The Scope of God's Love

After the fires

The new year has rolled in but unfortunately the celebration were a little different this year. The feeling was dampened by the fires that rage throughout the state - and in particular, throughout the south coast and Gippsland region.

We watched in horror on New Years eve as whole towns were decimated. Where large numbers were forced onto the beach to escape the flames - leaving them in a manner of speaking, fire refugees.

Now as we watch it all unfold our hearts go out to them. We pray (and I suspect for most of us, that is genuine prayers - not just the cliche ‘thoughts and prayers). And if the right opportunity presented itself, I suspect many would also offer practical assistance.

After various natural disasters, you often see appeals being made for financial assistance, and usually they get a significant amount for these appeals. One appeal I saw yesterday on Facebook was already over $5 million.

But the interesting thing is, the appeal is made, assistance is given, but then it doesn’t take long and they become forgotten. While they enter the long road of rebuilding our attention has turned to other matters.

Now in part, that’s understandable. There are many disasters throughout the world, and it would be impractical to care for each with the intensity that we do in the immediate aftermath. But that being said, I wonder whether it shows the fickleness in which we care for others.

When an issue is thrust in our face, we can have our emotions twisted sufficiently to care. But what about the cases that don’t get the attention that others might.

Now of course, you can’t care for something you don’t know about - but are we making an effort to find out what is happening to those around us.

As a church we have a vision which is to love, share and serve. The vision extends beyond these four walls, and into the community that surrounds us - in fact even beyond that and into the wider world around us.

But while it is wonderful to have such a vision, we have to constantly ask ourselves - are we actually doing that, or are they just a bunch of empty words.

And so as we start a new year the question I want to ask is: are we really loving everyone? Are we willing to dig a little deeper to see where we really need to be loving others and caring for them in the way they need it? Or will we just do a few token efforts like donating to a Christmas hamper and think that we’ve done our sharing?

Now perhaps I can push this idea even a little further. Sometimes those needs of other remain hidden, not just because we haven’t cared to look, but because of an underlying prejudice. We don’t see the need of the alcoholic, because he’s problem is of his own making. We don’t see the needs of the homosexual because we’re too concerned with their unrepentant sin. Or we don’t see the needs of the Muslim because they stand opposed to the Lordship of Christ.

This morning I’m going to look at the passage I read a moment ago from the Gospel of Luke, and I want it to help challenge us about the true scope of our vision to love, share and serve.

You see, this passage in is early in the ministry of Jesus. Luke writes it almost as if this is the kick off of Jesus’ ministry, however closer inspection shows that it’s not the very start.

If we briefly survey Luke’s Gospel up to this point, we see that the first two chapter give the birth of Jesus with a brief picture of a twelve year old Jesus.

In the third chapter, John the Baptist prepares the way culminating in the baptism of Jesus.

As we then get into the fourth chapter, we have Jesus entering the wilderness for forty days where he ate nothing the entire time and faced extreme testing from the devil.

But then we come to verses 14 and 15 and we see that following this time of temptation, Jesus had an early ministry in Galilee.

Luke doesn’t tell us much about this very early phase, but he does tell us that Jesus was full of the power of the Spirit, that he was teaching in their synagogues, and that everyone praised him.

Certainly his later ministry will become characterised by opposition, and even in today’s passage we will see some early opposition, but by and large, people liked what they saw in Jesus early on.

But then in verse 16, he returns home. Nazareth is of course where the story of Jesus all began.

It was where Joseph was when he found out Mary was pregnant. It’s also the place Mary and Joseph went back to, to raise the boy Jesus after all the commotion surrounding the birth died down.

Nazareth was a relatively small town. There is evidence that at the time of Jesus, it probably had a population in the order of 500 people, so it was quite likely that you would essentially know everyone in the town.

And so as Jesus comes back to Nazareth after his initial popularity in the region of Galilee, it was quite likely he was coming back as somewhat of a local celebrity.

In the synagogue

Now we’re told in verse 16 that as the Sabbath came around, Jesus went to the local synagogue which he customarily did.

This isn’t surprising. Practically every town with a certain number of Jews in it had their own synagogue, and each Sabbath they would hold some sort of service.

