Jesus’ home crowd praised his preaching, but he knew their bigotry. Like much of American Christianity is mixed with nationalism so was the religion of the Jews. We sing God bless America and think of ourselves as deserving blessings above others. Some churches try to counter this by making their altars a flag-free zone. That may be worthwhile but flags are not the point. Jesus told the jingoistic crowd that even in their Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, God healed gentiles when he could have healed an Israelite (Luke 4:21-30). There are no special nations in the Gospel, except that spiritual nation to which all Christians belong. Heaven’s message is without borders. It is for all people. Jesus did the one thing you are not supposed to do in a bigoted crowd, tell about God’s love for all people.
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