“We Are All Burdened and Battered”
February 2, 2025 Preacher: Minister Thomas Houston
Scripture: Luke 4:21–30
Feb. 2, 2025 Fourth Sunday After Pentecost The text is Luke 4:21-30.
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21 Then [Jesus] began to say to [all in the synagogue in Nazareth,] “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 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?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless 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.’ ” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophe5 t is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 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; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 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. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, El Adonai, my rock and my Redeemer.
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen
Last Sunday’s gospel reading concluded with the very same verse that today’s passage begins with. “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Thus, we find ourselves once again in the local synagogue in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, listening as he reads from the book of Isaiah on the Sabbath. Last Sunday, as Jesus stood to read, he used this passage to announce the establishment of his ministry and proclaimed that the anticipated prophesy of Isaiah was now fulfilled in himself.
He told the assembly that this prophetic fulfilment confirmed that it was now his mission to secure the release of the captives, the return of sight to the blind, and the freedom from oppression that Isaiah had prophesied.
And, at that point, when we left Jesus in the synagogue last Sunday, it looked as though his message had been rather well received by the congregation. Luke notes that, “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” But it seems that this attitude of appreciation for Jesus’ pronouncement didn’t last for more than a moment or two. As soon as the people realized that this bold proclamation was made by none other than one of their own, local citizens, things took a dire turn almost immediately. As we rejoin Jesus and the congregation in the synagogue this morning, we read that Jesus has clarified his ministry somewhat. And it is after this that the people respond by threatening to toss him off a cliff. Well, it didn’t take very long for their initial amazement and graciousness to be transformed into an attempt to murder their neighbor. We have to wonder what caused such a harsh response by the people to Jesus’ proclamation of freedom for those under oppression; not to mention the granting of sight to blind persons, and a general promise of good news for the poor. Well, this may be partly explained by the fact that Jesus rather anticipated that his neighbors were likely going to request that he perform the signs and healings he had done in other places, also right there in Nazareth. He expressed that he thought they might feel entitled to some special attention, based on the familiarity they had with him as their hometown neighbor. And, in describing how his ministry will progress, Jesus recalls the work of two of Israel’s greatest prophets, Elijah and Elisha. Both of these attended to the needs of people who were not part of Israel; they addressed the needs of a Sidonian and a person from Syria.
It seems that Jesus was intent on informing the people of his hometown that it was not going to be his mission to constrain the proclamation of the Good News to just the local population. The Good News Isaiah spoke of and that is fulfilled in Jesus will not be limited to small-town Nazareth, or the wider region of Galilee; it will not be limited just to Israel either. Jesus’ ministry to bring healing, salvation, and relief to the marginalized will encompass the entire world.
He makes it clear that the people in his hometown shouldn’t expect to be the recipients of specially-performed “Nazareth Miracles”; even though his neighbors view him as “local boy made good”; Jesus plans to bring the Gospel to everyone, and to everywhere. This announcement seems to be what caused the crowd turn on him; apparently, the Good News of healing, release, and salvation is fine, but the locals they feel they are more entitled to these than everyone else. Their selfishness is expressed through anger; “Well, if you’re not going to give us special treatment, if you plan to heal the rest of the world before us, I guess then we’ll just have to kill you”. Although, unbelievably harsh, this does sound a bit familiar, doesn’t it? It seems that whenever Jesus reaches out to marginalized people, to those in need, someone else takes offense because he chooses to help others. So much so, that at the end the religious authorities follow through on the threat made by these neighbors of his in the Nazareth synagogue; Jesus is eventually put to death for ministering to people in need. His hometown neighbors never got the chance to throw Jesus over the cliff’s edge; but in the end, the Pharisees and others ensured that he would be crucified on the cross because of his mission to set the world free from sin and death.
