You Will Not be Spared

My hometown is a place called Chambersburg. Chambersburg is (unfortunately, in my opinion) a former small town. I've lived there all my life, aside from the time I've been a student at Shippensburg. But Ship is only twenty minutes outside of Chambersburg, making weekend visits quite prevalent. The city has grown as I have. As far back as I can remember, the place has been under constant construction. When you live in Chambersburg, it's hard to go anywhere without hitting some sort of road reconstruction, new building being established, or new development of some sort. The catch-22 with Chambersburg is that people flock to it because it is a conveniently located small town, but because the people flock to it, it is no longer a small town.

Jesus' hometown was a place called Nazareth. I don't know much about Nazareth other than it must have been a pretty crappy place to live. So crappy was this place, that we have scriptural accounts of folks asking if anything good could ever come from it. When Jesus started His public ministry, He came back to Nazareth and preached a message in the synagogue. The message was some Old Testament scripture from Isaiah and said something like this:

"The spirit of the Lord is on Me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Isaiah 61: 1-2) Jesus then tells the people in the synagogue that today this scripture is fulfilled.

ALL RIGHT! The dude in the second pew back just had a revelation. "Jesus just said He is here for the poor, oppressed, blind, and the captive. Nazareth is full of sick and dying! Nazareth is full of the oppressed and addicted! Nazareth could use some of the Lord's favor! Nazareth isn't going to suck anymore!" The people of Nazareth were amazed that this was Joseph's kid, the carpenter who had left a couple months ago, but in their astonishment was belief in His words. "This guy could be the real deal. He can really help us!"

Jesus knew what the people wanted. He knew their hearts. I think that is exactly why He did the exact opposite of what they expected Him to do. Jesus tells them that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He tells the people of Elijah and Elisha; Israelites who were sent not to Israel but to other people and places to do God's work. Elijah and Elisha weren't made to be Israel's "get out of jail free" card, but rather to advance God's story. Jesus was in the same boat. He was not back in Nazareth to save them from their mess. He was there to proclaim the good news. Jesus was saying inadvertently "The year of the Lord's favor has come, but it's not going to look how you think it is."

Needless to say, the people of Nazareth were a bit upset. Upset to the degree that they decided together, "we should throw this man off a cliff." They chased Jesus to the edge of the cliff, but in a perfect example of biblical awesomeness, Jesus somehow inexplicably slipped right through the crowd and was on His way.

Nazareth apparently had a bunch of problems. When the people who lived in Nazareth saw Jesus, they saw Him as nothing more than a way out of those problems. Here we begin to understand again that Jesus did not come to make our lives cake. Nope. We still have a lot of problems. What Jesus did come for though was to "proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Jubilee! Jesus has come to free you from what holds you back from God. Nothing "bad" here on earth can hold us back from God. It's only sin. But with Christ we are free from that. Christ gives us the happy ending we want so badly.

The people of Chambersburg are really no different from the people of Nazareth. Jesus is saying the same things to my people as He said to His people. Jesus is still here in this town, preaching the message "I've come to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor!" Can you hear it? It may be hard to hear in Chambersburg because of all the hustle and bustle of our small-town-no-more lives. We would do well to slow down and listen to Jesus.

Also like Nazareth, people in Chambersburg will hear the message proclaiming God's favor and think "Finally, it's my time! Finally, I don't have to be poor anymore! Finally, I won't be addicted or oppressed! Finally, my life won't suck anymore!" And, like the people of Nazareth, when Jesus tells us that's not the way it's going to be, we will reject Him. In our anger and confusion of this Jesus not being who we thought He was, He will slip right through us and be on His way, yet His message never changes.

Maybe Jesus has slipped through you in your own confusion or anger. Now is the time. Chase Him. Run after Him at full force and do not slow down. But with each step you take, know that your whole existence will be a perilous journey back into life. It will be a test that requires assurance of your answers. It will be a series of pen strokes that compose a reality of God's will.

Your chase will birth only conflict. You will not be spared. This is how you will be made.