Second Presbyterian Church

"Homecoming Rejection:
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
February 22, 2004

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2004 » Sermons for February 2004 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#11 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Isaiah 61: 1-4
• Luke 4: 14-30

Okay, the preparation is now over. Jesus, by this time, had complete awareness of whom he was and what he was to do. He left the wilderness and returned to Galilee full of the power of the Holy Spirit. And when he reached Galilee he began to proclaim the Gospel of the coming of the Kingdom of God. He began to demonstrate the presence of the Kingdom of God by casting out demons, healing the sick, helping the blind to see, and preaching good news to the poor.

Jesus had already been making the circuit through Galilee for a little while, before he arrived at his home village. Luke described, in two verses that his reputation and fame had spread. He noted that many were glorifying Jesus because of the ministry he had begun.

His name and new claim to fame had preceded Jesus to Nazareth. His hometown had heard of the wonders he had performed. When he arrived their expectations ran high.

So, on the Sabbath day, Jesus was given the honor to read from the scripture and the scroll of Isaiah was given to him. He found the passage he was going to read and he read it to them, the passage that we had for our Old Testament lesson this morning. It is a powerful passage that describes the prophet experiencing the power of God's Holy Spirit and then it describes the fruits of the Holy Spirit: good news proclaimed to the poor, liberty to those captive, the blind recover their sight, liberty of the oppressed.

When he had finished reading, Jesus rolled up the scroll, returned it to the attendant, and sat down. He sat down, because teachers, when they taught, sat down. I rather like that custom and sometimes wish that I could preach while sitting down.

Jesus began to speak, he first spoke these words, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The crowd at the synagogue was watching Jesus very carefully. One gets the sense that the watching was not completely friendly, but it was too early to tell. They were, I am convinced, waiting to see something spectacular happen, such as what they had heard in Capernaum. They were ready to see some miracles, acts of wonder. They were ready to see a demon cast out, or a blind man healed, something that would be a crowd pleaser.

Instead, they received a refusal. Jesus went on to say that they would doubtless quote the proverb, "Physician, heal yourself." He perceived their latent rejection and that they, the crowd, couldn't get beyond the fact that this great preacher, prophet, and the one claiming to be Messiah was their own little Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary.

The refusal became clearer when Jesus used examples from the scriptures in which great events wrought by God were for Gentiles, not just for Hebrew. The widow of Zarephath lived in the region of Sidon. Elijah went and stayed with her during the drought. She received the miracle of not running out of flour and oil for three and one half years while the drought raged on. Elijah did not stay with a Hebrew widow. Jesus used another example, the cure of Naaman, a Syrian army commander, of his leprosy, by the instructions from Elisha.

This enraged the congregation. They were ready to take him out and throw him off the cliff upon which Nazareth stood. Why were they so enraged? Because Jesus refused to give them a show of his powers as Messiah. Because Jesus basically told them that being the children of Abraham did not automatically give them redemption. It enraged them, because these examples demonstrated the love and healing power of God could also be for Gentiles.

This congregation, in Nazareth, was not ready for a Messiah who came to redeem all sinners, all people. They only looked for a Messiah who would redeem Israel from its conquerors.

The truth of the matter is this. Sometimes the Good News of the Kingdom of God doesn't feel so good. It doesn't feel so good when it seems like others are recipients of the good news, while we look on and feel left out. This is a major theme in Luke. Those who are usually left out were the ones Jesus included. Those who are considered the in-crowd were the ones to whom Jesus gave words of warnings. We see this here, we see it over and over in the Gospel.

The passage calls us to consider our presumptions of the Gospel. Do we believe in a Gospel that reaches out to he disenfranchised? Do we believe in a Gospel that values those people that everybody else rejects? Do we believe in a Gospel that pronounces judgment on selfish wealth, and lifts up those upon whom culture has put down? Do we believe in a Gospel that is greater than the United States? Do we believe in a Gospel that calls us to radically turn our lives, our possessions, even our families over to God?

Sometimes the sacrifice demanded in order to receive the Grace of God and to be obedient to Jesus Christ doesn't feel very much like good news. We will encounter these demands in Luke time and again:

• When Jesus chooses to eat with tax collectors and sinners
• When Jesus chooses to touch lepers and dead people
• When Jesus teaches us about radical grace (prodigal son)
• When Jesus met the rich young ruler

Luke's notion of being a follower of Jesus Christ is simply this: are we ready to give up everything for the sake of following Jesus Christ? Are we ready to give up our wealth and comfort? Are we ready to give up our families? Are we ready to give up anything, if it is the thing that gets in the way of our complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ?

Yet this is where true life is. Those things to which we cling will only bring us death, if we rely upon them for life. Only our full and complete turning to Jesus Christ, although it can feel like it will kill us, is the only way to give us life.

Once they got Jesus to the cliff, he just passed through the crowd and left Nazareth. One thing is for sure. It is clear in Jesus' mind that the end of the road of his ministry on earth will be the cross. And, again, so early in the Gospel of Luke we have gathering clouds of the coming opposition and storm, the cross. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.