“The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.”

“The world does not consist of 100 percent Christians and 100 percent non-Christians. There are people (a great many of them) who are slowly ceasing to be Christians but who still call themselves by that name: some of them are clergymen. There are other people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. ” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Gospel Text: (LK 4:14-22)

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

The reaction from the people of His town is interesting.  They “all spoke highly of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His mouth.”  At least, this is the initial reaction.  But if we read on we see that Jesus challenges the people and, as a result, they were filled with fury and tried to kill Him then and there.

Often times, we have the same reactions to Jesus.  At first, we may speak well of Him and graciously receive Him.  For example, at Christmas we may sing carols and celebrate His birthday with joy and festivities.  We may go to church and wish people a merry Christmas.  We may set up a manger scene and decorate with Christian symbols of our faith.  But how deep is all of this?  Sometimes Christmas celebrations and traditions are only superficial and do not reveal any true depth of Christian conviction or faith.  What happens when this precious Christ-Child speaks words of truth and conviction?  What happens when the Gospel calls us to repentance and conversion?  What is our reaction to Christ in these moments?