Today I read Luke 4, which covers Jesus' temptations and also His visit back to His home town where He reads the scriptures and tells them that the scripture is about Him. They then ask Him to perform the miracles that He did in Capernaum and He tells them that He won't and they get angry at Him and try to throw Him off a cliff. One thing I have noticed is a running theme this read through of the New Testament, the Jews do not have mastery over their emotions, at all. It seems like every time they get upset with Christ, they try and kill Him. They don't even hesitate either. Now, one could argue that they are following the lay that they have had for almost 2000 years and that is technically true, however, you will notice that the people in the synagogue don't try and cast Him off a cliff until He refuses to do any miracles for them. Then, and only then, do they try and kill Him. Not when He tells them that the scripture He just read about the Messiah was about Him, but only after He had, at least in their eyes, snubbed them. That to me shows a profound lack of control on their part.
Now, crimes of passion I can kind of understand. You are hurt so incredibly deeply, that you just act without thinking. It doesn't make them right and God will still hold such people accountable for them because we are here to learn to control such emotions, but I can at least understand how it can happen. But trying to kill someone that you have known their whole life, and perhaps all of yours too, just because He said "no" to you? That's extreme bordering on the ridiculous. It's no wonder that Jesus spent three years trying to teach the Jews of that time temperance and patience and teaching them to monitor their thoughts and that it wasn't enough to just not go through with the actions that they were thinking about doing. They had to control the thoughts that lead to such actions.
Now, in other instances the Jews were incensed because Jesus would claim to be the Messiah, and that makes sense that the Jews would become outraged at that. They had been conditioned over multiple generations, like I said almost 2000 years, to not tolerate any amount of blaspheme or departure from the truth. This was because they were very, very errant children and at the slightest provocation, would go searching after other gods and so any dissention in the ranks had to be quelled almost instantly, I get it. It's just such a different culture though than what I am used to that it is hard to wrap my mind around it. If someone went around today claiming to be God or the Son of God even, most people would just look at him/her askew and go on their way and would not think twice about it except to maybe relate it as a funny experience to friends later.
Case in point, I remember about 4 years ago, I was in downtown Louisville, KY assisting as an adult chaperone for a Youth Conference and we were in a park and at the edge of the park was a curbside "prophet". One of those people who stand up in crowded places and preach doom and gloom and how the world needs to repent. Not one single person paid him any mind. He was too far away for me to get more than the gist of what he was saying but literally hundreds of people just walked, rode or drove right on by him without more than a strange "what are you doing" kind of of look. Not one person was upset, not one person was outraged that he was, so called, forcing his religion down their throats, they just left him alone. It's a completely different culture than it was even 100 years ago.
But that is not to say people are less spiritual these days. People always have the things of the spirit in mind, even if only to mock them. But the scriptures are true that many people are out there searching for more meaning to their lives and for the truth. I am honestly, and truly happy for anyone who finds religion that makes them happy and helps them be a better person. We are all trying to make it to the same goal, not everyone takes the same path, and our Heavenly Father understands that. That is why He will reward us all a little differently based on our desires and what we were able to accomplish in this life, as we have talked about in the past.
But since the people in the days of Christ were so different, I can't help but wonder what it would have been like to live in those days. Would I have been one of the outraged Jews and tried to stone and kill Christ just because He claimed, rightly so, to be the Son of God? Or would I have felt the Spirit testify to me that what I was hearing is true? I guess I will never know, but in a way, I'm glad I don't have to find out. Because I know what would happen if I heard the truth in this day and age, because I have, and I accepted it whole heartedly and have never looked back. And it was the best decision I have ever made. Until tomorrow.
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