Title: Responding to the Offensive Gospel

Series: Going Against the Flow: The Paradoxical Christian Life

Text: Luke 4:21-32

I. They Love You or Hate You

Over a decade ago when I was serving on the staff of a large church in Montgomery, Alabama, my family and I had become fairly close friends with another family in our church:

They lived only a few blocks away.

Our daughters played together.

We would baby sit for each other.

Mary and the wife were in a Bible study together.

At times we would have dinner together.

In fact we even had the same floor plans in our houses.

They seemed to be very friendly people, spoke well of us as a couple, and spoke well of me as a priest.

One day the wife asked Mary to pray for her, because she was having some medical tests. Of course Mary prayed for her.

A few days later, the woman became agitated, angry, and hostile. Her sweet demeanour transformed into that of a tyrannical antagonist.

She accused Mary of betraying her confidential prayer request, and gossiping the news throughout the church.

She forcefully reminded both Mary and me that a previous priest at that church – whose wife was very loose lipped – had been fired for betraying confidences.

In a matter of moments, this family had gone from being our greatest supporters, to a mob ready to tar and feather us and run us out of town.

A few days later she found out that neither Mary or I had betrayed her request for confidentiality.

What had really happened was her husband had told several of his friends at work about her medical tests. Some of those friends were members of our church and the word got around.

At times when you are totally innocent of any wrongdoing, people will turn on you, they will speak ill of you, they will even try to hurt you.

This is exactly what happened to Jesus in our reading from Luke chapter four.

II. Responding to the Offensive Gospel

Take a look at Luke 4:22:

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.

Luke 4:22 (NIV)

Now take a look at verse 28:

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹They 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 down the cliff.
Luke 4:28-29 (NIV)

Jesus’ greatest supporters became his greatest antagonists. Why?

First we need to examine last week’s reading from Luke chapter four. Verses 14 and following tell us:

14Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

It’s obvious to everyone all over Galilee that the Spirit of God is powerfully with him.

His teachings are magnificent, insightful, powerful.

Everyone wanted to hear him.

16He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷The 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,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

Everyone knew that the passage he read from Isaiah 61 referred to the coming Messiah.

Everyone knew that the passage foretold how the coming Messiah would bring God’s people good news, freedom, and sight.

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, ²¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Luke 4:14-21 (NIV)

In other words, I am the Messiah.

How did they respond to him claiming to be the Messiah? Look at verse 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.

Luke 4:22 (NIV)

They loved his preaching.

They loved the fact that the Messiah had come to set them free.

They were thrilled that their hometown boy – Jesus – was going to make them proud and make them prosperous.

They were ecstatic to hear what God would do for them.

However:

They had not considered what God would have them do for him.

They had not considered the cost of following Jesus.

They had not considered their need for repentance.

They had not considered what God wanted to do for others.

At this point they were only seeing what Jesus could do for them.

They were only receptive of the comforting good news.

I’ve heard it said that, "God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable."

This is exactly what Jesus does in the following verses.

Perceiving their twisted understanding of the true Gospel; perceiving their distorted understanding of the Messiah’s mission, Jesus challenges their assumptions. Look at verse 24 through 27. Jesus said,

24"I tell you the truth,...no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

25I 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. ²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.

27And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian."

Luke 4:24-27 (NIV)

Jesus was telling them that he didn’t just come to bless and save them.

He came to bless and save the pagans, the Gentiles, their enemies the Romans!

They didn’t want to hear that:

They abhorred the Gentiles.

They saw them as unclean and worthless.

Some of them even thought God had "created the Gentiles to be fuel for the fires of hell."

(Barclay)

They had only remembered the first half of God’s promise to Abraham from Genesis chapter 12. God told Abraham:

2"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;...

Genesis 12:2-3a (NIV)

Those in that synagogue in Nazareth loved God’s promise of blessing to them.

But they didn’t like the last part of God’s promise:

3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Genesis 12:3b (NIV)

They knew the Scriptures, yet they ignored those portions which were uncomfortable, challenging, or offensive.

