"When Going Home Is Difficult"

West Greeley Baptist Church

March 10 2002

“When going home is difficult”

Luke 4: 14-30

Pastor Mark Hensley

Introduction: There is a story about a father who became disturbed about the length of time his six year old son was taking to get home from school.

The father decided he would make the trip to discover for himself how long it should take a small boy to cover the distance.

The father settled on 20 minutes but his son was still taking an hour. Finally the father decided to make the trip with his son.

After the trip, the father said, "The 20 minutes I thought reasonable was right, but I failed to consider such important things as a side trip to track down a trail of ants...or an educational stop to watch a man fix a flat...or the time it took to swing around a half dozen telephone poles...or how much time it took for a boy just to get acquainted with two stray dogs

and brown cat.

"In short," said the father, "I had forgotten what it is really like to be six years old."

Transition: Remember when you were 6? Think back to the place you called home! Author, Thomas Wolfe said, "You can’t go home again," Was he right? And if you could and if you did what would it be like?

Home, those four letters, flood some minds with warm thoughts of laughter, family dinners Walter Cronkite, Lava Lamps….home made dinners by the greatest cook on planet earth and a simpler time! Home for some brings harsh memories, fear, and a feeling that is somewhere between hopelessness and regret!

There was a time in the Life of the Lord Jesus when he went home, to Nazareth the city of his upbringing. In Luke’s Gospel 4: 14-30 we learn that even for the Lord Jesus Christ going home can sometimes be difficult!

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16He 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. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

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,

19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."[1]

20Then 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, 21and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn’t this Joseph’s son?" they asked.

23Jesus 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.’ "

24"I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25I 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. 26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27And there were many in Israel with leprosy[2] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."

28All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29They 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. 30But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”

I. You can go home and be popular.

II. You can go home and be rejected.

III.You can go home, but there will come time to leave.

I. You can go home and be popular “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. 16He 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. 17The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,