Cedar Valley Lutheran Church
Pentecost 3C January 26, 2025 Luke 4:14-21
At the very beginning of his ministry, right after being tempted in the wilderness following his baptism, Jesus returns to Galilee and begins preaching and people like what they hear. But before he performs any miracles or heals any afflictions, Jesus goes home to Nazareth. And like always, he enters the synagogue on the Sabbath and is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He finds the spot he’s looking for and he reads, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has appointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, the recovery of sight to the blind, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
After reading these few words, he rolls up the scroll, returns it to the attendant, and sits down. And with all eyes focused on him, he simply says: “Today these words have been fulfilled in your hearing.” If you think about it, this is Jesus’ inaugural address as he begins his ministry and it’s very different from the one we heard on Monday in Washington D.C. Certainly, different in content and length but for those listening, the response is the same. Inauguration speeches are always full of grand promises and they always leave listeners wondering the same thing – wondering how much of this can actually be accomplished – how much will really change?
If you were one of those plain, common folk like the people who filled the Synagogue in Nazareth, there was a lot to feel oppressed about and a lot holding you captive. The Roman Empire, for one, made life hard for them. They had a hard time making a living to feed their families and clothe their bodies and put a roof over their heads. They had to watch what they said and who they hung out with. If they were lucky, they would live to be 40 … 50 at best and then their children would pick up where they left off enduring the same morbid fate. They definitely longed for good news. They seriously hoped for release from their captivity under Roman rule.
So, you can hear them thinking or maybe even whispering to each other, “how much can he really change? How can he make such a radical difference?” Of course, they were not thinking about the burden of being captive to sin, that was the furthest thing from their mind. They were too exhausted to worry much about sin … they were consumed with just making to through the day and surviving for another season. No, they were propped up by the prospect of literally being released from their physical captivity to the Empire. And, to be honest, the oppressed of every age have longed for the same thing … for liberation … for freedom … for good news instead of the same old bad news … the bad news that you don’t matter and your life isn’t worth very much.
Could it be true that Jesus was, actually, going to bring about the liberation they have been waiting generations to behold? Could it be true that Jesus can literally set people free from their physical oppression as easily as it seems he can spiritually set us free from our moral captivity to sin?
Our mistake, I believe, is that we think one is more easily accomplished than the other. I remember a story about some friends who brought a paralyzed man laying on a stretcher of sorts to Jesus and the first thing he says to the guy is “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.” Of course, the Scribes who hear him say this are taken aback by what he has just said and Jesus asks them, “Which is easier to say, ‘your sins are forgiven’ or ‘stand up and walk’? And to prove that one is no easier than the other, he tells the guy to get up and take his stretcher and go home, which he does, glorifying God. (Matthew 9:2-7)
Being held captive to the principalities and powers of this world aren’t any less oppressive than being held captive to the principalities and power of sin. Both are sinister forces of darkness holding sway over us. Nor is the work … the miracle … of liberation any less demanding for the one who comes to save – the one we worship and glorify, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Pentecost 7B July 7, 2024 Mark 6:1-13
We see in our gospel reading for today the continuation of a theme that has been running through the life and ministry of Jesus from the beginning. Again and again, Jesus has been forced to deal with rejection: rejection for what he teaches, rejection for what he does, and rejection for who he is.
The Pharisees criticize him for healing on the Sabbath. His disciples chastise him for sleeping in the middle of a stormy sea. Even his mother and his family try to get him to stop working so hard because his zealousness is proving to be an embarrassment to them. And today, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and it happens again. The people who sat next to him in worship, who celebrated with him at festivals, who watched him play and grow up, can’t accept what he has become.
At first, listening to Jesus teach in the synagogue, these family friends and neighbors are astonished by his eloquence and spiritual insight. They are impressed: “Where did he learn all of this?” they ask each other. “How did he get to be this good?” they wonder. “When did he get so wise all of a sudden?” they question. “After all, he is one of us. Up until recently he was just a local handyman, patching our roofs, framing our doors, and fixing our wobbly tables and chairs.” What happened? Where did Jesus get all of this?
Well, the answer to their questions is that he got all of this from them. He got it from his parents and siblings and relatives. He got it from his teachers at the synagogue. He got it from the values kept by his neighbors and from the stories he learned of his hometown heroes and his local scallywags. Jesus, in essence, is a mirror, showing them who they are and the role they played in shaping his identity and his place in the world. And the same is true for us. So much of what it is that makes us who we are and the things we do is shaped by our environment. And the history we carry and the people who have left a mark on our lives play a big part in our identity.
But their amazement suddenly shifts and they take offense at him. Someone in the crowd – perhaps a jealous neighbor, or maybe a childhood rival, or possibly the village gossip who loves to stir up trouble – questions the fact that Jesus has stepped out of his lane and ignored his place in the community. “He was one of us and now he thinks he’s something more – he has become something we didn’t expect him to be – something that doesn’t fit into the box we put him in.” And their doubts leave him powerless to do what he would love to do for them – what he has done for so many others.
But before we judge them too harshly, let’s imagine that we are also standing among his homies wondering the same thing ourselves. Like them, how often have we missed the holy among us because we could only see what we wanted to see? How often have we missed the new thing God is doing in Jesus because what we could only see is the old and familiar? How often have we not allowed Jesus to surprise us?
I remember something a wise friend told Pam and me when we were newly married. She said that we should surprise each other every once in a while with something unexpected. That surprise, she said, keeps the intrigue and the mystery of love alive in a relationship. I believe that part of the gospel mission for us involves an element of surprise. Because our openness to being surprised, keeps us open to the intrigue and mystery of God’s deep love for us so that it doesn’t get old and boring and meaningless.
My prayer for you, my friends, is that when you listen to Jesus you can hear a new thing God is doing underneath the comfortable traditions and the familiar habits of your faith. I pray you will be surprised by the mystery of the abundant life God has for you in Jesus – a life filled with love and grace … with mercy and forgiveness … with freedom and peace. May you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the surprising good news God has for you in Jesus Christ, our Lord.