But that service is quite different to the things that might come to mind in our modern church service.

Interestingly, this passage is usually thought of as the earliest evidence of what it was like during a synagogue service at this time.

One thing we do know is that they didn’t have professional ministers in these synagogues. While you might find a Rabbi in places like Jerusalem, this generally wasn’t the case in smaller places like Nazareth.

And so, these synagogues would often find someone of standing that was in the area, and that is probably how Jesus got the gig on this day.

You see, as we saw in verses 14 and 15, Jesus had started to gain a reputation, and this probably gave him an opening now.

What would then happen, is that they would stand to read the scripture. In fact, while this passage only mentions Jesus standing, there is other evidence that usually everyone would stand due to the sacredness of scripture.

Prophecy in Isaiah

And so, Jesus stands, gets his scroll and unrolls it to find a very specific passage, which with today’s chapter and verse markings corresponds with , although if you look at that verse in your Bible you’ll see that it is slightly different. That being said, it is actually closer to the version we call the Septuagint, which is really just the Greek translation of the Old Testament which was what was used during those days.

Freedom

Now the words are actually really powerful words.

Now remember that these words were penned by the prophet - but they are anticipating what God has in store. In many ways you could say it anticipates where the whole story line of the bible is headed. What I mean by that, is that the Bible describes for us how we are being restored following the broken relationship between God and humans.

And so these words describe a time when Spirit of the Lord gives his special anointing. That word ‘anointing’ is actually quite significant here - after all, the word Christ, or Messiah, literally mean - anointed one.

But let’s not get caught up on that now, because these powerful verses that Jesus reads out focuses more on the function of what is to happen.

Firstly, the good news will be proclaimed to the poor.

The prisoners are going to be released.

The blind shall receive sight.

The oppressed are to be set free.

And if all that’s not impressive enough, the year of the Lord’s favour is to be proclaimed!

The Jewish situation

These are powerful words and would have been particularly so for these first century Jews.

You see, these Jews have been experiencing significant oppression, and this oppression has been going on for quite a long time.

In fact go about six centuries prior to this time of Jesus, the Jews were forced off their land at the hands of the Babylonians. Though they were allowed to return some 70 odd years later, they never regained control of their land.

Then between the time and when Jesus came, the control of the land changed hands various times culminating with Rome taking charge.

Throughout this time the Jews were often mistreated and it became an increasingly frustrating time. You see, they had these prophecies of something better to come, but it just never seemed to eventuate.

They would hold on to words like this one from Isaiah.

Jesus’ message

Now remember the person reading the passage would stand to read. The custom at the time was that any comments that the nominated person would like to make regarding the passage, would be done sitting down.

And so when someone appears in which special things seems to be happening around him. And then after reading such powerful words and

Which is exactly what verse 20 says he does.

The room is now full of anticipation. Every single eye in that synagogue was fastened on Jesus. What would he say about these words that are full of promise?

Well, Jesus doesn’t disappoint. He says: “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.

Good so far, but confused

Now at this point - things seem to be going well.

Verse 22 tells us that all spoke well of him.

I certainly get the impression from verse 22 that there is a cautious optimism. They’re amazed at his gracious words. Certainly they recognise that there is something very special about him.

But at the same time they are also a little confused: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

In other words - we actually know this guy. He’s one of us. How could he be the one that would do all of this?

But I also suspect that the idea that those words in Isaiah are finally being fulfilled would be just amazing. All of those bad things that they have had to endure just maybe are going to come to an end.

The challenge

But Jesus wasn’t finished with his remarks - and as he continues, the minds of his hearers change.

But before I consider that, let me just pause a moment.

Illustration: a small perspective

I reme

I remember a time when I was a young and in this ukelele band. And we did really well. We won various competitions.

Well on one particular occasion, we had done another competition and we thought we were pretty good. As they came out to announce the winner they started by describing the winner. And we thought - wow, that’s pretty high praise. We knew what the prize was and so we were getting ourselves excited.

But then they announced the winner - it wasn’t us.

Unfortunately, we can all be guilty of getting so caught up in our own little world that we don’t see things from a bigger perspective.

