This past weekend I went shopping for the first time since last summer. It had been so long that I momentarily forgot which stores I frequent. To refresh my memory, I decided to walk around and see what caught my attention. When we were approaching Abercrombie and Fitch, my Mom asked me if I wanted to go in, and I proceeded to give her the I’m not going to dignify that with a response eye stare that conveyed the unspoken “Mom seriously, does it look like it’s 1995 and I’m a pre-teen?!” thought in my mind. We continued walking past the store, when something from the window caught my eye. Dangit! If you have never been in A&F before, consider yourself blessed. Sure, its fine if you are an oblivious 11-17 year old, can tolerate the blaring techno remix of Black Eyed Peas I Gotta Feeling, and enjoy paying an absurd premium for a paper thin shirt just because it has a cute little moose logo in the upper left corner. As a 20 something though, it’s not the best way to spend your time. My experience in the store was so cliche and stereotypical that I have to share it with you. I found an item to try on and after two failed attempts of asking customers to open a dressing room, I found a sales associate. The sale associate escorted me to the fitting room area and I got in line. In front of me was the token 15 year old girl with at least 20 items in her hand. This same girl also took an eternity in the fitting room only to reappear with 0 items in her hand, leaving behind a dressing room that looked as if a Tornado had swept through. Also in front of me, was the token teenage couple who was PDA-ing like whoa. Behind me, was the token Mom holding several pairs of jeans and calling out to her son who was in another part of the store. After about a 10 minute wait, a dressing room freed up. I tried on my item and exited said dressing room in an impressive 90 seconds.
Post dressing room, I headed towards the check-out as quickly as possible thinking “the faster I walk and check-out the less likely one of my friends will see me here”. After I got in line, I realized that my logic was irrational because the only friend that would see me here would be a friend that is also shopping here…. if that happened, we would both agree to not tell other people that we saw each other here, PHEW. The line moved quickly, but in the mean time I watched 3 preteens in front of me giggling uncontrollably as they handed their coins and crumpled dollar bills to the cashier to pay for 1 pair of male boxers. TSK TSK TSK. My turn was next and I handed my item to the cashier (The cashier likely had her mom drop her off at work because she didn’t even look old enough to be driving a motor vehicle!). The cashier rang up my item and proceeded to put it in the LARGEST bag available. Yes, I realize most patrons of A&F always request the EXTRA LARGE bag even when they buy perfume, and yes I also realize I was with my Mom which might make me look younger, but seriously do I really strike you as the type of person that wants to be walking around Tyson’s with a bag showcasing a half-naked man??!?!? (Needless to say I left the bag at the front of the store and put my purchased item into my purse.) Before leaving the store, I decided to report the one UNUSUAL thing that I noticed during my time in the store:
So as you can see from the chart above, if you waltzed into a synagogue, you would experience something similar to a church service in the sense that it was a place to teach and learn scripture. On the Sabbath, a service would start with singing of Psalms, transition to a reading from the Torah, switch to a reading from the prophets, and then culminate with a sermon. Local teachers gave sermons and on occasion a visitor/guest teacher would preach. Attendees were Pharisees, aka middle class Jews that had a reputation of self righteousness. Pharisees were obsessed with rituals, laws, and outward symbols of faith such as circumcision. Almost all of them grew up memorizing the entire Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) by the time they were 12. Although they were gifted at rote memorization, they didn’t appear to have any kind of relationship with God or understanding of what the scriptures actually meant.
So now imagine if you can, that you are in your hometown of Nazareth at the synagogue on the Sabbath, and a guest speaker is giving the sermon. This guest speaker is someone that grew up in your neighborhood. Someone whose father Joseph was neither royalty nor of priestly decent, but instead a measly lower-class craftsman. Someone that is a carpenter by trade. Someone you haven’t seen in a few years, yet have heard news about him receiving praise in nearby towns (Capernaum being one of them) for healing a paralytic, healing a blind man, etc. Someone that has yet to perform any miracles in your and his hometown of Nazareth. Well that’s exactly what happens in Luke 4.
