Holy Boldness

Have you grown too familiar with Jesus?

Christians often misconstrue the magnitude of the mission of Jesus. For many, Jesus has become as familiar as if we had “grown up with Him.” As we grow familiar with the Lord, we unconsciously underestimate Him. Jesus was never showy or bombastic but He was actually unbelievably intense and revolutionary in His decrees. His mission was far more radical than could be fully expressed and it remains that way. Religion has such a way of “toning down” its hero’s to make them palatable. Jesus seemed to speak in understatements. He rarely raised His voice or got angry. But what He said or did always pointed to fullness, even if most of His statements and actions were misunderstood or underestimated. The platform for His ministry was His pure and unadulterated commitment to the will of God. As His ministry progressed it became the ongoing requirement for Jesus to reassert His mission as well as disassociate with everything that might dissuade him from His ultimate purpose. When Jesus refused to do any miracles, hometown ap preciation of Him quickly turned to anger as the implications of His statements were realized. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away. (Luke 4: 29,30) In response to Jesus’ audacious claim of fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah and being unwilling to “put on a show” of power, Jesus was forced out of the synagogue and unceremoniously marched up a hill to a cliff where He was to be thrown down. Justification for such a dramatic response might be found in Deuteronomy 21:18-21 that prescribed stoning for a stubborn and rebellious son. Regardless of their reasons, Jesus’ hometown was deeply offended and intended to kill Him. This was a significant foreshadowing of things to come and what would ultimately happen outside of the city gates of Jerusalem at the end of His ministry. The Local Response

Escape from Death

84