All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
Luke 4:28 (NIV)

As I was driving home from a client meeting yesterday, the song Rockstar by Nickelback came on. I’ve always liked the song. It’s incredibly catchy. The song is about our common desire to be famous and live the life of a rockstar. In the music video, everyday people on the street lip sync the lyrics along with real life rockstars and celebrities. It got me thinking about fame.

I started blogging back in 2006. It’s been a fascinating journey. The whole things has evolved a lot over the years. I’ve become a better writer, I’ve honed my blog, a few years ago I started podcasting my posts for those who prefer listening to reading. In doing so, I found out there are a number of you who prefer listening! Thank you! I once played around with “monetizing,” which is how bloggers and podcasters start to turn the writing and broadcasting into making a living. Over the almost five years since I set up “monetization” I’ve made $14.07.

It has fascinating for me as I plug along on this journey to witness those who go viral and become “influencers” on social media. If you have thousands or millions of followers, advertisers will pay you a lot of money to “influence” your followers for them. For some, it happens in almost an instant. In 2019, a study revealed that 86% of young people in America want to grow up to be social media “influencers.”

Today’s chapter recounts the beginning days of Jesus’ ministry. He established the fishing town of Capernaum as his base of operations. Capernaum was fascinating because it was culturally diverse. There were a number Jewish synagogues, but it was also a hub of Greek culture in the region. Luke records that once He started teaching and healing, Jesus went viral:

“…news about him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in the synagogues and everyone praised him.”

“…they were amazed at his teaching…”

“All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.”

By the end of the chapter, Luke records that crowds of people were following Jesus wherever He went.

Amidst Jesus going viral, Luke reports that Jesus went to His own hometown of Nazareth and delivered the message in the synagogue. He tells them:

“Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

The days of Elijah and Elisha that Jesus referenced were a time when the Hebrew people had turned their backs on God. The two people who Jesus referenced as being cared for and healed were non-Hebrew “Gentiles.” In delivering this message, Jesus is prophetically foreshadowing what He is going to do, and what is going to happen. He is going to bring God’s message of love, salvation and forgiveness to the Gentiles (whom the Hebrew people despised and treated as dirty and inferior), and His own people will kill Him for it. Sure enough, the riot Jesus sparked led to a mob trying to throw Him off a cliff.

In the quiet this morning, I meditated on Jesus going viral. When you’re publicly healing people and casting out demons, I would imagine you draw a pretty big crowd of followers. As I contemplated the crowds and Jesus’ popularity, I was reminded of the words of John, who was a primary source witness of those heady early days in Capernaum:

…many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.”

As I observe from the outside the experiences of influencers and viral bloggers and podcasters, it’s easy to see how silly things can get. Fame can be fleeting, especially in a world of cancel culture. Crowds are fickle. Even Jesus seemed to enter this “viral” stage of His ministry knowing that the same crowds gathering for his “Miracle” tour and putting Him at the top of every “trending” category known to man, will essentially be the same crowd screaming “Crucify Him” in a few years.

It’s fascinating that today’s chapter about Jesus going viral begins with the Evil One taking Jesus to a high place and showing him “in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus passed on the opportunity. I will follow.

My mousepad is Van Gogh’s “the sower.” Each morning, as I write these posts and record my podcast, it metaphorically reminds me of my compulsion to continue this chapter-a-day journey. Each post, every podcast, is a seed that I cast out there praying that it will land, take root, and bear fruit wherever God intends. That yield, whatever it might be, is priceless. It’s certainly worth more than $14.07.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.