Jesus reminds them that at times God favored Gentiles over Jews:

During a 3 ½ year famine God sent the prophet Elijah to a poor widow in the Phoenician city of Zarepheth. Through Elijah God miraculously provided flour and oil so she could bake bread for her son and herself. During that famine God did no such thing for the Jews (1 Kings 17).

During the time of the prophet Elisha not one Jew was healed of leprosy, but God chose to heal Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army – a pagan and their sworn enemy (2 Kings 5).

God chose the Jews:

1. To be a holy people for himself (Leviticus 11:44, Isaiah 43:19, Ephesians 1:4).

2. To bring God’s blessing and salvation to all people (Genesis 12:3).

How did the Jews in Nazareth respond to this "good news of great joy that will be for all the people" (Luke 2:10)?

Look at verses 28-30:

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹They 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 down the cliff. ³⁰But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Luke 4:28-30 (NIV)

As long as Jesus’ words were salve to their wounds, they were just fine, but as soon as his Word became the least bit convicting, Jesus’ greatest supporters became his greatest antagonists.

The fact is God’s Word is both salve and scalpel:

The members of the synagogue in Nazareth were receptive to God’s Word when it brought blessing.

But they rejected God’s Word when it required the scalpel of God’s Word to do surgery.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter four:

12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)

God wants to bless us. He wants to bring healing and joy to our souls. He wants us to enjoy worship. He wants us have love, joy, and peace.

But he also wants us to embrace his hard sayings. He wants us to accept all of Holy Scripture, not just that which is comfortable. With the scalpel of his Word, He wants us to allow him to cut out the cancer in our souls.

Specifically, in our reading from Luke chapter four, Jesus is telling us to reach out to those who do not know him, to embrace those whom we would normally shun, to be more concerned about others than we are for ourselves.

How will you and I respond?

Will we say, "No Jesus, I only want to receive your blessings and feel good in worship. I will not share my testimony with others."?

Or will we say, "Yes, Jesus, I realize it is not all about me. I will reach out in your name, even if it makes me uncomfortable."?

 

III. On Life-Saving Stations

The challenge Jesus gave to the members of the synagogue in Nazareth reminds me of the story of a life-saving station on a dangerous sea coast.

The building was just an old weathered beaten hut. They had only one old, but sturdy boat.

The few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea.

When a storm drove a ship into the reefs, they went out into the sea day or night with no thought for themselves tirelessly searching for the lost.

Many lives were saved by members of this little life-saving station. Word spread far and wide of their acts of heroism.

Those who were saved and others in the surrounding area wanted to join in this great work.

They gave generously of their time and money. Before long new boats were bought and new crews trained.

The little life-saving station grew and grew and grew.

But after a few years, some of the member became unhappy that their life-saving station was so crude and ill-equipped.

They thought a more comfortable place should be built for those who were saved from the sea.

They built a larger more beautiful building.

They replace the cots with comfortable beds.

They bought fine furniture.

They decorated it beautifully.

Over time the life-saving station became the popular place to be.

Fewer and fewer members were interested in going out to sea to save the lost, so they hired life-boat crews to do the work.

They retained the life-saving station motif.

They even had an old life-boat as the center piece of their activities room.

One day a ship wreaked in front of the life-saving station.

Their hired crew heroically saved the lives of many that day.

They were cold, sick, and disheveled.

They tracked sand into their new building. They soaked the fine carpets. The club was in chaos.

Immediately, the property committee had a shower house build outside the club so that the shipwreck victims could be cleaned up before coming into their beautiful new building.

At their next meeting, there was a split in the club membership:

Most members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities, which they felt hindered their club’s social life.

Some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose.

Eventually those who insisted that life-saving was their purpose, were ejected from the club.

Undeterred, they want down the beach and built a new life-saving station, and they stayed true to their mission.

The church is much like that life-saving station. We dare not forget our purpose.

Here at Faith Anglican Church:

It is NOT time to get comfortable.

It is time to brave the waves.

It is time to move forward in faith.

It is time to bring others to safety in Jesus.

 

As Anglican Archbishop William Temple once said:

A The Church is the only organization in the world that exists primarily for the benefit of those not its members."