If the phrase, “mic drop,” had been coined in the First Century, Jesus would have cornered the market. One of those mic drop moments occurred on the day his public ministry began.
Picture this: Jesus walks into the church (synagogue) where he grew up. Everyone knows him well because he grew up among them. Nazareth was a small town, and everyone knew everything about everyone.
Jesus was visiting a church where he had grown up and studied Torah. He was still very much part of the religious community as an adult. When he attended church/synagogue on that Saturday morning and stood up to read, he was doing what he had likely done done before. Only this time would be different.
Jesus had been making quite the stir lately. His cousin, John the Baptist, was well-known for his unrelenting, uncompromising message about the coming of the one – the Messiah – and word undoubtedly spread fast when John baptized Jesus and announced that he was it! (Luke 3:4-6)
Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.
Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all people will see God’s salvation.
Cousin John was literally quoting Isaiah 40:3-5 as if it were coming true right there in the countryside, outside of town where he spent most of his time. Crowds of people made their way out to hear him, but he wasn’t very popular among the church leaders. In fact, they rather despised him, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. He even called them a “brood of vipers”!
Until recently, Jesus seemed more respectable than that. Though they were cousins, it wasn’t like they spent a lot of time together. They were each keenly devoted to their Hebrew lessens, Bible reading, and participation in synagogue life from a young age, but John always seemed a little off, and he especially seemed to “go off the rails” as he got older.
John the Baptist was out there in the countryside calling for all who would listen to repent, He was baptizing people. Lots of people. He was attracting quite the crowd, and kept talking about the Messiah. Hi I’m
It wasn’t like John was the only one. Other men claiming to be the Messiah had come and gone. Not that John claimed himself to be the one. That was the crazy part: he lived like a homeless person, eating bugs and shunning even the modest comforts that most people had become used to. He didn’t exalt himself. His focus was always on someone else – someone greater than he.
John was attracting a less than reputable crowd too, including tax collectors. Tax collectors were sell-outs to the Roman occupiers, collecting Roman taxes from their own people, often collecting more than they should to line their own pockets. They were an unsavory and despised lot – worse than the Romans because they preyed on their own people.
The fact that John was attracting tax collectors didn’t speak well for his efforts, but the common people loved John anyway. They practically worshiped him. This was particularly galling to the faithful leaders in the synagogues who had given their lives in service to the Lord. Who did he think he was?!
They view John, no doubt, like the other so-called modern prophets who came and went, claiming to be the Messiah spoken of old. They stirred up crowds of disgruntled and marginalized Jews for a short time before the Romans got tired of the charade and put an end to it.
John seemed just like the ones who came before him, though his message was different. He was bold like the others, but in a different way. He wasn’t stirring people up against the Romans, like the others did. In fact, John seemed more interested in criticizing the religious community than the Romans, and that irked them to no end.
When Jesus attended synagogue that day, the word was all over Galilee that Jesus had gone out to meet John. It was apparently quite a meeting by the reports that were circulating. Jesus even let John baptize him. In fact, he insisted on it, and this is where things got a little sideways.. if you could believe the reports.
People said they heard a loud voice. Some said it was the voice of God. Others said they saw a dove swoop down and land right on his head. People were saying Jesus was a prophet. Some seemed to think he was the Messiah that John was talking about. It seemed like Jesus was getting caught up in John’s delusion, and he was starting to believe it.
When Jesus stood up to read that day, these things were going through the minds of the people who heard him read. They knew something was up, but they weren’t at all prepared for what he was going to do.
Continue reading “A Mic Drop Moment in First Century Galilee”
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