What would I have to say today from this pulpit that would cause you all to become so enraged at me that you would attempt to lynch me?
Perhaps something politically controversial about this party or that party? Or maybe I take a strong moral stance against someone or something you radically oppose? What if I was to defame someone else’s character who you knew to be innocent, or utter blasphemous words against God and the people of our parish?
What if I were to preach this morning for thirty minutes?
Would you want to lynch me then? Would you want to take me by force and throw me in front of traffic out there on Wheeler Road?
How far would I have to go from this pulpit in order to make you to want to murder me?
It is an insane thought, but this is precisely what happens to Jesus in our Gospel Lesson this morning. After preaching what we can assume was his first public sermon in the synagogue at Nazareth, his hometown nevertheless, Jesus is hustled out of town and taken to the hilltop where he escapes being hurled to his death by the murderous hands of his own people.
Now I can still recall some of my first sermons, and some were pretty bad, yet I was never thrown off a cliff because of my delivery. In all honesty, if what happened to Jesus happened to me at the start of my ministry, I most certainly would have chosen another profession.
So, what went so horribly wrong for Jesus that day in the synagogue at Nazareth?
Well, if you remember back to last Sunday when Fr. Kurt shared with us the first part of what is a two part story here in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and everyone was talking about him.
So, he comes to the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth in Galilee where he is handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and declares, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)
And then Jesus sits down to demonstrate his authority as a rabbi about to lay down the gauntlet.
And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were upon him. And he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)
And that’s where part one ends, with the crowd hanging on his every word.
Then Luke goes on to say that all in the synagogue, “Spoke well of Jesus and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” (Luke 4:22) I mean to me, this is the response to a slam dunk sermon! They even went as far to say, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” (Luke 4:22)
I do not think that Jesus’ neighbors were just being nasty or snide here by observing that Jesus was Joseph’s son. I think that they were authentically AMAZED.
Is not this Joseph’s son, the carpenter? Where did he gain such knowledge? How does a carpenter’s kid become a rabbi? He’s one of us, a commoner. How are such gracious God-formed words coming from his mouth?
I mean this sounds equivalent to the handshake at the door and the response of, “I really enjoyed your sermon today Father Thomas. You astounded me with the gracious words that flowed from your lips.”
So how does this story take such a HUGE 180 degree turn here in part two straight off a cliff?
Well, Jesus being Jesus knew what his hometown neighbors were already secretly thinking. He knows that they expect to see Capernaum style miracles in Nazareth. Word has surely spread about his miraculous powers. And today the home town prophet has come to his own people. What miracles was he going to perform for them?
After all, miracles attract a crowd, and a crowd can boost the local economy. Think about it. Jesus, you did miracles for them, now do miracles for us.
And perhaps that is why Jesus’ response to their reluctance to believe was to make Himself the point of a proverb:
“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.’” (Luke 4:23)
Doctor, cure yourself carries the idea of needing proof. To apply the point of the proverb more specifically to Jesus’ situation, it’s like the crowd is saying, “It will take more than words to convince us. If you’re truly the Messiah, prove it by working a miracle or doing something else equally messianic.”
And then Jesus brings out the uppercut, the knock out one two punch, the witness of Israel’s greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha to level the playing field:
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; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at in Sidon. (Luke 4:25)
The city of Sidon is located in modern day Lebanon and was infamous for their display of opulence and wickedness. And because Israel failed to overthrow Sidon in their conquest of the Promised Land, Sidon’s idolatry and pagan practices continued, even leading Israel to copy its sins. To a Jewish audience in Jesus’ day, Sidon was synonymous with wickedness.
Elijah could have helped any number of widows in Israel, but instead he chose to take care of a widow in Sidon, the enemy, an outsider.
Jesus then continues his assault in the synagogue. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. (Luke 4:27) Naaman was a military leader and a potential threat to the nation of Israel, and he was a leper, the unclean. Yet Elisha chose to heal him, an enemy, an outcast, an outsider.
