Failed Church Launch in Nazareth!

Jesus officially began his ministry at the age of thirty and after returning from a forty day fast in the wilderness in which he had successfully resisted all of the devil’s attempts to make him sin. The Bible says that he returned to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) and that he entered a synagogue in Nazareth announcing that their captivity was over by pointing to himself as the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. To say that his hearers were not impressed by his first sermon would be an understatement. They were so angry that they thought it not enough to simply kick Jesus out of the synagogue. They took him to the edge of town and attempted to throw him over a cliff, but Jesus somehow miraculously escaped. Well, so much for a successful launch! The only launch the hearers were interested in was launching Jesus over a cliff.
Seriously though, I do not diminish the service and wisdom of church planters and strategists because they do the church a great service. I am just often reminded every now and then how Jesus is so unlike us in his approach to “ministry.” May his name be forever praised.