4th Sunday after the Epiphany
Luke 4:21-30
"The Gospel, A Two Edged Sword"
21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph’s son?"
23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ’Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’"
24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land;
26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.
30 But passing through the midst of them he went away.RSV
Grace and Peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. Amen
Many years ago at one of my congregations, we had a clown ministry team from Wartburg College come for a weekend and work with our young people. On Sunday morning, the clown team and the youth of the congregation did the worship service. It was an unique service.
The explanation of that service and its unique parts is a very good introduction to our gospel lesson this morning. As that unique service is explained, imagine that you are there experiencing all the unique parts.
The gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ is indeed a two-edged sword. One edge brings the salvation, the release, the good news that God loves us. It brings freedom and release into our lives. That was demonstrated very well in the service as we were bound and tied with strings around our wrists, which shows we are in bondage to sin. We are tied up, e are captive to our sin.
But then Christ comes. to free us, to release us, to cut the bonds of sin. That was demonstrated real well as we came forward to have our strings cut and received a hug. A hug was a demonstration of love. We were freed. We were released from our bondage to those strings and made to feel good as ere hugged and loved.
The other edge of the two-edged sword of the gospel, the edge which convicts us of sin. It challenges us to service. It ask us to die to self. This dying to self was demonstrated in several ways in the service. The first and foremost it was demonstrated in the white faces of the clowns and the white makes which our youth wore. These makes showed that with Christ, we died to self. The youth could not speak during the service which symbolized their will of allowing themselves to die to Christ. As I talked with the youth later, they said it was difficult not talking for those many hours, but at the same time, there was a sense of commitment, a sense of accomplishment, a dying to self so that Christ might be served. The gospel’s edge called them, challenged them to die to self, to discipline one’s self for active service with Christ.
The gospel of Jesus Christ. is indeed a two-edged sword. One edge convicts us of sin. It shows us that we need Christ. The other edge, releases us from that sin and allows us to serve Christ and others.
In our gospel lesson this is shown very clearly as Jesus begins his public ministry in his home town. At first the people welcomed him with open arms to preach in their synagogue. But as he preached, as he said that God’s grace was for all people. As he showed from the Old Testament, as he repeated over and over again that the Jews were not the, only race to receive God’s grace; the people rose up in hate, in anger.
Jesus said: "and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian."
Jesus was telling the people that Elijah and Elisha were sent to people other than Jews. This really upset the people. Jesus quoted scripture, but not the scripture they wanted to hear.
The people became so angry forced Jesus out of town and they tried to push him off a cliff.
But Jesus’ time to die had not come yet so God rescued him by allowing him to walk through the midst of them to safety.
The gospel of Christ works, the same today. It can make us angry. It can cause us to change our ways. It can be received with indifference, or boredom. At the same time the gospel, the love of God through Christ can free us from sin. It can release us from our brokenness. It can give us hope and encouragement. It can come to us in love as we encounter God’s grace in bread and wine, in body and blood.
This gospel, this good news of Christ can challenge us to change our lives. It can challenge us to die to self, to give up something which our pride, our self-will, thinks is very-important. It can challenge us to let go. It can challenge us to release somethings which are pulling us down the broad path of destruction instead of leading us down the narrow path of salvation.
Let me explain:
"Imagine a path, a very wide rood and on that rood are many carriages being pulled by beautiful 4 steeds, beautiful horses. The driver is enjoying the ride, having Lots of fun as are the other drivers. As the journey continues, the driver pays less and less attention to the horses and he becomes drowsy, and sleepy with all the fun and excitement. He is getting worn out but doesn’t know it. Feeling no strain on the reins, the horses begin to run on their own. They run faster and faster and soon they are running out of control. In their mad flight, they come nearer and nearer to a large pit. The driver continues to sleep unaware of the danger which is getting ever closer and closer. Then all of a sudden, a rider on a single horse approaches, calls to the sleeping driver. He calls and calls as the team gets closer and closer to the pit. Finally the driver awakes and tries to stop the wild horses. But he cannot. He invites the rider on the lone horse to jump over to help him control these horses. The rider on the horse does, together they stop the run away horse just as the pit comes closer. They manage to swerve the horses to a much narrower road, but one which goes around the pit. This new road is much narrower, the travel is much slower, the beauty is more amazing and on this journey each driver helps another and all have a guide which helps them around the troubled spots. The guide is that one rider on that horse who saved that man from that pit."
Can you guess who the lone rider is? Can you guess who the driver and the horses are? The driver and the horses are you and I as we are pulled down the road of living to self and our own wishes. And sometimes we are enjoying the ride so much that we that we allow the horses of greed, pride, and sinfulness to control our lives in such a way that we are no longer in control. We are in danger of falling in the bottomless pit of death and despair.
But then the lone rider, Christ with the gospel comes into our lives lives. He calls to us, he challenges us to control the desires of our lives. We try and cannot, so then we invite Christ into our lives and he helps control our desires and leads us on the narrow road of peace and contentment. The narrow road where we help one another and where Christ is the guide.
As Christ enters your life on the horse of the gospel of good news, what will you do? Will you listen to, his ca11?
Will you ask Him to join you and then allow him to lead you down that narrow path?
Or,or will you ignore his call, will you be indifferent, will you selfishly control your own life?
What will you do with the ca11 of Christ as it enters your life through the good news?
Not only does that call of Christ challenge us to allow Him to ride with us, but it also calls us into a relationship with Him. The gospel calls us to surrender, then it fills the void, the emptiness with a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. In that relationship, Christ gives us himself so that we are empowered for service.
As Jesus rides with us along the journy of live, He calls us to live in Him. As we live in Him others see Christ through us.
A closing poem says:
Your Life is Jesus to Someone
YOUR LIFE is Jesus to someone,
though tattered and torn it may be.
Though often times weak and unstable,
you’re all of God someone will see.
YOUR TONGUE is Jesus to someone.
That idle, insensitive word
reflects to at least one searching heart
an idle, insensitive Lord.
YOUR GOALS are Jesus to someone.
What you put first, they believe,
are the goals of God for the Christian.
Your life is all they receive.
YOUR FAITHFULNESS... that’s Jesus to someone.
Their judgment of how God is true,
rests unquestionably in the faithfulness
they see day by day in you.
YOUR LOVE is Jesus to someone --
that someone who is seeking to know
that Jesus will follow and guide and
befriend wherever in life they might go.
SO BEWARE lest others blaspheme God
by what you say or do,
for the only Jesus that someone may see
is the Jesus they see in you.1
Amen
Written by Pastor Tim Zingale Monday, January 22, 2007
1 (Author Unknown)
