Weird Stuff in the Bible

Jesus is Weird
Luke 4

Introduction
So I’ve done 25 episodes now about Weird Stuff in the Bible, but I haven’t talked about Jesus too much yet.
And I really need to, for two reasons. One, because everything in the Bible centers around Jesus.
And two, because Jesus is weird.
Now, I don’t mean that to be disrespectful. I just mean that He was odd.
If you don’t think Jesus is weird, I don’t think you know Jesus very well. He’s completely bizarre. His actions and emotions seem random. He seems to get set off by things that don’t bother other people. He’s extremely loving and gracious one minute and the next he’s kicking over a table. People come to him for help and he doesn’t help them. He gives them something else that they didn’t want. People ask him a question and he hardly ever answers their question- he’ll go off about something else that seems totally unrelated.
And just when He starts making sense- just when it starts to feel like you’re on the same page with Him- He suddenly changes direction and does something totally unexpected.
And I want to look at one of those stories today. Because I find Jesus to be weird. And I’d like know why He does what He does in the Bible.
Turn to Luke 4, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]

Luke 4
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about a story that took place right at the start of Jesus’ ministry.
At the start of his 3-year ministry, Jesus went to his hometown of Nazareth, and here is where he’s going to first reveal himself as the Messiah: the man prophesied repeatedly to come and save the Jewish people.
And he’s going to go into the synagogue (the synagogue being like their form of church).
Luke 4:13-22
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”
Jesus gets up and reads from a scroll the words of the prophet Isaiah about how a Messiah is going to come someday to set everyone free. To heal physical problems. They have been waiting for him to come. Some are probably doubting that he’ll ever actually show up. Every Jewish girl who got pregnant may have asked herself, “I wonder if this baby in my womb will be that Messiah we’re waiting for.”
And then a man from their own town stands up and announces himself as this Messiah. That would be a hard pill to swallow, and yet it says in verse 22 “and all spoke well of him.” So they were buying it. They could see it.
I imagine the people started murmuring among themselves. “Did he just claim to be the Messiah?” “That’s a pretty big lie.” “I don’t know, I’ve never heard him lie before.” “Isn’t that Jesus, Joseph’s boy?” “Yes, he builds the best tables, he’s the most honest businessman in the whole town.” “That Jesus is always helping people. I can believe he’d be the Messiah. If one man could be it, it would be him.” And all spoke well of him.
Jesus has them on the hook. They are totally into this idea of him being the Messiah. His first day of publicly being the Messiah couldn’t possibly be going any better. I mean, from a pastor’s perspective, having everyone on board with what you’re saying and hanging on every word that comes out of your mouth is about the best response you can ask for.
And then Jesus has to go and ruin it.
Luke 2:23-27
23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Translation: Jesus says, “I know I’m a Jew and you’re all Jews, and some of you are gonna want me to meet your needs and heal your sicknesses, and I just want to remind you before we get started that God also likes to help people of other races, like Naaman the Syrian, or the widow at Zarephath. God likes everyone, not just Jews. I just want you to know that before I help you.”
And we in modern times might say, “Well you’re right Jesus, we know God likes everyone.” But that’s actually not what the Jews thought; they thought they were special, and they thought why would God help our enemies who are oppressing us?
They had in their hearts what we would refer to today as racism. Now, I’m not saying that they were any worse than anyone else at that time. Virtually everybody in human history would be considered racist by modern standards.
However, Jesus tells this crowd- who’s loving him, who’s all “rah rah Jesus”- that before he fixes their earthly problems, he wants to address the racial problems in their hearts.
Luke 2:28-30
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.
Wait a minute: one minute they’re loving him, the next minute they’re literally trying to throw him off a cliff.
Think about that if you’re Jesus: you had everyone on the edge of their seat waiting for the next thing for you to say. You’re revealing yourself as the Messiah and they’re totally on board with it. And you go and say the one thing that not only makes them mad enough to turn away, but he said something that made them want to throw him off a cliff.
And on purpose! Did you notice that Jesus didn’t do this on accident. He intentionally made them love him and then made them hate him all in the span of about 60 seconds.
And he didn’t apologize. “OK, maybe we’ll circle back to the racism thing later. My mistake, I shouldn’t have brought that up.” No, Jesus did this intentionally.
If I’m a pastor and I’ve got everyone plugged in and agreeing and amen-ing what I’m saying…I just want to keep that going. For as long as possible. And send them home happy. And hope they come back next week.
Jesus looks at this whole crowd of people who couldn’t be happier to accept him as the Messiah and he immediately turns them against him. On purpose.
See what I mean when I say “Jesus is weird”?
[music]

