3 February 2013

“What kind of love is this?”
Luke 4:21-30
OT 4C
3 February 2013


We’ve once again entered the cycle of high school reunion years ... this year, it’s Kathleen’s turn ... and once again, she’ll probably make the trip to Longview by herself for the festivities ... just as, when it’s time for my reunion, I’ll head to Portland solo.
There are few places and times so lonely, as being the non-alum spouse at a reunion, that is for sure.
I did go to a couple of them, years ago ... but it was mainly because of one of her classmates, who I wanted to meet, or at least see.
Jeff Pilson – Jeff who used to be in RA Long’s high school orchestra with her, Jeff who even played string bass with her in that orchestra, Jeff who had gone on to be in the 1980’s heavy metal big-hair rock group Dokken, and, more recently, the bass player in the rebuilt super group Foreigner … so he’s achieved some level of fame and fortune, at least, by Longview, Washington standards.
Well, you can guess what happened ... both times. He never showed up at the reunions; he’s never even shown his face in Longview ever again, as far as we know. He doesn’t list Longview as his hometown on his official Web site; the one mention he’s ever given to his high school days was a somewhat disparaging remark we found in an interview about how he once lived in “a little logging town in the Pacific Northwest.”
We shouldn't have been too surprised at how that story turned out. It happens all the time. If you've ever glanced at one of those supermarket tabloids, or the Hollywood fan magazines that line the checkout aisles at any store, you'll often see a story about how some big star turned his back on his hometown, or said something uncomplimentary about where she came from. The truths they tell often aren't what the hometown crowd wants to hear. And so the local boys and girls who make good often don’t go back home.
Our gospel reading for today is about another young man who had just "made good" ... Jesus of Nazareth … but, instead of ignoring where he came from, he goes right back there after he’s begun to be known around the country.
According to Luke's gospel, Jesus had just begun his ministry when he came to Nazareth, the town where he had been raised. We are still early here in Luke's story: Jesus has been baptized by John; John, subsequently put to death; Jesus, driven into the wilderness and tempted and tested by the devil.
Now, he has returned from his time in the wilderness, and begun teaching in the synagogues. And people were speaking well of him throughout the northern part of Israel. The people of Nazareth must have been wondering when Jesus would get around to visiting them, so they could welcome him back. Surely a place like Nazareth which produced someone so obviously close to God must be in God's favor! What great words might Jesus say about his hometown friends?
That Jesus goes to the synagogue when he first got into town shouldn't be surprising. The synagogue functioned like the town meeting hall in those days. It was the place where everyone gathered to hear the latest news and discuss things.
That Jesus chooses the reading from Isaiah to read in the synagogue ... the one we heard last week, in the first half of this Gospel reading:

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.

... that Jesus chooses this reading shouldn't be surprising either. Luke’s Gospel portrays Jesus as a straightforward, no messing around Messiah. He says things clearly and doesn't hide anything.
And the way the people react to Jesus after he reads those words also should not surprise us. "Are these words coming from Jesus...our Jesus?" they must have thought. "But isn't he the son of Joseph...an ordinary man who we know quite well? And didn't he just grow up in that house right down the road? And didn't he used to play games with my son? And didn't I used to teach him in school...and hire him to do odd jobs...and give him candy? Our Jesus is saying these things about himself?" They must have found it hard to believe that their Jesus was saying these extraordinary things about himself, in their presence, they who had known him ever since he was very young.
We can understand those feelings. It's hard to see someone who we've known since they were in diapers become a person of great standing in other's eyes. We have a hard time listening to the words they say ... all the time they are clouded by all those memories of years gone by.
But there came a time when the hometown crowd finally settled down and wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. Perhaps he might perform some of those miracles of which they'd heard. Maybe he'd say great things about Nazareth, his hometown … maybe this was the start of a new prosperous age for Nazareth: this little backwater town in Galilee was really going to hit the big time now.
Those poor people of Nazareth. They must have thought that, because Jesus was from there and them, and he'd become so famous and popular, they'd be able to "cash in" on his success.
Maybe they’d put up a statue of him, or name a street in his honor, or maybe, the town would become a major tourist attraction, for all those folks who would want to come and see where Jesus grew up. Come on Jesus, lay it on us! You're one of us, remember? Tell us how good it's going to be!
Jesus laid it on them all right. It’s just that, what he had to say was not what his hometown friends wanted to hear. They wanted to keep Jesus as their hometown hero, their star. They would be with him so long as he said and did what they wanted him to say and do.
But Jesus has other plans.
First, Jesus aligns himself with the prophets. Prophets --not the most popular people around. They don't usually speak smooth words to us...oh, go ahead, keep all that money to yourselves...keep treating the poor like dirt...honor God when you feel like it. No ... instead, it's, words like those of John the Baptist, earlier in Luke’s Gospel:

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? REPENT!

Prophets often speak God's word of justice, and sometimes that is a word of judgment to the ears on which it falls.
Certainly Jesus' words in this fourth chapter of Luke fit in this category.

No prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

True enough. Being a prophet often means speaking words people don't want to hear. And when you've been part of the prophet’s life ever since he was small … maybe even had to change the prophet's diapers … well, you might have a hard time believing him.
But Jesus’ further words to the Nazarenes are even more cutting.

There were many widows...and lepers...and a severe famine in Israel ...

