Very few pastors would dare speak to their congregations the way Jesus does the folks at Nazareth. It is a prescription for disaster. The synagogue folks tried to kill Jesus. Not likely to happen to a pastor, but she's probably be looking for a new job pretty quickly if she didn't display a little more tact than Jesus did.
Almost all cultures weave a dominant religion into their status quo. Step into a typical church sanctuary in America, and you will likely find an American flag displayed somewhere. Many of those churches' members presume that national interests and God's interests run roughly parallel. Nations aren't perfect and so there are some problems, but by and large...
When I get myself in trouble as a pastor, it usually isn't because I've taken a bold but unpopular stand on some issue. More likely it is because I didn't think before I spoke, that I wasn't paying attention to other people's feelings, or I was just being a dolt. And when I try to improve as a pastor, along with learning to preach better sermons or do better strategic planning, I want to improve my "people skills." I worry about communicating well without giving offense, keeping people happy, doing things in a loving manner, etc.
I still think these important things for me to work on, but I also wonder sometimes about how rarely I encounter the sort of hostility Jesus did. Maybe my political and people skills are better than his were. Or maybe I'm just a coward.
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