Blessing to the Nations - July 30, 2014

Today we headed north to the Jezreel Valley, including stops at Beth-Shean, Megiddo, Mount Carmel, and Nazareth. This area of the country is very important as there are many routes that come through here, bringing people from east, west, north, and south, allowing for trade or conquest. In the ancient world (as in the present), controlling transportation routes and the cities alongside them was key to the survival of people groups. It is said about Megiddo: “Whoever controls Megiddo controls a thousand cities!”

Beth-Shean was also a notable city for nations and empires through the millennia as evidenced by the layers found there from as far back as 5,500 years ago. The last settlement there seems to have been Scythopolis, a large Greco-Roman city, which was abandoned after an earthquake in 749 AD which destroyed many of the structures. It was eerie to see large columns which had held up the roofs of temples and other buildings lying in rows on the ground.

It is significant that Jesus grew up in this area of the country. Because of the travel routes going through here, the culture was very cosmopolitan, having access to the people and ideas of many surrounding countries. Nazareth is in the middle of this area but cut off from the main travel routes by large hills and cliffs. In a sense, those living in Nazareth could watch the wealth of the world go by but were unable to participate. The particular bedrock and soil where it is located is not good for growing crops and lacks easy access to water. So, the people here likely felt hopeless for a better life and resented those they could see living the “good life.”

It is into this context that Jesus speaks words which, no doubt, were offensive to his hometown neighbors. In Luke 4, Jesus reads from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue, repeating verses they have likely heard many times about the anointed one who would come to bring freedom and healing. He tells the people, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” (Luke 4:21, NIV). They were pleased at this, until he went on to talk about how their prophets, Elijah and Elisha, were sent to people outside the nation of Israel. How could he say something like that, when it was obvious they were the suffering and oppressed ones?! The messiah was supposed to come and rescue Israel, wasn’t he? But Israel had forgotten that Yahweh had called them to be a blessing to the nations, not only to be the recipients of God’s blessing.

It is very easy for Christians today, including myself, to forget that same message. We give thanks to God for the comfort and blessings he gives us but resent when we ourselves suffer and those who don’t follow Jesus seem to do well. But even if they are making lots of money, seemingly living the “good life,” they need the message of new life in Jesus, just as the Romans and others did. Many of us need to change our understanding of what constitutes the “good life.” Is it what the world says is good: health, wealth, and comfort? Or, is it what Jesus came to bring: a renewed relationship with the Creator of our world and the promise of a full restoration of the truly good life he originally intended for us?