He went His way.

Luke 4:14-30 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

¹⁴ And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. ¹⁵ And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

¹⁶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

²⁰ And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” ²³ And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. ²⁵ But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; ²⁶ and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; ²⁹ and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, He went His way.

And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; ²⁹ and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, He went His way.     Jesus had just recently overcome the temptation of the devil in the wilderness and here He is confronted with people who want to take His life. Jesus was not fearful or intimidated in either of these situations, but rather in both cases leaned upon the truth of God’s word and who God said He was. Matthew 3:16-17 says:     After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

Jesus was not unaware of either His natural or His spiritual enemies. He simply did not allow them to change who He was or what He did. He remained focused on His mission, knowing that as long as He remained in His Father’s will nothing outside of God’s will would happen to Him. Jesus held to that truth even when He was questioned by Pilate after His arrest.    John 19:10-11 says:    So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.”     Throughout His life, His ministry and even to His death, Jesus recognized that His life was in the hands of the Father. He came to earth to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins. He lived with that as His focus and even to His death He held fast to it. Before He was crucified Jesus prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:39)

We too have a call and a mission from God, we are: called according to his purpose. Like Jesus we are called to:  present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (Romans 12:1) If our lives are truly lived sacrificed to the purpose and the will of the Father, then we like Jesus, will have nothing to fear from our enemies.  The psalmist says:  In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 56:11) In Matthew 10: 27-28, Jesus encourages us to boldly proclaim the truth of God’s word, not fearing the consequences:    What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We only need to fear the devil if we fail to remain in God’s will.  The psalmist says: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1) James 4:7-8 says: submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Like Jesus, we should not be unaware of our natural or our spiritual enemies, we should though not live our lives in fear of them but rather in the fullness of God’s purpose for us.   1 Peter 5:8 says: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.    Just as God closed the mouths of the lions when Daniel was thrown into their den, God did not give them permission to devour Daniel, so too will God not give permission to the devil when he seeks to devour us.

Today’s text ends with Jesus walking right through the midst of His enemies:  But passing through their midst, He went His way.  That is the key for us too, that we go “His way.” The psalmist says:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.    I say Amen, so be it.