Clothesline 236 "Could it be?"

1/29/2025

I’m a visual person. When I read descriptive passages in Scripture, I see them in my mind…sometimes with the help of film maker Franco Zeffirelli! Take last Sunday’s Gospel, for example. “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” we heard, and I could see vividly the scene in the movie Jesus of Nazareth. It’s an old movie…nothing like The Chosen of today…but the narrative of the movie is very close to Scripture, which is why I like it. No added words, no current language, just Scripture.

This old movie portrays Jesus with such an amazing presence. He walks into the Temple, and people more than notice. They seem to be star-struck, a sense that they are in the presence of something great…something holy. But it wasn’t that way when it happened. This scene takes place in Nazareth, where he grew up, and when he walked into the Temple that day, others wouldn’t have taken any notice. Yet the Gospel—and the movie—have Jesus walking up to the Rabbi holding the scroll, taking the scroll from the Rabbi, unrolling the scroll to the prophet Isaiah, and reading: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." And when Jesus ended with, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing,” the people should have been ecstatic. But they weren’t. They didn’t believe him, and instead of an explosion of thankfulness from the people, they threw him out of the Temple.

The movie does show that the people rejected him, but there were also a few…a remnant…who have facial expressions that seem to say, “Could it be?” They had waited so long for deliverance…could Jesus be the one?

I often imagine how I would have responded on that day. I’d like to think I would have seen a Holy Presence in his eyes, as the movie so brilliantly portrays. I’d like to think I would have followed Him wherever He went after that. But chances are, I would have been no different from those who rejected him. Hindsight certainly makes everything different. It’s easy to believe when we have seen Scripture fulfilled! That’s our blessing.

In a few weeks the season of Epiphany will be over and we will begin the season of Lent, where we get to marvel once again what Jesus did…even for those who did not believe. As for me? My faith tells me that Jesus knows my weaknesses and loves me …still. And the same goes for you, too!