Will You Be Offended?

When Jesus gave a sermon in his home town of Nazareth, he preached about faith. Faith that is in other nations and religions than their own. Faith that God gives to all.

Jesus said, "There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow." Luke 4:25-26

God sent Elijah to be fed during the famine to a pagan city and to a certain widow. God knew she had the faith needed to help Elijah. Even though she only had enough food for herself and her son, she fed Elijah first. Because she did this, she was given food by God all during the famine. 1Kings 17

I think Jesus was trying to tell the people that there are other people who believe in God even though they don't belong to their particular religion. They needed to understand they weren't the only ones being saved.

"There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."  Luke 4:27

Why was Naaman, a pagan, cleansed? He had enough faith to first go to Elisha and then to do what Elisha told him to do. He decided to let go of his pride and dip in the Jordan River seven times. After he was healed, he worshiped the God of Israel. But there is an interesting detail in this story. Naaman asked Elisha if God would pardon him for going into the pagan temple once a year with the king of his country and bowing down to the idol. It was part of his duty to do this. Elisha told him yes, he could do that and it would be alright. I wonder what a pastor would say today to what Naaman asked?  2 Kings 5

The people of Nazareth were so angry that Jesus would say pagans were deserving of God's blessings they grabbed him and took him to the edge of a cliff intending to push him over. But Jesus disappeared while he was in the middle of the crowd. God would not let Jesus die that day, he had more work for him to do.

"God has given to each man a measure of faith." Romans 12:3 We do not know the faith that others have towards God, that is why we are never to judge anyone no matter what religion they belong to.