HomeComing in Nazareth
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany 2007
Dr. Paul G. Humphrey
A minister told his congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon, I want you all to read Mark 17.”
The following Sunday, as he prepared to deliver his sermon, the minister asked for a show of hands. He wanted to know how many had read Mark 17. Every hand went up.
The minister smiled and said, “Mark has only sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon on the sin of lying.”
from Christianstories.com
[SermonCentral, Contributed by: Sermon Central Pro]
That is a sermon that I’ll bet nobody forgot for some time to come. This morning we are looking at a sermon from Jesus that I’ll bet nobody in Nazareth forgot for a long time either.
LK 4:16 He 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. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
LK 4:18 "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,
LK 4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."
LK 4:20 Then 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, 21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
LK 4:22 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.
LK 4:23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: `Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ "
LK 4:24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I 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. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And 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."
LK 4:28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They 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. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
This was Jesus’ first sermon that he ever gave to his home town, and when he finished, nobody said, “good sermon preacher,” rather, they decided to kill him.
The reception of a sermon is kind of unpredictable. The Lord works in marvelous ways through them.
I remember the first sermon that I ever gave. It was not a bad sermon, but my conclusion was a bit lacking. I closed by saying, “that’s all I’ve got.”
Jim Dunn was serving as the pastor of the First Baptist Church, and his wife, Gladys, was very friendly and welcoming to people.
One particular Sunday when the sermon seemed to go on forever, many in the congregation fell asleep.
After the service, to be sociable, she walked up to a very sleepy looking gentleman. In an attempt to revive him from his stupor, she extended her hand in greeting, and said, "Hello, I’m Gladys Dunn."
To which the gentleman replied, "You’re not the only one!"
[SermonCentral, Contributed by: Paul Decker]
Jesus gave his first sermon in his own home town and when he finished they decided to kill him.
They didn’t like what he had to say.
Let’s look a bit closer at what is happening here.
It seems that the tradition of expository preaching existed in Jesus day, in that a person would be allowed to read Scripture in a synagogue and expound upon what they had read.
Jesus took the scroll and read a portion of Isaiah 61 and they knew well that it predicted the coming of the Messiah and Jesus proclaimed that he was the fulfillment thereof.
21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
At first, they were perfectly happy with his message. Notice he said, “fulfilled in your hearing.” In other words, he was the one that the verse was speaking of. They had heard of his wonderful works in Capernaum. He had healed the blind. And, he was at that moment bringing good news to the poor.
LK 4:22 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.
This verse is a turning point and might well have been divided into two verses.
I think that the devil must have whispered into someone’s ear. Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Is that your Messiah? He is no better than you.
Doubt enters in here, but not before pride. We see it a bit clearer in Matthew.
MT 13:54
54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. 55 "Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" 57 And they took offense at him.
Envy is at play here.
The pecking order began. Have you ever seen a bunch of chickens?
A few years ago a minor scientific discovery of the "pecking order" among hens caught popular imagination. Within a flock of hens, one is dominant. She pecks away at any that arouse her displeasure. After the first or second attempt, they no longer peck back. Instead, they take out their resentment and frustration upon one another, always in descending order, until finally one comes to the lowliest hen in the flock, pecked at by all, pecking back at none, just standing around and looking miserable.
No doubt you have been places where something akin to the pecking order is well established. Dare you say that these human barnyards are Christian places? The hen house has order, but it is not a Christian order of humankind.
SOURCE: Andrew W. Blackwood, Jr., Proclaiming in the New Testament Galatians and Ephesians, Sermon Illustrations from The Pentecostal Minister, Winter, 1988, submitted by Wayne Rouse, Astoria, Illinois http://bible.crosswalk.com/
[Adapted from SermonCentral, Contributed by: Roy Fowler]
Pride and envy were at play here and they led to doubt and hatred. This person was at our level, or below, and now he is the talk of Capernaum. This is the carpenter’s son. Someone high up in the pecking order sewed the seed and everyone followed suit.
A church can be much like this. But in reality, that is not a church. So it was with this synagogue, it was more like a barnyard. We should always and in love allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
MT 13:58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Mark 6:5
5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
Jesus was amazed at their unbelief. Their lack of faith was fueled by envy and envy always leads to hatred.
LK 4:23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: `Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ "
Jesus knows what they are thinking. They want to see Jesus do some miracles. They know of his fame.
The events that we are looking at here do teach us about their lack of faith; however, the bigger issue here is about their exclusivism, pride, envy and self-centeredness.
LK 4:24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I 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. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
Sent to the Gentiles! This took the cake!
27 And 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."
Jesus had just used their own Scripture in their own synagogue, in their own home town to say that God was not exclusive to them nor Israel, and the he came in a line of prophets that had been rejected by their own people.
LK 4:28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They 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. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
This sounds like a quickly planned endeavor. Notice how it is done
Let’s take him outside of our synagogue. We are in control here.
Let’s take him outside of our town and kill him there. I suppose that they would have taken him to the outside of Israel were that a possibility.
Someone at a local church in our area got mad because they heard that we had over 90 people one Sunday. It is the same thing that is viewed here.
And, yet, Jesus did do a miracle before the eyes of the whole bunch. He walked right through the mob. “Can’t touch this.” I am sure that there were angels that would love to have turned that place upside down.
What a sad picture.
Their synagogue was made of the same dust from which they were made, and both have been long ago blown away by the winds of time.
Their egos, their superiority complex, and their self sufficiency are all gone, along with any hope because they rejected the One Who Saves.
In the months that followed their synagogue, probably went on as it had for years.
Devoid of faith, devoid of love, Devoid of Christ. Their synagogue. Dust to dust.
There are churches just like this.
Look at your bulletin cover a moment.
1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three and the greatest of these is love.”
There are churches that have incorporated doubt. Doubt that Jesus is who he says that he is, and that we are his servants, and doubt that he will do what he says that he will do in us and through us. The result is to get mad when he does it somewhere else.
They have lost hope, so they live in the past. Their churches become museums. Their biggest struggles surround where they are going to place a plant or picture.
The most important of these is love. Love is the greatest fruit of the Spirit and the greatest commandment that we have.
In the healthy church, every eye is fixed upon Jesus, rather than the one who said, is this not the carpenter’s son, the progenitor of doubt.
Faith, hope and Love … these abide in our church, and may they always abide here.
May we have faith that Jesus can do great things through us.
And, if he decides to do something through another, let us be joyous over that.
May our hope be in the future and in today.
And, may our love always trump all other things.
If you are here today and do not know the Carpenter’s Son as your Lord and Savior, I invite you to receive him today.
