With Jesus

“They rose up and ran him out of town. They led him to the crest of the hill on which their town had been built so that they could throw him off the cliff. But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭4:29-30‬ ‭CEB‬‬

Mount Precipice is a high point of elevation very close to Nazareth. A gentle slope on one side leads up to a rocky outcropping with an absolutely incredible view. With cliffs on three sides it’s like a natural walkway into the sky.

In Nazareth Jesus said something frustrating, basically telling them that due to the way they “think” they would not be able to learn from Him.  The crowd was infuriated and ran Jesus out of town and up to the crest of the precipice.  It would have been a “crowdfunded” effort…everyone pushing until Jesus fell off the cliff and died.  

My guess is that this was not the first time the people of Nazareth had solved a confrontation this way.  Much to their surprise, Jesus slipped through the crowd and left His hometown for the last time.  Their assumptions about God were wrong—for the second time that day.  The only response they had left was to sit with the Truth…and as Jesus had told them, they would be stuck in that place for a very long time.

Prior to Jesus’ resurrection the Nazarenes had more opportunity than anyone else to experience God first hand.  These were years that they could have spent with Jesus, listening, learning, working and playing.  When they heard what He had done in Capernaum—of the healing—they were amazed and wanted Him back home.

Jesus healed people physically but that was only part of a much larger healing of the mind.  Jesus changes the way we “think” about God.  (Romans 12:2).  The Nazarenes were not interested in that.  They already had committed their minds.  They already knew how to think about God and that would never change, not even if God was right there with them.

Through Christ’s resurrection we have an “all access” pass.  We actually can be with Jesus…God is with us all the time.  The question we have to ask ourselves is, “When we do take a seat with Jesus, are we willing to truly listen or have we already decided what we are willing to hear?”