Hometown Boy
He was the complete package. Smart. Articulate. Compassionate. So what was the problem? Why the haters? Some people just can’t seem to get past their own preconceived ideas. Some folks have already made up their minds about you. Some have a small vision of the world and they want to force you into that crowded space. By the time the young rabbi stood up to read from the scroll that day, everyone seemed so hopeful. This hometown boy had real potential. Sure, he was only a carpenter’s son, but Jesus was so poised and had a knack for public speaking. Here’s how Mark describes the encounter in his gospel.
“He returned to Nazareth, his hometown. When he taught there in the synagogue, everyone was astonished and said, ‘Where does he get his wisdom and his miracles? He’s just a carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his mother, and his brothers… All his sisters live right here among us. What makes him so great?’ And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.
Then Jesus told them, ‘A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.’ And so he did only a few miracles there because of their unbelief.”
Identity Crisis
In Luke’s account of the story we get a few more details. It seems that Jesus chose to read from the prophet Isaiah. The scroll he read was a well-known passage that very clearly described the Messiah the Jewish people had expected for centuries. Here’s how it went down.
“He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. Everyone in the synagogue stared at him intently. Then he said, ‘This Scripture has come true today before your very eyes!'”
By making that statement, Jesus claimed he was the Messiah sent by God to rescue His people. Jesus had the audacity to assert his true identify. That brazen act pushed the locals a little to far. The situation began to escalate.
“When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious. Jumping up, they mobbed him and took him to the edge of the hill on which the city was built. They intended to push him over the cliff, but he slipped away through the crowd and left them.”
The people in Nazareth were having an identity crisis. They had just come face to face with the real Messiah, but they rejected him because he wasn’t what they expected.
Young and Restless
The truth is, Jesus is not the only person who’s ever encountered resistance from the hometown crowd when expressing their true identity. Many of us have struggled to break away from the familiar so we could find ourselves. It’s great to have roots, but not so great to be in a rut. Some folks have to leave town because they’ve lost hope that things will ever get better.
“And after it rains
There’s a rainbow
And all of the colors are black
It’s not that the colors aren’t there
It’s just imagination they lack
Everything’s the same
Back in my little town
In my little town
I never meant nothin’
I was just my father’s son
Saving my money
Dreaming of glory
Twitching like a finger
On the trigger of a gun”
– My Little Town by Paul Simon
It’s natural to be frustrated when you feel trapped in a place. It drives you crazy when your identity gets obscured by family history or when you’re not taken seriously. You have your own gifts, talents, hopes and dreams, but people won’t give you the space to be you. You feel like you’ll explode if you don’t do something about it. That’s exactly how I felt.
Keep the Dream Alive
Like most kids, I had dreams. At an early age I knew I didn’t want to take over the family farm. I wanted to be a professional basketball player. Then I decided it would be fun to work in the great outdoors. I wanted to be a forest ranger or game warden and work for the Department of Natural Resources in my home state of Ohio. Later, in high school, I developed a love for music and thought it would be cool to work in radio. What could be better than getting paid to talk and play records? My dream was to become a DJ. To learn to become a DJ I went to go to college for communications and started working in television. My career in television paved the way for a whole new career working for a dot com. Dreams can be very specific and down-to-earth or blue sky and head-in-the-clouds. What makes a dream real and keeps it alive is knowing you have the freedom to pursue it. Hope keeps a dream alive.
“Talk about a dream, try to make it real
You wake up in the night, with a fear so real,
Spend your life waiting,
for a moment that just don’t come,
I believe in the love that you gave me,
I believe in the faith that can save me,
I believe in the hope and I pray,
That someday it may raise me,
Above these badlands”
– Badlands by Bruce Springsteen
Sweet Home Chicago
Now I live in the Chicago suburbs and commute to my job downtown. It’s amazing how many friends and coworkers come from small towns. Chicago is a melting pot for kids in the Midwest who come to the big city to chase their dreams or to find a job or both. I was born and raised in a small town. I met and married my beautiful wife in that small town. After college we left to start our new life together and to pursue our dreams. Sometimes you have move on so you can move on. To be honest, we didn’t have a clear vision for our lives. When you worked in media or technology, you had to go where the jobs were. We moved around for about five years and finally ended up in Cleveland where all our kids were born. Then corporate restructuring gave me an opportunity to move to Chicago. Looking back, I know the whole thing was part of God’s master plan for us. We had to go on an adventure to discover our identity and pursue our dreams.
Enjoy the Adventure
Jesus made a significant impact on the world, yet in his adult life never traveled more that 100 miles from his hometown. You don’t have to be a world traveler to be a world changer. Today the world seems a lot smaller. Times have changed, but people not so much. Like Jesus’ hometown crowd in Nazareth, there are still plenty of folks who’d love to squash your dreams and keep you in your place. Don’t let them. Pursue what inspires you and the whole location thing will eventually get resolved. Changing locations won’t solve all your problems. As a wise person once said, wherever you go, there you are. Your destiny may be lived out in your hometown, or you may be drawn to a new destination to pursue your dreams. Don’t settle. Keep pursuing. Enjoy the adventure.
“No I cannot forget where it is that I come from
I cannot forget the people who love me
Yeah, I can be myself here in this small town
And people let me be just what I want to be”
– Small Town by John Cougar Mellencamp
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