Preached by Rev. Erik Kindem.
Scripture: Luke 4:16-30
Summary
Jesus could have spoken less directly to his home congregation to avoid ruffling feathers there. He could have kept his comments general instead of specific. Instead of saying, TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN FULFILLED, he could of said, ONE DAY, ONE DAY THIS SCRIPTURE WILL BE FULFILLED.
He could have conducted his ministry more conventionally and could have avoided contact with all those people—the poor, the incarcerated, women, lepers, non-Jews, and the like—who might offend his “core constituency.”
If he had, my guess is, none of the negativity at Nazareth would have happened, his status as a favored son would have remained intact, and who knows, he might have successfully avoided the cross altogether!