Are you beginning to see why the hometown crowd in the synagogue at Nazareth became so enraged?
Elijah and Elisha came to serve the people of Israel, but their ministries went beyond the chosen nation, and that’s exactly what Jesus is preaching to his hometown crowd in today’s Gospel Lesson.
Jesus is extending the call of salvation, extending the prophetic text of Isiah to include, not just the chosen nation of Israel, but to those on the outside, the entire human race.
Jesus the Messiah is not limited to just the chosen people of God, which is the overarching message of Luke’s Gospel. In fact, Luke uses the people of Nazareth and the synagogue to symbolize the overall people of Israel.
It is here we see Jesus among the hometown crowd who watched him grow up, the son of a carpenter, an insider, juxtaposed against Jesus, the cosmic Christ, whose call of salvation and ministry is now extended to the outsiders, to the whole world.
On hearing this, the hometown crowd became engaged, and got up and drove him to the edge of a cliff. They are a lynch mob who believe that Jesus’ blasphemous remarks deserve a public execution.
But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way. (Luke 4:30)
I cannot help but recall here the story of Moses parting the Red Sea to escape the rage of the Egyptian army. There is something profound here that is not stated in detail, a sleight of hand escape from death only Jesus the Messiah could perform.
I think we can all agree that it would take me doing something terribly drastic this morning to insight you all into a lynch mob, ready to throw me to my death. And I think this is precisely the point of our Gospel Lesson.
In 1893, Chicago Evening Post journalist and humorist Finley Peter Dunne introduced his readers to the character of Mr. Dooley, a fictional 19th century Irish bartender in a newspaper column. Dunne’s weekly column featured Dooley’s satirical sayings about the political and social issues of the day.
In what has now become a famous quote, Mr. Dooley declares, “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
When it comes to that, no one can outdo Jesus. During his ministry he was a master at compassionately helping and healing those afflicted by sin, and equally masterful at challenging and infuriating those comfortable in their sins.
The work of the Word of God is to do just that: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
We love to quote the Bible as long as it supports our beliefs. But when those beliefs are challenged by scripture, we often begin to rear and buck.
When Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah, the hometown crowd of Nazareth thought that if was just them he was talking about.
So, let me ask you, how much do you think the Bible is only for people like us? What about them, the outsiders, the folks that don’t act or think or dress or smell like us? Will we allow our own prejudices to draw a line in the sand: Us vs. Them?
Think of all the damage the church and the human race has caused because of this dualistic way of thinking.
If we are truly the community of the Beloved, shouldn’t we be able to set aside our differences, lay down our offenses, and walk in the way of humility, grace, and forgiveness?
Or as in the words of my favorite Cursillo hymns,
One bread, one body, one Lord of all
One cup of blessing which we bless
And we, though many, throughout the Earth
We are one body in this one Lord
And what better way to remind us, week after week, month after month, year after year, than to come to the LORD’s table, to kneel in humility and receive freely the one bread, the one body, and the one cup, which not a single one of us deserves.
Y’all Jesus has already broken down the walls of hostility between the us and them. So may we then so pattern our lives to live authentically in the words spoken by Krisita Jackson, National President of the Order of Daughters of the King,
“Pray for and love your neighbor - who doesn’t look like you, think like you, love like you, speak like you, pray like you or vote like you.”
Because we were once outsiders ourselves, brought inside only by the blood of Christ, let us receive others freely, and live our lives as if we believe everyone is included in the strong embrace of his almighty arms of love. Amen.
References
Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke. Saint Andrew Press. 2001
Two Bubbas and a Bible. Lectionary Lab. https://twobb.substack.com
Dunne, Finley Peter. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/finley_peter_dunne_154262
Foley, John. One Bread, One Body.
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-one-bread-one-body
Turner, Jimmy. Physician Heal Thyself.
https://thephysicianphilosopher.com/physician-heal-thyself/