Closing Thoughts
I have enjoyed this study into Jesus. I hope you have, too. I really like digging in to a Jesus story and putting myself in it and really understanding what’s going on. And I’d like to spend another week looking at Jesus and strange things He said; make sure you’re subscribed so you can get it!
Now, Jesus obviously didn’t care too much about getting 5-star reviews from the audience on His sermons, but I sure do. If you’re listening on Apple, I’d really appreciate you putting in a 5-star review. This is still a somewhat new podcast, but getting those 5-star reviews tells Apple’s algorithms to recommend this to people. So if you don’t mind, please drop one in for me. I’m not asking you to lie; just if you really think it’s a 5-star podcast, please take a moment and tell Apple that. And thank you!
[One piece of feedback on a recent episode about angels: The subject of angels have interested me since I learned that they are not necessarily good
Me: Totally. The spiritual realm has a lot going on that would surprise us, I’m sure. I’m often shocked at the things I learn while studying it.

Send your feedback to weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com]
So Jesus can be kind of strange and unpredictable to us. Why? Because Jesus is God. And God’s ways are higher than our ways and God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
But what are some things we learn about Jesus in this story?
Jesus didn’t care what people think. We all care too much what people think. You’re gonna go to work or school this week and you’re gonna worry about what people think of your clothes and your hair and what member of the opposite sex is looking at you…you’re gonna do that because as much as we hate to admit it, we care too much what others think.
And obviously, Jesus didn’t have that problem.
He was a man. He would have been tempted to worry about what others think. He would have been tempted to seek the praise and adoration of others. But he didn’t let that control him.
He didn’t care about popularity. He knew who he was- He knew His identity- and so he didn’t need to be led around by impressing others.
Your peace of mind will improve so much when you can stop living to impress others and know who your identity is in God. Does God approve of you? Then who cares what they think.
Jesus came for everybody everywhere. The Jews thought they were extra special because God gave them the Bible and said that he would send a Messiah through them. 
And Jesus said guys, the Messiah came through you but he was sent for the whole world, not just the Jews.
And didn’t Jesus say in John 3:16 “for God so loved the world”?
So I hope we recognize that Jesus is for everybody everywhere, and that God loves all people of all races. 
The Jews thought they were the most special race. They had a problem with what we in modern times call racism. Probably most of the people listening right now do not have a racism problem. For the most part in america, we’ve moved past that. But here’s what else can creep into our hearts: thinking we’re better than someone else on the basis of money, or clothes, or what school we went to, or what town we live in.
When I was growing up they had a joke in Neosho, “Hey, did you hear Neosho is getting a zoo? We’re just gonna put a fence around McDonald County.” And when I moved up to Joplin, I heard people say, “Hey, did you hear Joplin is getting a zoo? We’re just gonna put a fence around Neosho.” And when I was in McDonald County, they would say, “We’re gonna put a fence around Arkansas.” And I’m sure Arkansas said it about whoever is south of them.
We all have our ways of “othering” people and making them feel not included because they aren’t part of our club. And Jesus wants us to see all people as just as important as we are. 
So I’m just gonna point out, if you want to be on good terms with Jesus, you need to be ready to accept everybody everywhere. Because that’s who he cares about.
Jesus didn’t just come to save you from hell for eternity; he came to fix your hearts now on this earth. Some people think becoming a Christian is about fire insurance. A get-out-of-hell-free card. “I believe in Jesus so I’m good.” And Jesus said if that’s all you care about, you can leave.
He had this group of people in the synagogue that were primed and ready to accept his message: that he is the Son of God. That he’s the promised Messiah.
But even accepting that much of his message was not enough for Jesus. He wanted to push their buttons a bit. He wanted to reach down into their hearts and point out something that wasn’t right. 
And he said, “even if you want to throw me off a cliff for this, I’m gonna tell you the truth because it’s the truth you need to hear, whether you accept it or not.” 
And that’s what Jesus wants to do to you. We all have things in our hearts that need fixed. And we need Jesus to show us those things and reveal in us what’s not right. 
Because he’s not interested in fixing our eternity if we’re not at least willing to work on ourselves in the here and now.
So Jesus had the crowd eating out of the palm of His hand, and 30 seconds later, He had them ready to push Him off a cliff.
But it’s because He cared about what was in their hearts, and He came to fix it. Because Jesus came for everybody everywhere. And because Jesus didn’t care what people think.
And if that seems weird to us, maybe it’s because we care a little too much what other people think.
We may not have a racism problem like what it was for the Jews. But we know there are things inside of us that are broken- and it’s probably more than one. Give Jesus permission to poke his head in the door of your heart and to tell you what you need to work on. He will make us more Christlike.
And if we do that long enough, maybe we’ll be a bit more weird, too- just like Him.
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time.