BOUNDLESS LOVE
Text: Luke 4:21 – 30
There is the story of a preacher whose preaching met with comments of affirmation praise when he spoke about certain sins, like gossip, drinking, lying, cheating, stealing. With the mention of each and every sin, there were people who were heard to say “amen preacher”. But, when the preacher mentioned smoking someone in the congregation blurted out, “Preacher you done quit preaching and gone to meddling”. There were those in the congregation of the synagogue who protested because Jesus had quit preaching and gone to meddling. Jesus’s revelation brought out their reaction. Jesus emphasized the things that needed to be resolved.
God’s love knows no bounds. The audience in the synagogue was ok hearing about God’s love so long as it met with their expectations. When Jesus talked about how God’s love reaches out to even the Gentiles, people in the synagogue got upset. Why were they upset? Jesus’ interpretation was not what they wanted to hear.
REVELATION
The status quo had already been established. . 1) As someone (Gary Carver) once said, “Vested interest has no desire to alter its entrenched position”. (David N. Mosser. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2004 Edition. Gary Carver. “From Head To Heart”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003, p. 67). 2) Jesus spoke about how God’s love needed to be relevant---love that connects rather than love that is tightly-held-tenacious and exclusive. Tenacity is a good thing unless there is misplaced energy and emphasis. It was the misplaced energy and emphasis that Jesus’s sermon was addressing.
Jesus revealed how God’s love extends to the Gentiles. 1) Does “familiarity breeds contempt”? 2) Jesus quoted a proverb to them when He said “Physician heal thyself” which means that a person needs to deal with his own affairs before giving advice to others . 3) The crowd asks Jesus to repeat the kind of miracles He had done in Capernaum. But, Jesus reminds the Nazarenes that a prophet is without honor in His own hometown. Jesus was recalling Israel’s history of both “rejecting and persecuting their own prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Micah and Amos who were all martyred). 4) It made them even angrier when Jesus pointed out how God showed mercy to the Gentiles in verses 26 -27. 5) In Matthew 5:46 Jesus asked how genuine is our love if we only love those who love us? Do we also seek to love only those who are most like us? Isn’t that the kind of love that shows favoritism?
REACTION
What was the crowd’s reaction? 1) They were filled with rage and wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff!!! 2) Someone else (Craig A. Evans) declared that “What makes all of this preaching so “unacceptable” is that the people of Jesus’ expected Messiah to come and destroy Israel’s enemies, not minister to them”. (Craig A, Evans. New international Biblical Commentary: Luke. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990, p. 75). 3) Someone (G. Campbell Morgan) once said, “Every criticism of Christ is a revelation, not of Christ, but of the men who make the criticism.” (G. Campbell Morgan. The Westminster Pulpit. Volume 9. 80th Edition. “Four Mistakes About Christ”. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2006,p. 59). What were these people saying about themselves by their actions? What do our actions say about us?
Did they truly have God in their hearts? “There is the story of a little four year old girl who went to her pediatrician for a check up. As the doctor looked in her ears he asked “Do you think that I’ll find Big Bird in there?” The little girl was silent. Next the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked “Do you think I’ll find the Cookie Monster down there. Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heart he asked, “Do you think I’ll find Barney in there?” “Oh, no,” the little girl replied, “Barney’s on my underpants; Jesus in my heart”. (David N. Mosser. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2004 Edition. Gary Carver. “From Head To Heart”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003, p. 69). When God looks at our hearts, what does He see?
RESOLUTION
We have to accept God’s supreme authority [sovereignty]. 1) We have to accept that God is “unpredictable, uncontrollable and unstoppable”. (Michael Duduit. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 1998 Edition. Don M. Aycock. “Who Own God?”. Nashville: Abingdom Press, 1997, pp. 67 – 69). God saves sinners---all sinners who will repent. Jesus called Matthew who was a tax–collector to be a disciple. Jesus also called Simon-Peter who was a fishermen. What is significant about these two disciples? What is significant is that they were on different sides of the fence in their views. They became united as disciples. 2) How can we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength if we do not accept His supreme authority? Our belief will demonstrate both our behavior and our belief.
Do we mean it when we call Jesus “Lord?” We have to make is to make Jesus Lord in our lives! A pastor asked for the help of a talented man within his congregation to paint both sides of the church bus. The pastor even wrote out a pattern with the correct spelling. The end result was that it said correctly on one side, “so and so United Methodist Church”. The other side said so and so Untied Methodist Church. That raises an important question. Are we “united or untied?”
Do we hesitate to move forward because of fear? We need to be the disciples that we are called to be! Over one hundred and sixty plus years ago, “… Daniel Webster made a speech before the United States Senate. The Senate was debating the admission of the Western Frontier to the Union. Apparently, Webster was opposed to the annexation. “What do we want with this region of savages and wild beasts, of deserts, of shifting sands and whirlwinds, of dust, cactus and prairie dogs? What could we do with the Western Coast of 3,000 miles---rockbound, cheerless and uninviting?” … Years later Halford Luccock of the Yale Divinity School cited Webster’s speech as a reminder that our judgments can come back to haunt us. … “Be careful in your judgments,” said Luccock. “You may reveal far more than you intend.” (Ernest A. Fitzgerald. Keeping Pac: Inspirations In The Air. Greensboro: Pace Communications, 1988, p. 95). God wants us to expand His kingdom here on earth! What are the things that keep us from doing that?
Why were the people of Jesus’ hometown hesitant? We need to make God’s vision our vision! Did the people of Jesus’ hometown lack vision? Do we lack vision? Before we answer that consider the theory of a recent study. While I was away earlier this week at the Granville Hicks Leadershsip Academy, (a continuing education event) at Claflin University, I heard an alarming prediction. One of the speakers at the event mentioned that someone had done a study to determine how many prisons we will need in the future based on the answers of survey done by both third and fourth graders. Now what does a study like that say about us as citizens of God’s kingdom? Do we love only those who are just like us? Will the church of modern day grow if we only love those just like us? “What good is it for us to do good things, have God-given gifts, and even the faith to move mountains, but lack love?” (I Corinthians 13:1-7 paraphrased). Can our love change the future prediction for the boys who live right here in our community? What about all the others who are disconnected?
Religion is a matter of the heart and not the head. We must make is the journey from the head to the Heart! Someone (Fred B. Craddock) said, that “the longest journey you ever take is form the head to your heart.” (David N. Mosser. ed. The Abingdon Preaching Annual 2004 Edition. Gary Carver. “From Head To Heart”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003, p. 67). Paul said that “knowledge puffs, up but love builds up” (I Corinthians 8:1 NIV). The heart is a harbor. Love pushes out indifference and /or hate or the opposite. I once heard it said that, people do not care how much you know until they know how much you care! Does our love connect people to God and our community of faith or exclude them?
