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Jesus Rejected at Nazareth Luke 4: 13 - 30 13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus Rejected at Nazareth 14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit
of the Lord is on me, 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” 24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy[g] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathaniel once asked. And we have to admit, it was a hick town. Jesus walks into his home town – somewhere he’d lived for 30 years – and heads for the synagogue on the Sabbath. News that he’s achieved celebrity status has preceded him and he’s asked to preach. He stands and reads from Isaiah. 20Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, I wonder how long he kept them waiting before he dropped the bombshell. I was once in a small town post office a few years after I’d left school, bending over a desk at the back, placing a stamp on an envelope, when I heard a familiar voice. It was my old Afrikaans teacher (Mr van der Merwe) who had come in, noticed a young stranger, recognised him as Afrikaans-speaking, and in his somewhat intimidating manner, asked him where he came from. The young man was slightly nervous as he stepped forward saying, “Oh, it’s just a small place.” “Never speak ill of a small place. Nazareth was a small place and look what came out of there!” said Mr van der Merwe. Well these good old Nazareth boys were going to discover that something had come out of their small place alright, because Jesus reads a Messianic prophecy and announces, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." What an astounding incident! You have to have some sympathy for these staunch monotheistic lads. The carpenter’s son has just claimed to be the Messiah – the Son of David – someone who would restore the glory of Israel and free them from political domination. How utterly ridiculous! His claim is so astounding, initially they’re all in denial: 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. Isn’t he a nice young man? Speaks so well! But then the enormity of what he’s just said begins to sink in. Hang on! I know this lad. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" They’re ready to kill one of their own in order to protect the integrity of their theology because of one simple fact: they do not believe him. Again, you have to feel sorry for them. They hadn’t the faintest clue that God had been living in their little village for the last 30 years! And I’ll say it again, They didn’t believe him and simply said “NO!” to his claim. Would you have said, “YES!” to Jesus in this situation? ___ Unbelief – a lack of faith. We’re not immune to it. We know, with hindsight, because the writer to the Hebrews tells us so, that the Israelites were “not able to enter into Canaan because of unbelief”. We know because Paul tells us, that “without faith it is impossible to please God”. We recall Jesus’ words of exasperation – “O you of little faith”. We know that 3 times Jesus refers to an “unbelieving and perverse generation”. We know unbelief is a big deal! Yet I’d be surprised if we’d have behaved any differently from the way the men of Nazareth did. We more easily say “NO!” It’s so easy not to believe. Just hang on to your preconceived ideas. You’ll “unbelieve” just fine! I recall my grandfather, all 6’ 5” and a bit of him, booming public school voice and sharp legal tongue telling me that he caught trout in England by tickling them with a straw. “Bah!” I said, “I don’t believe you!” I think he was so astounded, he just smiled kindly at me – recalcitrant little 8 year old scallywag that I was. I didn’t believe him. And I was wrong. Now that’s a fairly innocent example, but it gets serious when I don’t believe God in more important matters. Like the men of Nazareth, we can have our eyes set on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and still remain unbelieving. What stops the Church from being highly effective in reaching our generation for Christ? In the second letter of Peter we are told “3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” Everything. Not will give us – has given us. We lay hold of all these things he has given us, by faith: by saying “YES” to God. Verse 4 says, “4he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them (that is the promises) you may participate in the divine nature.” One appropriates promises by believing them; by having faith in what you’ve been promised. Faith is saying “YES!” I don’t need to labour the point. Unbelief is still the prime obstacle to our progress today, because trusting God (as opposed to leaning on our own understanding) is an uncomfortable place to be – at least we tend to see it that way. _ The passage we’re looking at is from the Gospel - the good news. So where is the good news? Where’s the goodness of God the scripture is meant to contain? You’re aware that immediately after Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah the men of Nazareth try and throw him off a cliff? Now that’s a very clear “NO!” Rejection doesn’t come much clearer than that. So here we have a story which leaves one group seething with anger, and one person sad as he walks off. Where’s the good news in this text? We might look at the reading again and wonder whether the good news might not be in the scripture – the two verses from Isaiah. Well that may be true in a sense, but it’s still out there, no-one is appropriating it, no one believes it. When I was at theological college I was warned about assuming that scripture holds much sway in the life of the average person – Tom, Dick and Harry – or as they used to say, “the man on the Clapham omnibus”. However, as a bus commuter of a good few years I want to tell you that, spiritually speaking, that man may not be in the majority. There are a good few people, possibly more towards the middle of the bus, who may well be better inclined towards scripture. And as for those women who sit in the front of the bus, while their husbands drive to work in the family car, I reckon quite a number of them would be well-disposed towards scripture. In fact, have you noticed all the women in this text? Aren’t they just tumbling out of every drawer, window, door, nook and cranny. The place is just overflowing with women! NOT! All the women are separated off behind the lattice-work in their corner of the synagogue, not saying a word. I reckon there could well have been a number of them with spirits alive enough to God to have at least wanted to know more. Especially Mary and her friends. We know she was still alive. That’s not an unlikely place to look for the grace of God, amongst women. Unfortunately the women of Nazareth are not given a voice. I’d like you to picture them – these likely believers. Eyes frantic and wild as they hammer on the trellis work, unable to stem the unfolding violence. They were probably locked into the synagogue lest they interfered with the mob. What voices do we silence in our conditional search for the truth? No, the good news can be identified by its absence: in the reverse of unbelief – in faith. __ How do we exercise faith today? Well here’s some good news. You can be sure that the Holy Spirit (one of whose gifts is faith) is at work in each of our lives – wooing us – moment by moment, whether we’re aware of it or not. God does not expect us to work at increasing our faith alone. It would help if we prayed – like the man who said to Jesus, “Help thou my unbelief” It would help if we read the scriptures - for Paul tells us that “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” I want to show you something. Bruce, would you mind coming here for a moment … We’re not in Nazareth, but here’s a person. One of our own. Hasn’t he grown into a fine person?! Look at him. Just the epitome of personhood! A fine specimen. And boy, are we proud of him!! You’d like to go and sit down now wouldn’t you? (As Bruce begins to move, pull him back with), “In a moment”. Did you see that? Did you see the faith? Here’s a person who didn’t want to stay here with me, but what happened? He’s still standing here. Still glowing with embarrassment. What happened? That’s not a rhetorical question. (You asked him to stay) Yes, but what did he do? (He stayed) He said YES. That’s all it takes to have faith. Say YES to God! (THANK YOU Bruce) What happened when my grandfather told me he caught trout by tickling them? Did I have sound scientific reasons based on experience to doubt him? No! I just plain rebelled. I preferred my view, not his. I said, “NO”, not “YES” to him. The truth is this – behind our unbelief is our rebellion. Just say YES to God. It’s that simple. So Patricia (prearranged and prompted friend in front row), when the God of all this universe, full of truth, love and beauty speaks to you, what are you going to say? (YES) Yes! Faith, when you sense Jesus moving you in some way, what are you going to say to him? (YES) Yes! Church, when the Holy Spirit begins speaking to your heart, what are you going to say? (YES) YES! Say YES to God! God is at work in us, every single moment, enabling us to say YES to him. Say YES to God, it’s that simple. If you need to, say, “God sometimes I don’t understand why things in my life are the way they are. But I know You love me and I say YES to you, Lord!” Say YES to God!! Open the eyes of our hearts, so that we might see God. Sing with me…. Open the eyes of my heart. |
