I want to tell you a story, but to do so we’ll have to leave this time and this place and go to a time when God walked the earth.  You can hear the sound of hushed murmurs, a growing buzz is filling the air, and we find ourselves back in the synagogue in Jesus’ hometown.  He just read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  [Luke 4:21-30]

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

- proclaim good news to the poor – fulfilled,

- early release for inmates – check,

- sight for the blind – did it,

- freedom for the oppressed – doing it,

- proclaim God’s year to act – fulfilled!

And 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?”

They said: “He’s one of us!  He’s our ‘boy’.  And now he’s come back home to do all these nice things for us.  I like where this is going.”

And it’s at this point that the story could have taken a very different direction.  It could have gone like this:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, did many wonderful things for the people of his home town and they liked him very much.  He wrote a few books, became a tenured Rabbi, and eventually he died at a ripe old age, surrounded by his disciples singing songs.  The end.  And that would have been a nice story.

But for some reason Jesus didn’t leave it there, while all the people were giving him compliments and pinching his cheeks he had to go and ruin it.

I like getting compliments,  But beware of compliments – for often times they say more about the one who gives them then the one who receives them…  Beware of compliments – for often times they are secretly given in return for your alliance…  Beware of compliments – for often times, when these unspoken alliances are broken, compliments turn into criticism in seconds flat.

So, Jesus didn’t leave it there.  He didn’t quit while he was ahead.  He had to go and ruin it, because he refused to be their little darling.  He refused to reinforce their “cul-de-sac of God’s blessing”, where grace can get in, but it can’t get out, where God loves the insiders and loathes the outsiders.

So, Jesus couldn’t just leave it there.  He knew the short shelf life of praise and the rejection that would soon follow.  He knew that the same crowd who shouts “Hosanna in the Highest” & “Save us Son of David!” on Sunday could just as easily shout “Crucify him” & “Give us Barabbas” on friday.

So, he said to them, “No doubt 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.’”  And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.

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 Zarephath in Sidon.

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Do you think he struck a nerve?  One minute, “They were amazed.”  The next minute, “They were filled with rage.”  Every family system has certain unspokens that everyone knows not to talk about.  Sacred cows, pushed envelopes, pushed buttons, unmentionable that are not allowed to be mentioned at the dinner table.

What are your family’s?  What is the truth that is not allowed to be told?  Do we have any here in the U.S.?  in Edmonds?  In the Church? at Beloved?

Do you think Jesus found one in Nazareth?  What exactly was it about what Jesus said that made these friends from the old neighborhood want to do what happens next?

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.

One minute they’re saying, “Hey, you are one of us!”  And the next minute, “Scratch that, we want you dead!  What would it take for them to want to kill one of their own?

Maybe for Jesus to say, “I am doing all these amazing things that the prophet Isaiah spoke about… but… I’m not doing any of it for you.  I’m doing it for the outsiders.”

Maybe for Jesus to challenge their very assumption about what it means to be blessed by God and who is blessed by God.

They, like us, had a certain national and religious identity, and a vision of how the messiah would support that identity… but he didn’t.  And that was the one thing you weren’t allowed to do.  They want to kill him, not because he condemned them… he never condemns them.  They want to kill him, not because he tells them what they have to do or not do… he doesn’t demand anything from them.  He simply tells them what he is doing.

And here’s where it hits the ground:  Whenever the gospel is spoken, it doesn’t remain simply a historical story.  When the gospel is spoken, the risen Christ walks among us and speaks to anyone who can hear it… right now.

So who is Jesus including in his love that might outrage you?  What could Jesus say to make you want to push him of a cliff?  You don’t think you’ve got buttons?  Just think, who would spoil this cozy community for you if they walked in the door right now?  What are the limits of welcome in our community for you?

There’s just too many children, too many old people, too many young people, too many white people, too many liberals, too many conservatives, too many homeless people, too many married people, too many single people…  or just too many people.  What are the limit’s of welcome in our community?

But Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

The story could have taken a different direction here.  It could have gone like this:  “They led him to the brow of the hill and hurled him off to his death.  Then went home and had some tea and said, ‘That Joseph’s son was always trouble.  Let’s not speak of this again.’  And the world would never have heard the words, “Blessed are the poor.” “This is my body given for you.”  ”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  ”He is not here.  He has risen.”  and “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Here’s is God’s love for the villagers of Nazareth:  The love of God that never gives up, that cares more for others than for self, doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.  The love of God that doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, that doesn’t force itself on others.  The Love of God that Isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others.  The Love of God that doesn’t revel when others grovel, that takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, that puts up with anything, trusts always, that always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.  This Love of God whose name is Jesus Christ, doesn’t let the story end here, instead Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way and they were spared of the ending that they, in their rage wanted most.  The love of God wouldn’t allow it, because the love of God is constantly drawing the outsider in and sending the insider out.  This love never allows for stagnancy.  If you are hearing Jesus it’s only right for you to be filled with rage or filled with compassion for the outsider…  anything less might mean you’re not listening.

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Spread the Love: , and about this.