Membership Has No Privileges

Now let’s go back to scene two and our scripture text for this morning. Right when Jesus is the center of approval of all his old neighbors and friends and aunts and uncles and cousins. Right when his parents are beaming with pride. He shocks them all by drawing a line that had to be drawn. Now hear the word of God from Luke 4:23-30. It’s printed in your bulletin so that you can follow along as his sermon continues.

Jesus “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.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. 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; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 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. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.”

Can you feel the shock in that room that morning? Jesus had them eating out of his hand. They were all so happy. His parents and brothers and sisters were so proud. And just like that, he infuriated them. We probably only have a summary of his sermon, but it didn’t take very long. They were so mad that they set out to kill him!

What was going on? Isn’t it Jesus’ job to make people feel good? To make them happy? To give them what they want? No, that is not the Jesus in the Bible.

Why did he speak to his own hometown like this? Because he knew their hearts. That probably didn’t take any divine revelation. He had known them all his life. And he knew that a line was going to have to be drawn, that as long as they looked at him as a meal ticket, as entertainment, as the best gimmick they had ever had for promoting local civic pride he could never give them the most important gifts of forgiveness for their sins, reconciliation with God, of finding their place of service in God’s coming kingdom. And so he drew the line. And they didn’t like it.

Just what did Jesus say that caused the moment to explode? He knew they had heard he had done miracles of healing in Capernaum. They figured whatever he did for those folks down in Capernaum, they were entitled to at least the same, and “We’re his home town, we should get more.” They assumed they could control him, use him. And he made it clear that he would not be used. He would not be domesticated. He was going to be a faithful prophet and that means speaking for God and not being a tool of the Nazareth Boosters Association.

They wanted a God who was a tribal deity, a hometown boy, who would take their side in every issue, bless them and keep those outsiders who are different in their place.