After Jesus' Sermon Was Over..

The gospel for this Sunday continues the story of Jesus' first sermon in Nazareth. The people are first amazed and then angry. 

All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was a youngster?”

23-27 He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”

28-30 That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way. -Luke 4: 22-30 The Message

Here's some helpful insights from Lutheran preacher/professor David Lose, well worth sharing. It seems to raise some observations and questions about us as Americans, which I raise at the end. First, the preacher:: 

I’ve got this feeling, deep down, that as well as these folks knew Jesus, he knew them even better.

Let’s not forget that he’s just finished reading Isaiah’s prophecy of a year of favor, of Jubilee, when the blind find sight, the captives release, the oppressed relief, and all the poor of this world consolation. And, lest we be mistaken about the direction Jesus is heading in, it’s just as important to note what he doesn’t read. Because Isaiah goes on, you see, telling of that day when the Lord will trample down all Israel’s enemies, crush them underfoot and restore Israel to its rightful place. But no, Jesus doesn’t read that part. 

He’s not thinking locally, you see, but globally, and this isn’t a nationalistic sermon, but one in which he declares that God loves all the world and has a special concern for the poor.

And so for this to come true, there’s going to need to be some changes. For as Mary sings before her boy was even born, in order to raise the lowly God’s going to have to bring low the powerful; and in order to feed the poor, the rich are going to go away empty.

This is what Jesus is talking about, and the home crowd doesn’t get it. So Jesus gets mad, drives his point home, and this time they do get it, so clearly, in fact, they’re ready to get him.

God favor Syria, not Israel?! God heal in Capernaum, that land so full of gentiles, not Nazareth. I don’t think so. That’s heresy. And you know what we do with heretics.

You see, it really is all Jesus’ fault – he goes and does the one thing you’re never supposed to do, even to strangers, let alone to friends and neighbors: He tells them the truth, the truth about their pettiness and prejudice, their fear and shame, their willingness, even eagerness, to get ahead at any cost, even at the expense of another. And so they want him gone in the most permanent of ways.

And let’s face it; that’s pretty much the way it usually is. Because this text, and Luke’s whole gospel for that matter, isn’t about Jews or Romans, it isn’t about Nazarenes or Jerusalemites. No, it’s about every race and nationality, about all the crowds of every time and place who, when they meet one who tells them the truth about themselves, will go to almost any length to silence the messenger. For from the prophets of Israel to our own prophet, Martin Luther King, Jr., it’s not just the keepers of the dream that get rejected, beaten, and shot, but the tellers of the truth as well.

And so here we are, at the very outset of Jesus’ ministry, and already we see how it’s going to come out. Because while Jesus somehow gets away today, later on they’ll catch up with him. They’ll listen a little longer, get a little madder, and then lay their hands on him and nail him to the cross.

So here’s the another interesting question for the day: do you think things have changed all that much? I mean, do you think Jesus’ sermon about change and equity and release would go over any better today, in a nation tied up in knots over whether millionaires should have their taxes raised and whether it’s fair to make sure everyone who wants to buy a gun has a clean record? I doubt it. Jesus’ message, whenever and wherever it’s spoken, still makes people see red.

So what are we to do? Now that Jesus’ words have revealed the truth that we’ve got just as much fear and shame and prejudice as did the folks in Nazareth, what are we to do?

There’s only one thing I can think of. And that’s to keep our eyes fastened on the one who told the truth in the first place, the one we nailed to a cross because of it. Because of all the prophets, you see, of all the folks who came and told the truth only to be rejected, or beaten, or killed, this is the only one God raised from the dead...

Good news, for sure. But one interesting question is left for us to ask: now what? ... Well, here’s an idea: 

What would you think about us bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, helping the blind regain their sight, and setting the oppressed free. 

Why don’t we, that is, proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor? 

(excerpted from http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=663)

Good questions, Rev. Dr. Lose.

Here is the inescapable truth about we Americans: by any measure, historically or contemporary, we are among the wealthiest, most privileged people who have ever lived and are living now. 

This, it seems, gives us a position like that of the biblical role of the nation of Israel as a Chosen People- one of both privilege AND responsibility.

We now have the resources and capacity to end hunger world wide.

We can make sure the safety net holds in our country, so that no one goes hungry, and children have the crucial nutrition they need at the beginning of life.

We have the ability to re-establish income equality in the US, significantly improving related social and health problems.

We can end the oppression of minorities who are disproportionately imprisoned in this country.

Do we- followers of Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth -hold Jubilee as the same priority it was for our Master?

If not, what's keeping us from doing so?

God,

Give me the courage to be revolutionary, as your Son Jesus Christ was.

Give me the courage to loosen myself from this world.

Teach me to stand up free and to shun no criticism.

God, it is for your kingdom.

Make me free, make me poor in this world.

Then I will be rich in the real world, which is what life is all about.

God, thank you for the vision of the future, but make it fact and not just 

theory.

~ Henri J.M. Nouwen