Sermon Tone Analysis

THE UNACCEPTABLE PROPHET

Sermon for January 30, 2022

* Jesus Christ is coming again to restore all things, and make all things right we look forward to that day and may it come quickly

* When Jesus came 2000 years ago his hometown rejected him and no honor was found there for him.

* Today I want to talk about some of those events in his first coming and his early ministry.

We often say the phrase "too close to home" when we go through something embarrassing or uncomfortable that affects us directly in a personal way.

A situation that would have made us shake our heads even when this is how Christ would have wanted it to be.

Amidst our various personal experiences, let us continue to embrace the truth that our Father's love is perfect and that he will always pursue to take us home with him.

This week's theme is speaking God's word boldly.

The Bible is full of accounts of people who stood up to boldly speak God's word.

* God empowered Moses to speak boldly

* God empowered Elijah to speak boldly

* God empowered Jeremiah to speak whatever he was commanded to say.

* Paul reminds us that only the words empowered by God's love will remain.

* Our text today is taken for Luke which refers to Jesus as a prophet who speaks gracious word even while facing fierce opposition from his home town.

* He is often referred to by his opposition as AN UNACCEPTABLE PROPHET which is the title of my message today.

* My reading from today is taken from Luke 4:21-30

LK 4:21-30 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

23 He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!'

And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum."

24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land;

26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

(NRSV)

Today's message comes to us around the midpoint of the Epiphany season.

We have been covering mostly with Luke this Epiphany season and today we will use Luke's account to travel with Jesus as he returns to his hometown.

* Luke begins the narrative talking about the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

* Because of this we can look at this story through the eyes of Jesus and his ministry to see what we can learn.

* Remember, during the season of Epiphany we are looking at Jesus to see the mystery of God's glory that he reveals.

* When we have a story about Jesus recorded in Scripture, we are seeing into the very heart of God, who He is and who we are in relationship to him.

* We will keep our eyes open for that perspective.

* In addition, we will be able to gain some insights into the ministry of the church as it participates in Jesus' continuing ministry by the Spirit in our day and age.

Let's dig a little deeper into our scripture passage for today

LK 4:2121 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

(NRSV)

* For some context, Luke had just told the story of Jesus' triumph in the wilderness over the devil's temptations.

* Then Luke records Jesus as being "filled with the power of the Spirit" and returning to Galilee (Luke 4:14).

LK 4:14 14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.

* Then in a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus delivers his inaugural message.

* He does this by using a passage in Isaiah where good news is proclaimed.

* This message is well received, and everyone is excited about what they are hearing.

* But in today's message he uses two other passages that have the opposite effect.

* We will see that epiphanies can often get a hostile reaction from eyes burned by the light that have been in darkness.

* But before we get to that reaction, we see first that the congregation responds positively.

LK 4:2222 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.

They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"

(NRSV)

* Their rhetorical question about Jesus' lineage is not to be understood in a negative sense, like it does in Mark's account.

* No, for Luke, the hometown crowd is not offended by this.

* This is not a case of "familiarity breeds contempt."

Rather, the way Luke is telling it, the hometown crowd sees this as an opportunity that is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

* If Jesus is all that he just proclaimed himself to be, a herald of good news, the Lord's anointed, who proclaims the benefits and blessings of the Lord's favor, then certainly this means his own longtime neighbors and family will be the main recipients-perhaps the only recipients.

* It is like hearing of an old high school buddy who just won the lottery and now everybody thinks they are entitled to some preferential treatment.

* A question I have for you is have you ever witnessed the dynamic of a neighbor or family member reaching some level of success and everyone close to them wants PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT.

* It seems Jesus hometown was excited to finally have someone like Jesus representing them.

* Maybe try and imagine what they were expecting from him.

* Maybe try to imagine some of the assumptions his hometown had about him, about themselves and others beyond their village.

* Can you relate to those whose assumptions were exposed by Jesus?

* Why was this experience painful for them?

* Think about it:

* We finally have our hometown hero (maybe the Messiah they were thinking)

* Yet this Jesus is not getting rid of the Romans

* And he may be bringing salvation, we are his special people so why is he giving it to the Gentiles.

* They want Jesus to show how special they are since they are his hometown, and now he almost seems to be embarrassing them.

* But Jesus knows their hearts and he anticipates their reaction.

* He also knows they need to see that he is not the son of Joseph, but the Son of God.

LK 4:2323 He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!'

And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum."

(NRSV)

* There is nothing more frustrating than someone putting words in your mouth that say the very thing you'd rather keep concealed.

* Jesus hits his mark.

The proverb "Doctor, cure yourself" means that the one who can heal or be a benefactor should take care of his own.

* It is not implying that Jesus has a problem that he needs to attend to first.

* Jesus' next statement about Capernaum is clearer.

* If Jesus has done wonderful miracles in Capernaum, then certainly he should do the same in his own backyard.

* And maybe there is more to it than that.

Capernaum, since it was situated along one of the major international highways that connected Egypt with Mesopotamia, tended to attract a wider diversity of people.

* This meant that its population was made up of both Jews, and to their discomfort, Gentiles-and lots of them.

* Capernaum in this story serves as a contrast to the hometown Jews of Nazareth.

* If Jesus is doing miracles in such a questionable place like Capernaum, then he will have to prove his loyalty to his own hometown by doing the same in Nazareth.

* But Jesus will not be manipulated by the assumptions of people who thought they knew him best.

LK 4:24 24 And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

(NRSV)

* The irony of this statement is that the word "accepted" here is the same word used in verse 19 where Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah.

* The prophet who is to proclaim the "acceptable" year of the Lord is himself not "accepted" by his own people.

* And with Jesus equating himself to a prophet, we get one of our epiphanies about Jesus' ministry.

* It's a prophetic ministry.

* This means that Jesus is the proclamation of the kingdom.

* He is God's Word spoken to us, proclaiming the good news to the whole world-Gentiles included.

There is no other word spoken to us that gives us the proclamation that brings healing, release from prison, sight to the blind or freedom from oppression.

* As we, the church, participate in Jesus' continuing ministry, we find that it has not changed.

* We too are to proclaim the kingdom in Jesus Christ.

* This means we point to Jesus in all that we say and do.

* We don't proclaim ourselves or any other counterfeit "good news."