Who is this For?

Have you ever read a book or watched a TV show or movie and just been frustrated by the ending? I recently watched a movie like that. It is called “Leave the World Behind” and it stars Julia Roberts and is on Netflix. There is really nothing pertinent about the film to what I want to talk about today other than the fact that you don’t understand what is going on the entire time until the very end and then once you get the explanation the credits start. While that may be something some people enjoy it was not enjoyable for me.

This is kind of how I feel about this text. It starts out like such a great scripture and then it ends up turned upside down from where it started. Jesus heads to his hometown, he preaches and everything seems to be going just fine. People are excited to see him. They are excited and impressed at what he is saying. They see the words as gracious. Honestly what more could you possibly ask for from a sermon, especially when it is coming from someone you know? We could throw in, what more could you possibly ask for when it is Jesus the Messiah doing it, but of course we know they don’t know this at this time.

And that’s where things fall apart. I don’t know if we are missing part of the conversation or if Jesus understands what they mean when they rhetorically ask if he is Joseph’s son. I don’t know why the people of his hometown felt the urge to label him as Joseph’s son, but they do. I remember preaching for the very first time as a senior in high school at my home church and there was this old lady who came up to me after I preached and all she said to me was, “I remember when you were this high, and running around with your brothers.” It happened again when I went back to preach there after I had graduated seminary and was waiting for my first call. All this person could do after I preached was talk about me as a kid.

So on the one hand I can understand how the people of Nazareth could see Jesus only as the little boy that used to run around and play and who took up carpentry after his father Joseph. But by only seeing Jesus as they did when he was a kid they were unable to see him as he is right there in front of him, despite all the incredible things he was telling them and that they had heard he had done elsewhere. I can also see how some scholars have said that in Jesus’ response about doing the things here in Nazareth that he did in Capernaum, there was possibly this intention behind their words that were trying to motivate Jesus to stay. After all, they could have their very own learned scholar to exhort the Torah to them every time they gathered for their teachings. Perhaps they could attract people to this little village that was probably not even a pit stop on people’s travels. After all, don’t you want to come back to the town you grew up in Joseph’s son? Joseph of Nazareth…

And maybe that speaks to a deeper issue that people face today. How do we help people to see and experience Jesus differently than how they may have experienced him in the past? Perhaps they were hurt by people’s understanding of Jesus and that caused deep pain that they have difficulty overcoming. Maybe the hurt was by a Jesus being presented that wasn’t as loving as we know him to be. Maybe the hurt was because they were shown a Jesus that was judgmental and that they were never good enough to be a part of that family. Or maybe they saw a loving Jesus, but never experienced it from the people who said they followed him. I have unfortunately had lots of conversations with people that have either been directly hurt by people’s use of the words of Jesus, or they already have preconceived notions about this Jesus guy because of what they see or hear in the news or from other people. And now, for whatever reason, the people of his hometown are so upset with him that they are ready to throw him off a cliff. Or in our modern day context, they are ready to be done with Jesus. I know we already talked about possible answers but again I have to ask, why?

Jesus is offering to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. The language he uses here I was reminded in a commentary are words that are meant for the Jubilee year. In other words, he is offering a complete reset on everything for everyone. Good news to the poor, release to the prisoners, recovery of the sight to the blind, liberation of the oppressed, and proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, which again is known as Jubilee. So why is this unwelcome to them after they were so excited about it? There are the reasons we talked about, but it could also be that it was meant for people the people of Nazareth weren’t happy it being meant for. It’s all good if it’s for us, but if it’s also for the people of Sidon where Elijah went, or for Syrians, then we don’t want that to happen.

Jesus is offering this incredible gift of freedom for all people. Jesus is offering a forgiveness of sins for anyone who comes to him. Jesus is offering the fullness of God’s grace to all people who are willing to be transformed by the renewing of their hearts and minds to what Jesus is showing them God is really about.

So how do we take this scripture of hope and promise for all people and make it known to all people? We need to internalize that when Jesus speaks about salvation and restoration for the whole world that Jesus truly means the whole world. We need to see the people that Jesus proclaims in his quotation of the scripture from Isaiah as the same people that we are sent out into the world to share God’s love and forgiveness to. We need to see everyone we meet the way that Jesus did. To love and care for them and to show them the true love of God as found in Christ Jesus. Then perhaps one day the world will be able to say with full confidence as Jesus did, this scripture you have just heard has been fulfilled. In that day God will have the completion to the greatest story ever told. Amen.