ROOTED - Saturday, June 13, 2026

Luke 4:28-30

 28   When they
heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And
they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of
the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the
cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he
went away.

Reflection: Jesus Rejected

Written By:
Pastor Jesse Caro

The Book of Luke is an interesting book. It contains stories (and
many parables) that are unique to the Gospels. That is, Luke has stories that
are only found in Luke. Mostly, Luke is different in that Jesus is portrayed as
caring especially for the poor and the downtrodden. Indeed, many scholars call
Luke “the Gospel to the Poor.” Jesus is shown to be especially caring of the
poor and the needy, healing people at every turn and standing up to the people
of power… the oppressors of the people.

In his hometown of Nazareth, we are surprised to read the story in
chapter 4. In a place you would think he would be accepted and celebrated, he was
instead rejected. They did not want him… the did not celebrate him or revere
him. He was speaking against the religious class and the people “drove him out
of town.” In fact, they sought to kill him and push him off the cliff, but
Jesus escaped their intentions. I marvel at the sheer ridiculousness of the
people that they would be willing to treat such a good person (we, of course,
know he is God) with such hateful disdain. But nothing has really changed. This
is true even today. People hate Jesus. That is the hard and cold truth. They
don’t celebrate him or revere him. Furthermore, we know that if we share Jesus
with others, people will often reject both Jesus and us. This is the spiritual
reality: Jesus is rejected more than he is received.

Prayer

Lord, may we not be like the pharisees, caring more about
“religious correctness” than a relationship with you.

As Pastor Jesse concludes his time on staff, our Rooted devotionals will also be taking a break for a season. Thank you for joining us on this journey through God's Word.