So There Really Is a Kingdom

Isaiah 61 is about what God said He will do in the last days.  The arrival of the Kingdom of God in the midst of a fallen and broken humanity is no small thing.  It is the reversal of all that has gone wrong in the world and that holds people in misery and shame.  It is the outpouring of God's grace and favor on those who feel they have no claim on it.  Jesus makes a stunning claim: his ministry of healing and setting people free from their bondage and slavery is actually the fulfillment of the long awaited Kingdom of God that had been promised through the prophets.
Why then does Jesus' claim meet such hostility in his own home town? 
They liked the preacher until he exposed the truth of their hard hearts.  They were trusting in their own little kingdom and not in the gift of God's reign of blessing.  Our familiarity with the things of Christ and our confidence in what we have done may mean that we are closer to those who opposed Him than we realize.  It takes the cross for God to bring all our cool rejection of the good news to its dreadful conclusion and then raise us up as His Kingdom Spirit anointed people wonderfully humbled and forgiven into the service and action the King.