Do You Mind?

DO YOU MIND?

Immediately following His Temptation in the dessert Jesus "returns in the Power of the Holy Spirit to Galilee" where He teaches in the Synagogues. A report goes out unto all the surrounding area about Him. Jesus then presents Himself & His Ministry to His hometown Synagog in Nazareth with the Powerfully Humble excerpt from Isaiah's scripture, Lk 4:18-22 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

[{-+BREAK+-} At this point, He does NOT finish the verse!]

"And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" [Ooops!]

At this point he has their attention and they are baffled! What He had just announced was astonishing, but, so far, they're "with Him" (if only in unbelief & amazement!). But it's what He does next that strikes me; and the fact that I've never heard any commentary of any kind whatsoever about it! Lk 4:23-30 "And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Now why in the world do you suppose Jesus tells them this, and in this context? "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way," Well, you can see it made them furious at Him! They were not only not "with Him" now, but wanted to kill Him! ...But WHY? [Aha!]

Based on this story alone, what was the very first thing Jesus puts His "finger" on after revealing Who He Is?: ARROGANT UNBELIEF!

He Overcomes the wiles of the Devil during forty "hellish" days of grueling, tortuous temptation in the dessert; full of the Power of the Holy Spirit, He returns to Galilee & teaches & develops an instant reputation; and then He heads "home"! Home to His family & friends & neighbors & familiar surroundings. Home to people who "knew Him, ..when!". Home to the Synagogue where He must have learned and was taught the very Scripture He now Proclaims to these, His "teachers" and "elders" - "His people"! People, I'm sure, who might have felt they had a right to be proud of this "hometown boy-made-good" - now come home to those who "had a hand" in raising Him - so-to-speak, ...donchaknow!

And what does He do? He insults them by accusing them (beforehand!) of demanding a "demonstration" of what they'd heard of Him in Galilee! (What He really does is "Read" their hearts & Reveal the truth of the condition of their souls to them!). He flatly states there is no doubt that they cannot accept His Being the fulfillment of Isaiah's Prophesy about +preaching Good News, +proclaiming release, +recovery of sight, +setting at liberty or +proclaiming the acceptable year ("jubilee") of the Lord! He indicates they will advise Him to "heal Himself!" first, and then prove to them what He may have "fooled" some strangers into believing about Him - namely, that He has SuperNatural Characteristics worthy of being "gloried at" by the Galileans! The subject was His healing abilities, and their unbelief which they dared Him to disprove!

He responds with a declaration of "Truly, I say unto you", (always a dead-giveaway, He's about to reveal a Mystery!), "no prophet is "received" by his own people!". Then He says, "BUT"! (That means, "even so, I will teach you about My Mission & your unbelief which refuses to allow you to receive your Messiah and be Healed!").

Remember that even Jesus "marveled" at their unbelief & could do but few miracles in their midst! Mk 6:5,6 "And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching."

He then proceeds to say something so profound that most people - then AND now - simply disregard it as incoherent!

He talks about God (or Elijah/Elisha) having no Mercy to help [all-but-one] starving "widows", and no Mercy to heal [all-but-one] sick "lepers" as well! As He puts it, "NONE-BUT-ONE!". What gives? Why would He Say such a thing?

Paul puts his finger on this mystery when he writes in Ro 11:28-33 "As concerning the gospel, they (Israel) are enemies for your sakes (you Gentiles): but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"

He goes on to clarify the matter in Ro 9:14-18 "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid! For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Hmmm... God's Ways are far from ours!

The question is ALWAYS, "IS IT ALL RIGHT WITH YOU?". Not that God seeks our permission, nor to please us. But Jesus Christ HAS COME TO SEEK, HEAL & SAVE! That much is a fact (whether we like it, or not!).

God IMPACTED His Creation by Entering it & Becoming One with it (even while it was yet Cursed & evil!). His Cause (Impact) had[s] an Effect (Impression)! But God's Will (as concerns our outcome, only!) is subject to (submitted to!) OUR WILL! That is; God Has Said OUR will Be Done (where our soul is concerned - hence, "as sow - so reap!"). Therefore, if what God Does is not "all right" with us, we are at "enmity" with God!

God does not want us to perish, but He cannot [He Has BOUND Himself!] and Will not [for Love's Sake!], override our choice!

A Great change had taken place in this "young neighborhood lad" (Jesus)! You might say it was Christ's "conversion" experience.

He was now Commissioned from On High to Fulfill His Destiny as the Lamb of God Who Heals ("takes away the sin of the world") with His Own Blood! Where did He choose to begin? At home, of course! Where was He first rejected? At home - by friends, neighbors & (probably) relatives! What was His first "encounter" with the evil in this world? The "believer's" UNBELIEF!

So Paul teaches us that God "hardened" the hearts of some to bring Salvation to ALL ("whosoever WILL!").

Jesus Christ wants to Die in our place - is that all right with us? He wants to Heal us & make us Whole with God again - do we mind? He will not force His Will (Choice) on anyone! He stands at our heart's "door", at the threshold of our mind and the motive-source of our thoughts NOW and asks, "DO YOU MIND if I come in and ABIDE with you?" Do you mind? ..Well, DO you? Arrogant unbelief usually warrants sarcasm! If you don't "mind", then OPEN UNTO & ABIDE IN HIM!