I was beginning to get a little restless in Nazareth; It seemed like a nice community and everyone was friendly, but it was clear that we were the outsiders.   But more than that, I missed home and Esther, and it seemed strange not to see the water every morning when I got up.

I didn’t have to worry about overstaying our welcome, our visit came to an abrupt end after the sabbath services.  It’s funny how quickly things can change.

All the men greeted us when we first arrived at the village’s synagogue.  Word had spread about Jesus and the miracles he had performed in Capernaum and so they asked him to open the service by reading from the Torah.

The leader of the synagogue handed Jesus the scroll containing the writings of the prophet Isaiah and nodded for him to begin the service.

Opening the sacred work, Jesus read, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.”

And everything was good, until it wasn’t.

Jesus rolled up the scroll and handed it back to the leader then looking around at the nodding smiling faces he added, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

You could have heard a pin drop.

“Seriously?” Someone blurted out, “We watched you grow up, some of us went to school with you, you are one of us.  You’re nothing special Jesus, you’re just the son of a carpenter.  Are you saying you’re the one?”

“I knew I was wasting my time; no prophet is accepted in their hometown.  But I wanted to give you a chance.”

Well, I couldn’t believe how quickly they turned on us, one minute they were fawning over Jesus, the next minute they were furious. 

Pushing and shoving, they seemed intent on forcing us out of the synagogue and back onto the street.

Jesus simply looked over at the rest of us, “Well, boys, I think we’ve worn out our welcome, let’s go.”