22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, “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.’”
24 “I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
—The words of the Apostle Luke from Luke 4:22-30
In the last blog post, I suggested to you “The words we say have great power.” I gave the illustration of you telling someone how happy he or she looked and how that would probably make the person feel very good about himself or herself. It really is true that the words we say have great power.
In the Scripture passage at the beginning of today’s blog post, the Apostle Luke describes how the people in Jesus’ hometown reacted when He spoke words of truth that they did not want to hear.
Do you know what they did to Jesus? They chased Him out of the synagogue, down the street, and out to the edge of town. Can you imagine that? These people did not want to hear the truth that Jesus was telling them. So, instead of confronting the truth, they tried to get rid of the person telling them the truth.
Do you see what happened in this case? Jesus’ words had great power. He spoke the truth and the harsh reality of that truth caused the people hearing Jesus’ words to drive Him out of town.
It is important for us to understand that even today, or maybe I should say, “especially today,” these words that Jesus preached have great power.
In fact, truth always has great power. Constantly be on your guard for anyone who wants to suppress the truth. Whenever you encounter someone—or a group of someones—who wants to suppress the truth, take notice and remain very wary. No one who has pure motives ever wants to suppress the truth. Particularly, do not follow anyone who wants to hide the truth. Instead, follow Jesus. His words are truth, and they have great power.
As you grow closer to God through your daily walk with Him, and as you learn more and more about our magnificent Savior, you are going to come to understand that His words can have great power in your own life.
Jesus’ words can be released to empower your service to the Kingdom of God through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The truth of Jesus’ words can literally set you free.
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior and Lord. Thank you for His powerful words. Help us be people who want to learn more about You. In Jesus’ Wonderful Name. Amen.
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