A Christmas Devotion: When Jesus Went Home For Christmas

Jesus-Christmas
Jesus goes home to announce the good news

Okay, it wasn’t exactly Christmas… But his purpose was similar. Like those angels 30 or so years earlier, Jesus was returning to his hometown to announce the arrival of the messiah. He was re-introducing himself to his own extended family… And that was an announcement they didn’t want to hear.

It was Jesus’ first time home in a while. His early ministry had been explosive, traveling from town to town in Galilee, being used by God in amazing ways. He had performed countless miraculous healings, he had cast out numbers of demons, and he had taught with an undeniable authority as no one ever had.

Jesus effectively played to sell-out crowds in every town. Wherever he went, people came from all over the countryside bringing their sick and dying. Everyone was buzzing about his many miracles and his powerful teaching about the kingdom of God. Jesus and his disciples were always busy serving people, and he was building quite a following.

Until he returned home. Jesus and his group arrived in Nazareth to the sound of crickets. In fact, the gospel writers just skip over the days between his home town arrival and the next Sabbath. No crowds. No healings. No miracles to report. It seems they literally had nothing worth writing about during Jesus’ days at home.

The Christmas Announcement

Everyone knew him. They were familiar with Jesus. They had watched him grow up. They knew his dad had been a carpenter. His mother, Mary, was well known and loved by everybody. To them, Jesus was nothing special… Just another common member of their ordinary little town.

But, Jesus’ ministry had been growing, and he had been gone for quite a while. Maybe that’s why he was chosen to read from the scroll in the synagogue on that Sabbath. When he stood to read, the selected passage was a messianic prophecy from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

Jesus’ reading put everyone on edge… Everyone in the room recognized these as the words of the coming promised deliverer. The Messiah that was to be sent by God. How would Jesus interpret this?

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

The Response: Shock and Awww.

Of course, we would like for the response to this incredible announcement to be “Joy to the world! The Lord has come!” Instead, after the shock wore off, everyone began to realize that Jesus was serious. This incensed them. Jesus was standing right there in the synagogue, saying very clearly that this famous messianic prophecy was about… Him!! This common, normal neighbor of theirs was saying that he was sent by God to deliver the world from sin! So, their response was quite a bit different than what we would like to expect.

When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
Luke 4:28-30

Why do you think they had such a spontaneous, violent reaction to Jesus’ claim?

Could it be that because they had grown up with Jesus, that they were just used to him? They knew the house he grew up in. They knew who he played with as a kid. They remembered his young adult years, working as a carpenter. A carpenter! They knew that Nazareth wasn’t exactly the most important city on the map. Is it possible to become so familiar with the trappings of Jesus, that you can fail to experience the PERSON of Jesus?

How does this work out for us at Christmas? We are so used to the tree, the ornaments, the busyness, the presents, the meals, the carols. We have heard the story of the manger and the angels and the wise men hundreds of times. Could we be so used to the story, the surroundings, the songs Jesus, that we fail to actually experience the person of Jesus? Of course, our response would never be violent. Just indifferent.

The end result may just be the same. “he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.”

I don’t want Jesus to “pass right through.” I want him to stick. I want him to dwell. I want him to abide. I want to know him, and the power of his resurrection. I want Christmas to be just that… The arrival of Christ into my life. And not just an arrival… I want more and more of Him in my life.

What do you and I need to do to experience HIM this Christmas?