Don’t I Know You From Somewhere?

I don’t know if I have shared this with any of you before but there is a part of me that feels like I have the most generic face on the planet. This isn’t me saying that I don’t like the look of my face or that I think my face is boring, but there have been numerous occasions where I have been told that I look exactly like someone they know. Usually it’s a relative. Sometimes it’s a friend. Back in college the secretary at the church at my alma mater, Cal Lutheran, swore that I looked just like one of the pitchers of her favorite baseball team. Going back even further, my older brother, Chris, and I used to be mistaken as twins, that is until we would stand up and he was a good few inches taller since he was 3 years older than me. Madisyn can’t get over how much her dad and her uncle look alike and the same goes for my brothers two kids.

In fact, even Facebook agrees with our kids assessment. Every time my sister-in-law posts pictures of her family on Facebook it sends me a message asking if I want to tag myself in their family photos. I really do think that it’s hilarious that Facebook thinks I am my brother though. And part of the reason Facebook is so adamant about it, is that my brother isn’t on Facebook, so it can’t compare pictures between him and me. If Facebook were a person I can imagine how upset it might get trying to identify me as the person in those family photos only for me to constantly tell it that it is in fact not me. Sorry Facebook, but that is a case of mistaken identity.

Which in a way feels like what is happening to Jesus in the scripture reading we heard today. John has been in prison and so everything that John knows about Jesus after he baptized him has been relayed to him by his disciples. And if we remember what John said about Jesus to the crowds was about baptizing with water and fire. He told them that he would burn the husks and keep the wheat. So the expectations and the word John had preached was being lived out differently than what he had thought might happen. Some people say that it could be that John was doubting Jesus’ messiahship while others simply say that what John had preached was happening in a different way and John was seeking clarification. Either way John was trying to clarify exactly what it is that Jesus is up to and if he will in fact being doing the things that John had said he would be doing.

What Jesus does in response is to heal a bunch of people and to once again quote Isaiah about caring for those who are in most need of God’s care. I don’t see this as a rejection of John, I also don’t see this a correction of John, but simply letting John know that there is more to the ministry of God than the fire part. There is much more of the collecting the wheat part. God has far more grace than anything else. As we will see, Jesus does send words of correction to people, you may even say he sends words of judgement as John would have probably worded it. But before any of that comes, Jesus ministry is first and foremost about making sure that the blind receive their sight, the crippled now walk, skin diseases are cured, the deaf now hear, those who are dead are alive, and good news is preached to the poor. Which if you recall is exactly the sermon that Jesus gave at his hometown in Nazareth in Luke 4:16-21. The very first public sermon Luke shares with us is that Jesus will fulfill the scripture of Isaiah 61:1.

So Jesus is inviting John not to change his view of Jesus necessarily but to reframe it in terms of how God’s grace will alway come first. Jesus then reminds all the people there that he is talking to that some of them are the exact same way. They have these preconceived notions and possibly some mistaken identity. Not about who Jesus is or should be necessarily, but who the Messiah is and should be. For a time they thought John might be the Messiah, and some people whined and complained about the way that John lived, ate, and acted. Jesus points this out and that they thought John might be possessed by a demon for being different. Then Jesus comes, as the Messiah, and he eats bread and he drinks wine and they can’t handle that either. He also associates with those who they didn’t think the Messiah should be hanging out with. Many of the regular folks are ecstatic that this Jesus who they see as possibly being the Messiah is hanging out with all of them while the elites of society think that the Messiah should be different and above the rest. They are unable to reframe their view of Messiah into the one that is right there in front of them. Jesus isn’t rich and wearing purple clothing and he doesn’t have a royal palace. Neither John nor Jesus were who they mistakenly thought they would be.

And what I love about this part of this scripture is the section where Jesus seems to say that John the Baptist, who is this great prophet, even needs to reframe and understand the nuances and differences, or priorities, that the Messiah has when it comes to sharing and engaging with the world around him. And if John, who is great in the view of the people, needs to shift his mindset, then perhaps we all need to shift our mindsets and preconceived notions and mistaken identity about who the Messiah really is and what the Messiah is all about. And maybe give ourselves and others a little grace as we look at who the Messiah is and what he came here to do.Perhaps we should focus on what Jesus really says…and does. I already pointed out his Nazareth sermon, which he re-quotes here. We skipped over Luke’s beatitudes where he blesses the poor, the hungry, and those who weep. Those who are hated and rejected because of Jesus because their reward is in heaven. And these are just the times Jesus talks about it, it doesn’t even include the countless times we see Jesus doing those very things he talks about doing.

Jesus lived a life caring for the poor, the widow, the outcast. He ate with tax collectors and sinners, the outcasts of society. He taught them the love and the grace of God. He offered opportunities for people to change their hearts and lives back toward God. He challenged people to live out their faith, by what they do, not just by who they are or what they say they believe. Following the Messiah, is about living out the love of God that was first given us. I don’t think there is any way that we can mistake God’s care for all people and all of creation. Live into the love, the care, the grace and the forgiveness of the Messiah, who is Jesus our Lord. Living into means not just accepting it but sharing it just as Jesus did. Let’s prove God’s Wisdom right as descendants of the path of love to each other and beyond. Amen.