The Discomfort of Our History

The Discomfort of Our History January 29, 2025

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Part 1 of Confronting the Discomfort of Our History and Our Present

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Our reading this week is from the gospel of Luke, and it encourages us to address the parts of our own history that we may find uncomfortable.

He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

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.

Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ ”

“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 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. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 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.”

All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 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 off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. (Luke 4:2-30)

How quickly the story changes in our reading this week!

Many interpreters see this story as part of a theme of expansion in Luke’s gospel. At the time of Luke, the early Jesus movement was predominantly a Jewish community, and it began including uncircumcised Gentiles. You can read about this expanding inclusion as well as the pushback to it in Acts chapters 10, 11, and 15.

Some other interpreters see this as a story about enemy love. Both Sidon and Syrian had been part of the historical Seleucid empire, which had oppressed Jesus’ people.

Still other interpreters, including those I resonate with, see this as Jesus confronting his own community with uncomfortable parts of their history. These two references to the stories of Elijah and Naaman refer to times when God had passed over Jesus’ people because of the injustices they committed against the vulnerable in their society. Instead, in these stories, God showed favor to people outside of that culture.

Consider the following examples:

In the last days

the mountain of the LORD’S temple will be established
as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it. (Isaiah 2:2, emphasis added)

These I will bring to my holy mountain
and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7, emphasis added)

When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” (Luke 7:1-5)

I have a difficult time believing that the people in this week’s story got upset simply because these were stories of God including Gentiles in miraculous blessings. Many of the Jewish people at this time of this story were very open to Gentile conversions. I find it much more plausible that the people became incensed to the degree that they would attempt to throw Jesus off a cliff because he was calling them to confront uncomfortable parts of their history. I’ll share why in Part 2.

 

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About Herb Montgomery
Herb Montgomery, director of Renewed Heart Ministries, is an author and adult religious re-educator helping Christians explore the intersection of their faith with love, compassion, action, and societal justice. You can read more about the author here.

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