... when Elijah and Elisha were God's prophets were in the land; yet they ministered not to the Israelites, but to the foreigners -- the widow in Sidon, and Naaman the Syrian.
What did these words mean to the hometown crowd in Nazareth? Simply, that Jesus would work no miracles for them, that’s for sure. But more; here Jesus is saying, I know you, and your motivations toward me. And that's not what I was sent here for; I was sent to bring God's gospel message of forgiveness and new life to ALL the world ... not just to you alone, though you might claim to own me.
What? The hometown boy turning his back on those who "knew him when?" They could hardly believe it ... this was not what they wanted to hear.
What kind of love is this, Jesus?
So the good people of Nazareth turn Jesus from hero to goat in a few short minutes. They drive him out of town, and up a hill, and nearly throw him off a cliff.
But it wasn't to be that day. Jesus makes his way through the crowd somehow...and never looks back. Luke says no more about Jesus ever coming back to his hometown. Their familiarity with Jesus in Nazareth had led to contempt; they thought that since Jesus was one of them, that he would try to please them. Stay at home. Work a few miracles every now and then. Make it good for us here in Nazareth.
But when they found out they were wrong, they would have none of Jesus.
And Jesus would have none of their selfishness either. He had another plan ... God's plan. God's plan was that many more would hear Jesus' message. So even when the forces of darkness did finally seem to win … when Jesus was once again brought to the point of doom, on that cross on another hill, on another day ... words we’ll hear later on, as we begin our Holy Week walk to the Cross ... in that day, God really had the victory. Jesus couldn't and didn't stay dead ... he is raised from the dead ... God's power in him is so great, God's will in him is so strong that not even death can silence the message that God Is For Us in Jesus.

So what’s the For Us in this reading today?
Well, it’s a double edged Word.
First, to the citizen of Nazareth in us … in each of us … we who would have Jesus, but Jesus on our own terms.
Jesus to build ourselves up, even when that means we might have to tear others down.
Jesus to reinforce us in thinking that our way is the way and everyone else’s is the wrong way.
To us, when we think, when we behave like those lunk-headed Nazarenes, Jesus comes and says, “I am out of your control. I will do what I will do, in ways you can’t stop, can’t control, can’t bend or coerce to your own liking.”
What Jesus has to give to us is much bigger than we can control, than what can be contained in an hour on Sunday morning, or even within these walls.
The truth of this story, for us, is that there is a part of each of us that is just like those Nazarenes ... a part of us that wants so much to control God, to make God over in our own image. We would like “faith” to fit into a neat, categorized, dogmatized, noted and 3 ring bindered place in our lives ... wouldn’t it be nice if we could just have this quiet little time called “church” right here, just for us, each Sunday at 8 and 10.30 ... after the craziness and faithlessness we encounter every week, that we could come here to our little personal retreat center, and just sit for an hour, let it wash over us; not have to engage, not have to think, just have church be quiet, orderly, and nice, just as we had left it. Everything neatly in its place, nothing unexpected to disturb it or us.
Aaah.
What a nice, quiet relationship with our God.
Quiet.
Dull.
And Dead.
So this story from Luke's gospel says to us, this Epiphany season word shouts to us, watch out!
Don't get smug and self-assured!
Don't try to control Jesus!
Jesus’ message of hope, the power he has to give are more than we can control.
And when this power is loosed, look out!
We don't know exactly what will happen ... who we will invite or who will come ... what great ideas they will bring … what mighty acts and new things will get started.
What this font and this altar and this cross mean for us ... is ours is not a quiet, private faith.
These are here; Jesus shows himself forth through them; to remind us that: the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, because he has anointed YOU.
In your baptism.
Claimed you as a child and heir to his kingdom.
Forgiven you your sins, fed you at his table, and sent you out to take a stand:
To bring Good News to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind; to let the oppressed go free...to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
In whatever way, shape or form God’s Spirit sees fit.

And there is still another Word for us here today.
It is for everyone who has felt that Spirit of the Lord tugging on your ear, calling you to speak or witness or just live a life worthy of the call you have received in your baptism.
To point with your words or your actions toward Jesus;
Telling someone about a youth trip you took. Someone you heard at a women’s retreat. Maybe a sermon you heard or a hymn or song you sang. A Word that came to you in your morning or evening devotions or prayers.
Or maybe, it’s a quiet witness;
Walking away when your friends tell a joke that puts someone else down.
Turning your back on complaining or gossip.
Saying to a friend who is going through trouble, “I’m praying for you.”
Any one of those “living out your baptismal calling moments.
And so you’ve shared, and lived, them out.
But then, you’ve gotten the attitude or words back, “Well who do you think you are, anyway?” – like a slap in the face.
So these words today are also for you.
It’s not easy to follow Jesus. Sometimes it’s hard, and painful, and lonely. But we do not walk through our Nazareths alone.
For this Word today for us, this Epiphany, this Jesus showing himself forth ... is that Jesus is with us.
His words, and his Spirit, guide us in his ways, especially when making a stand for those, to whom Jesus is calling us to go, those to whom Jesus’ Spirit is sending us ... the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed ... when making a stand to and for those is unpopular and may even divide us from friends or family.
Remember and rejoice that the same thing happened to Jesus … and just as Jesus passed through the midst of them – as our reading says – so he promises that he will bring us through as well.
Because this is the Work of God’s Spirit among us. This is God’s power at work,in your life and mine ... and it demands to be set loose, so that the Word of Jesus will be shared.
So come, see and hear … and then go, go and tell ...
go forth in Jesus' power, and love, to share his good news of love and life, forgiveness and welcome and peace, into the world, and into your worlds.
And remember ... he is with you always, to lead you and guide you, to be with you, to give you the words to speak and the Spirit to act in his name, to rejoice with you when things go well, and to bring you through your Nazareth days as well ...
For this is his great good news today and every day ... he is always for you.
Always.
Amen.