A Case of Invisibility

Luke 4:16-30

And Jesus said,“Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.”  --Luke 4:24

The past few days, I have been suffering from a case of invisibility.  It’s happened to me before.  Just the other day, a delivery truck seemed to think the lane I was in was empty.  At least, that’s what it seemed like when he tried to put his truck in the same space I was occupying.  Fortunately, I was able to swerve to miss him.  It happened again yesterday, except, this time, it was a old, already dented mini-van.  Then, I stopped by a restaurant for breakfast and, though they weren’t busy and servers were milling around, no one came over to seat me.  Several seemed to look right at me!  Or, should I say, through me. Invisible.  I finally managed to catch the eye of a guy in the very back of the restaurant, who found someone to get me a seat.

Sometimes, I think we all get a little oblivious to the things going on around us. The truck driver may have been thinking about getting home a little early.  The driver of the van may have been rushing to pick up kids from school.  The servers, tired from a busy morning rush, might have relaxed their vigilance in the slower pace of mid-morning.  

When Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth, the people saw Joseph’s son who had built a reputation as a healer and teacher.  But, they couldn’t see any deeper than that.  They seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he was more than just Joseph’s boy.  Distracted by their familiarity with Jesus, his identity as God’s Son and his true power were invisible to them.  Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus “didn’t do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.” (13:58) In Luke, Jesus snubs their desire for miracles and reminds them that the purview of God’s interest is broader than the hometown crowd. It didn’t end well.

Life can distract us too. We miss important things like the car in the next lane, or the presence of the Son of God in our midst.  Familiarity might breed contempt, but it also can breed a certain kind of obliviousness. It’s hard to see the prophet – a messenger from  God -- in the hometown kid.  Our vision of God’s life changing, expectation challenging, prophetic presence and power can get blurred by the familiarity of church life.  Sometimes those on the outside of our communities of faith – like a Sidonian widow (1 Kings 17:8-16) or a Syrian general (2 Kings 5:1-19) or a Millennial young adult who doesn’t go to church or a person from a different culture or the poor, or the captives or the blind or the oppressed – can see God’s activity in the world clearer than those of us who hang out in churches and synagogues.

We should do more to listen to them.  Not try to run them off a cliff.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading. Pray that God might open our hearts and our minds, our eyes and our ears, so we can see God present and working in the world around us.