And so,

The Jews were certainly guilty of this at times. Jesus was pointing them to this great fulfillment of a great promise - but what we’re about to see is that the fulfillment is greater than their limited perspective.

A bigger scope

In verse 23, Jesus talks to them further and anticipates their thinking. And that thinking is very much self-focussed.

We want to be healed. We want to see the miraculous. We want to be entertained!

But Jesus will have none of it.

And he knows that his failure to live up to their desires is not going to end well. Even acknowledging that no prophet is accepted in their home town.

But it is the implication of what Jesus says next which is really going to get them, and remember, these Jews think that all of the blessings are about to come their way - that they are the ones that are the truly hard done by.

Widow of Zarephath

Jesus points out two examples, both of which occurred during the time of Elijah and Elisha.

The first was from the start of Elijah’s ministry when there was a huge famine.

Now there were people everywhere that were hurting - including Jews. But surprisingly, God sent Elijah not to the struggling widows of Israel, but a poor widow in Zarephath. And in case your not sure where Zarephath is, all you need to know is that it is not Jewish - it was a foreign city.

In other words, God chose a foreign widow over an Israelite.

Naaman the Syrian

Then Jesus gives a second example, this time from the ministry of Elisha. Jesus reminds them how there were many people who had leprosy at the time but only one person was healed during this time - and would you believe it, but another foreigner: Naaman the Syrian.

There is a very clear implication to these examples - the mercy of God is not just for the Jews - God has a much bigger view and it includes the Gentiles.

And the people of Nazareth are not happy.

The opposition

In fact, so much so, that they drove him out of town, took him to the brow of the hill and they were ready to throw him off.

But if wasn’t time for Jesus to die - and I love the very matter of fact way in which Luke reports it, (verse 30): “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way”.

The Scope of Love

The most remarkable thing about this whole account is the scope of God’s love. God does not limit himself and at times this can be frustrating. It’s frustrating because we want God to focus on us.

Doesn’t God know our needs. Maybe we’re in pain. Maybe our anxiety is crippling.

Why doesn’t God look after us? After all, we’ve honoured God.

But when we see other people being the recipients of God’s love it can sometimes be hard.

Sometimes God heals people who, from our perspective, just don’t deserve it. Sometimes it is for people that actively dishonour God.

Just like the people of Nazareth, we have the potential to be angry.

But it doesn’t have to be that way - in fact, as we draw close to God, indeed it shouldn’t be that way.

You see, as we draw close to God, we gain a much deeper perspective of the world - and this should inform the way we love all people.

Who do we love

As I mentioned earlier, our vision statement is to love share and serve and the question we need to consider in this is how far that love should spread.

The answer is to absolutely every one.

We need to love the homosexual.

We need to love the Muslim.

We need to love the antagonistic atheist who has it out for us.

This means we need to pray for them. When they are in need we should reach out to them.

Now this is of course easy in theory. For many of us, we probably don’t associate with many gay people or Muslims. And particularly with the Muslims, that’s largely because there aren’t many living in Tanilba Bay - but when we do, what is our attitude?

Do we make an effort to become their friends and learn what their needs are?

Also, this can be hard when they are trying to work against you.

Some of you might know that there is a group in NSW called FIRIS, and essentially their main aim is to get scripture classes removed from public schools.

Generally, we don’t want to pray that God will bless them - but if the year of the Lord’s favour is to be proclaimed, and we are to see the good news proclaimed to the poor - then we should be including them in our prayers.

Conclusion

When Jesus came to earth and fulfilled the prophecies, it truly was the most wonderful thing. But what is perhaps most remarkable is that Jesus did not come just for a few - he came for everyone.

This was a hard message for many Jews to grasp. And while our situation is quite different to the Jews, we can easily fall into a similar trap and think that God only wants to bless us.

But thankfully this isn’t the case, otherwise we would be strangers to God’s kindness. As it is, we can partake in the full blessing of God.

And this leads me into the communion table which is a symbol of the amazing scope of God’s love.

One of the wonderful things about the table is that it brings together people from every culture, denomination and tradition.

One thing that we all have in common is that we are all sinners but we have been saved by the blood of Jesus/

So let me take this time to invite the stewards up as I move to the table...