The Judaism of Jesus’ time existed in two very different forms. There was the Judaism of Jerusalem with the temple, the sacrifices, and all the surrounding paraphernalia of markets, money changers, pilgrim hostels, etc. And there was the Judaism of the synagogue, often tiny buildings in remote places where the reading of scripture was a weekly occurrence. The Temple Judaism was about to disappear. The Judaism of the synagogue would continue and is still the foundation of Jewish life today.
It’s this second form of Judaism that is celebrated in today’s reading from the Book of Nehemiah (Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10). It recalls how the people, returning to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, had no Temple to come back to, but they had the Law. The Book of the Law was the foundation of their relationship with God, the reading and reflection on that law was the core of their identity. And so it remains 2450 years later. (It is also part of our identity).
The final stages of Jesus’ time on earth would play out against the grand backdrop of Jerusalem, of Temple and sacrifice. But Luke positions the beginning in this other setting, the synagogue and scripture (Lk 4:14-21). By including also the introduction to the gospel with this story (Lk 1:1-4), today’s Reading emphasizes this as a beginning, although it comes quite a way into the gospel text.
Luke, for his part, emphasizes the local and domestic by giving us the first explicit account of Jesus’ preaching from his appearance in his home town. Jesus, as usual, doesn’t beat around the bush. His message – I’m the guy.
This direct, almost crude, assertion of his status may seem shocking. It certainly was to those who knew him. What would seem like supreme arrogance is not usually attractive. We have many images of Jesus in our minds. This close to Christmas, the Jesus meek and mild, gentle and kind, “baby Jesus”, may still be to the front. That is not the Jesus we see today. This Jesus is a strong 30 year old Jewish man on a mission, which will last only 3 years and will end in an excruciating death as a condemned criminal.
God sometimes makes himself known to us through feelings that are kind and gentle, compassionate and caring. But those are not our only feelings, our only experience of life. Jesus is also in all the rest – pain, anger, frustration, boredom, fear. We should not expect that God reveals himself only in the “nice” things in life, the things we are proud of, the things we want to acknowledge. He’s in all of it. Sometimes we just have to accept that, just as Jesus challenged his friends and neighbors who weren’t quite up for accepting this guy, who they thought they knew so well, really was the guy.