Scripture/Sermon of the Day January 30, 2022

Luke 4:21-30

21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Reflection/Sermon:

I. We just heard Luke’s account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. It seemed to have a good start when Jesus started in Galilee and how “a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He taught in synagogues and was praised by everyone.”
II. So he came to his home synagogue — the one he grew up in — with this glow of SUCCESS about him. Everyone was praising him. People’s expectations were high — what’s the fuss all about? — they wondered — let’s see for ourselves. I mean — this is Joseph’s son, right? Let’s see what he says — how does he interpret the scripture?
III. Last week I suggested — because Jesus was on a roll — that he read his scripture passage and then, give a nice little sermon. Because everyone was already feeling good about him and they were probably all eager for coffee hour so they could pat him on the back and have a good chat afterwords. Because — usually, when we’re at coffee hour — it’s like Thanksgiving and we don’t talk about politics and religion. Which, if you think of it, is odd for a church because our symbol is a man being executed on a cross, but we generally talk about nice and safe things. We’re probably not going to talk about politics because our country is on the verge of a civil war and people take sides and things can get ugly. But think of this — if Jesus attended a coffee hour here — what would we say to him? Would we talk about the storm yesterday?
IV. We’ll never know about the coffee hour at the synagogue in Nazareth after Jesus’ sermon, probably the shortest sermon on record, about two minutes, because when Jesus finished his friends jumped out of their seats and tried to kill him. The people he grew up with, the woman who babysat him, the guys he explored the countryside with — all wanted him dead!!! For Christ Sake!!!!! WHAT DID JESUS SAY TO MAKE EVERYONE SO CRAZY WITH RAGE?
V. You know what’s funny about it? He told them two stories they’d heard since they were children! It wasn’t new. The story from Elijah helping the foreign woman from Sidon, and the story about Elisha helping the foreign general, Naaman. WE also grew up with these stories. What’s the big deal? SOMETIMES WE TUNE OUT WHAT WE DON’T LIKE. Like Covid. Like the election of 2020. If we don’t like the truth, we’ll make our own. We’ll say Covid is like the flu. We’ll say the election was stolen. The issue at Jesus’ hometown was foreigners. People hated them. Their color was different, their language was different, their customs and their religion was different. All Jesus did was to repeat what everyone had already read many times in their Bibles — that God loves everyone — that God’s grace is given to foreigners and non-Jews and non-Christians too. PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LIKE US WILL BE OUR NEIGHBORS IN HEAVEN. But if you tell people that — many will become angry. THAT WAS THE GOOD NEWS Jesus told his hometown friends, and it made them homicidal.
VI. Last week I said the only thing that makes people angrier than telling them to love EVERYBODY — is telling them that God loves EVERYBODY! Be careful who you say that to. And if you do — make sure there aren’t any cliffs around.