Post dressing room, I headed towards the check-out as quickly as possible thinking “the faster I walk and check-out the less likely one of my friends will see me here”. After I got in line, I realized that my logic was irrational because the only friend that would see me here would be a friend that is also shopping here…. if that happened, we would both agree to not tell other people that we saw each other here, PHEW. The line moved quickly, but in the mean time I watched 3 preteens in front of me giggling uncontrollably as they handed their coins and crumpled dollar bills to the cashier to pay for 1 pair of male boxers. TSK TSK TSK. My turn was next and I handed my item to the cashier (The cashier likely had her mom drop her off at work because she didn’t even look old enough to be driving a motor vehicle!). The cashier rang up my item and proceeded to put it in the LARGEST bag available. Yes, I realize most patrons of A&F always request the EXTRA LARGE bag even when they buy perfume, and yes I also realize I was with my Mom which might make me look younger, but seriously do I really strike you as the type of person that wants to be walking around Tyson’s with a bag showcasing a half-naked man??!?!? (Needless to say I left the bag at the front of the store and put my purchased item into my purse.) Before leaving the store, I decided to report the one UNUSUAL thing that I noticed during my time in the store:
Me: I think your store’s profit margins are in jeopardy. In my dressing room there were at least 4 security buttons loose on the floor. You really should have someone monitoring the fitting room area.We decided to put our good Samaritan deed to rest and exited the store. If only, A&F realized, that I, once a regular patron now a visitor, was actually trying to help them and not make them irritated. Now, suppose instead of going into A&F and living in the 21st century, we lived in the time of Jesus, and walked into a synagogue one day. What would that experience be like? How would people react if a visitor walked in and tried to help out the people in the synagogue? First, let's brush up on our knowledge of synagogues:
Cashier: haha oh really?! Well we are low on staff
Me (in my head): Really? I would think refolding an already folded shirt should be a job duty that comes SECOND to monitoring and preventing theft.
My Mom: (reverting back to defensive/protective mom from the 90s): Yeah, and one more thing! The dressing room is like a pig sty!”
So as you can see from the chart above, if you waltzed into a synagogue, you would experience something similar to a church service in the sense that it was a place to teach and learn scripture. On the Sabbath, a service would start with singing of Psalms, transition to a reading from the Torah, switch to a reading from the prophets, and then culminate with a sermon. Local teachers gave sermons and on occasion a visitor/guest teacher would preach. Attendees were Pharisees, aka middle class Jews that had a reputation of self righteousness. Pharisees were obsessed with rituals, laws, and outward symbols of faith such as circumcision. Almost all of them grew up memorizing the entire Torah (first five books of the Old Testament) by the time they were 12. Although they were gifted at rote memorization, they didn’t appear to have any kind of relationship with God or understanding of what the scriptures actually meant.
So now imagine if you can, that you are in your hometown of Nazareth at the synagogue on the Sabbath, and a guest speaker is giving the sermon. This guest speaker is someone that grew up in your neighborhood. Someone whose father Joseph was neither royalty nor of priestly decent, but instead a measly lower-class craftsman. Someone that is a carpenter by trade. Someone you haven’t seen in a few years, yet have heard news about him receiving praise in nearby towns (Capernaum being one of them) for healing a paralytic, healing a blind man, etc. Someone that has yet to perform any miracles in your and his hometown of Nazareth. Well that’s exactly what happens in Luke 4.
“Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:14-21)Keep in mind, any other teacher before Jesus, would have started a sermon on a messianic prophecy by saying something along the lines of “And SOME DAY this will happen, not TODAY’. After saying he has fulfilled the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 61, Jesus continues to preach to his hometown, telling the people how they won’t accept him, and reminding them of the fact that God has imparted blessings upon non-Jews in the past. Now let’s see how the people react.
"All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." (Luke 4:28-30)YOU GUYS, WE KNOW JESUS IS GOD BECAUSE HE CLAIMED TO BE GOD! This passage makes it so blatantly obvious that Jesus claimed to be God. If he had just got up and said “I am God” the Pharisees would dismiss him as ignorant. The Pharisees knew the Old Testament Messianic prophecies inside and out and were always on the look out for the Messiah. The Pharisees tried to kill Jesus because they mistakenly were expecting the Messiah to be an actual Roman king and and were angry at the fact that Jesus was saying he would bring salvation for everyone and not just themselves (Jews). But alas, Jesus was trying to help them. He was bringing the 'good news' they and their ancestors had been waiting for.
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