond?
If you were in the crowd of people in this scripture, would you join the lynch mob or would you stand with Jesus, the truth-teller?
How hard is it for you to tell God’s truth?
 
Pray: Help us, God, to accept your truth graciously, especially when you tell us something we don’t want to hear.
 
Action: Take a risk this week and tell the truth.  
 
*New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America.