The main problem faced by those who knew Jesus growing up, as they selfishly thought of themselves as special, was that they failed to see themselves as the “other”; as those who were outside of their tight little community. Their second misconception was that they also forgot that they were indeed the very same unworthy ones whom Jesus sought to set free, to release from their prisons, to restore their sight. They didn’t think to question what it might be that they were unable to see what might be the issues of their day that they were, in a way blind also. Many of these citizens of Nazareth may have chosen not to accept that they were imprisoned by their own close-mindedness or biases. Their inability to acknowledge that their actions, or lack of them might result in the oppression of others likely never entered their thoughts. In the Isaiah scroll from which Jesus read to the synagogue last week, the bible translation we Lutherans use, tells of the prophet’s proclamation that it is God’s will to “let the oppressed go free”. In the more contemporary language of “The Message”, this is translated as, “set the burdened and battered free”.
If only Jesus’ neighbors listening to him read these words in the synagogue took the time to reflect on this, they might have realized that it was them, and frankly all of us who are the ones who are in many ways “battered and burdened.”
“Just perform signs and miracles for us, because we’ve known you since childhood, and we’re entitled to special treatment from you, Jesus”. Things would probably gone differently for the folks in Nazareth if they had only recognized that they weren’t going to receive special consideration because they were from Jesus’ hometown, but rather that they were a part of the much wider community of humankind that Jesus sought to unburden. It seems to me that they were more concerned with what they wanted, rather than what they needed, and they apparently didn’t really know the difference. They were so misguided that they said, “We’re special, so if you don’t do for us what we want, we will go so far as to murder you as punishment”. This would have gone very differently if they had said instead, “just like the rest of the wider world, we acknowledge that we are broken, sinful people and we need you; we need the Good News which you bring from God the Father”. “And, by the way, it’s fine with us if you bestow your blessings on others in the same way you are a blessing to us”.
Perhaps we ought to ask ourselves how we would have reacted were we sitting in the synagogue in Nazareth when Jesus read from this prophesy of Isaiah. Would we have gone along with the multitude in condemning Jesus’ perceived slight of his hometown crowd? If this happened here and now, would we be upset that Jesus didn’t promise to bestow special blessings on this church, this small community, on just Worcester? Would it pain us that we weren’t promised special consideration, far more than what Jesus intended to bring to everyone else? Would we be as selfish as the people in the synagogue in Nazareth this morning?
Or would we have the self-awareness to recognize our selfishness, shortsightedness, and prejudices against everyone and everything outside of our own community? Would we acknowledge that the needs of others that Jesus reaches out to, are the same as our own? Every gathering of God’s people faces these same questions; how do we serve our neighbors, those outside our walls, while ensuring we don’t neglect the needs of those already among us? It happened in the synagogue in Nazareth and this struggle continues today.
While many faith communities continue to decline in membership and our culture continues to feel that houses of worship may have outlived their usefulness, those mosques, synagogues, and churches that are thriving are the ones that have been able to adequately answer these very questions. The opening of people’s eyes to the needs of those beyond the walls of buildings; the easing of those oppressions that burden and batter God’s children, both within and without. Those local communities that strive to imitate Jesus’ words and actions, those groups of the faithful who have accepted Jesus’ mission as their own, those are the ones that have taken to heart Jesus’ proclamation that the Scripture has been fulfilled in him. At the Annual Meeting of Emanuel Lutheran Church this morning, we will review what has been done in Jesus’ name and we will discern, and hopefully affirm and renew our intention to continue to serve as the hands, and feet, and heart of Christ in the world. Let us approach the future with a sense of servanthood, acknowledging that we must continue to strive to the best of our ability to reach out to a world in need of the Good News of Christ. We should rejoice in the knowledge that Jesus’ proclamation of the Good News applies to each and every one of God’s people; let us not fall into the selfishness and attitude of superiority that trapped the people in the synagogue in Nazareth this morning. It's a big world out there and there’s a lot that needs to be done. Let’s not throw Jesus off the cliff; instead, let us rededicate ourselves and our church to participating fully in our Lord’s mission and ministry.
ill you pray with me? Good, and gracious, and Holy God, you have sent your Son as the Good News of your will for all the world to be restored by the salvation he brings. Help us to keep in perspective the relationships we have with one another nearby and with the wider world; all are blessed by your grace and mercy. And we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who ministers to all the world; the captive, the burdened, and those who are too blind to see.
God is Good, all the time. All the time, God is Good. Amen.