Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, 2013 – Luke 4:21-30

They tried to throw him off a cliff!
That seems a bit extreme to me,
Although, in other places far away
I read it happens by decree;
Just recently in Timbuktu,
Extremists had the upper hand -
They took a thief outside the gates,
And at the law's quite clear command,
Some poor guy's now an amputee;
We seem to want to purge the one
Who's different from our midst, as if
Somehow, God's work will then be done!
It's not just there, but even here,
Our attitudes can still drive some
To take the law into their hands,
And think the world is safe from scum.
But Jesus, passing through the crowd,
Reminds the world to be not proud.

Scott L. Barton
February, 2013


Luke 4:21-30

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.