I was sitting at the counter in a neighborhood restaurant, eating breakfast and chatting with my server, who also happened to be a friend of mine. She recounted a conversation she had after church the previous Sunday. The woman she talked to was not happy with the preacher that week or with his sermon. She complained to my friend, “The sermon didn’t make me feel good.” My friend replied, “Jesus didn’t come to make you feel good!”
Indeed. Although he certainly did make some people feel good. I would expect that the people Jesus healed felt good. The hungry people he fed felt good. The people whose demons Jesus exorcised felt good. The people who were sinners and yet included at Jesus’ table probably felt good.
But the people of Nazareth at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry? They definitely did not feel good. Jesus did not come to make them feel good.
