Loving God, you continue to carry in your heart those who are poor and oppressed and alone.  Help us to carry in our hearts the love that you have for all people, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    In the gospel of Luke, the passage that we have heard today marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  In the previous chapter, Jesus is baptized, and then he heads out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  He returns, “filled with the power of the Spirit” (Lk. 4:14) and starts to teach in the synagogues in Galilee.  From what we are told, Jesus is well received and is “praised by everyone” who hears him (Lk. 4:15).  However, then he comes to Nazareth.

    There, it also starts out pretty well. He is asked to read - possibly because they have heard such good things about him.  They are reading Isaiah at the time, and he goes to Isaiah 61 and reads the following:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Lk. 4:18-19).

“Today,” says Jesus, “this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21).  At this point, they are still speaking well of him, even though they are a little bit puzzled at how Jesus became so wise.  After all, they know his whole family!  However, then Jesus starts to tell them things that they really don’t want to hear.

    He tells them how they’re going to want to see the same kind of miracles they’ve heard about in other places, but it’s not going to happen.  It’s not going to happen because they won’t believe in him in the same way.  It’s not going to happen because prophets are never accepted in their hometown.  It’s not going to happen because there are other people out there who need Jesus a lot more than they do.

    After all, there are the examples of people like Elijah and Elisha - people who are found in their own Scriptures.  Both of them were prophets, and both of them were Israelites.  However, not only were they not sent to their hometowns, they weren’t even sent to their own people.  Elijah was sent to help out a Gentile widow at Zarephath, and Elisha healed a Gentile named Naaman the Syrian.  They went where God sent them, which happened to be to Gentiles.

    At this, the people in the synagogue are so enraged that they drive Jesus out of the synagogue and out of the town and toward the nearby cliff.  They are so angry that they want to throw him over.  However, they haven’t learned yet that “the ways of God cannot be resisted or contained” (Spill the Beans), and Jesus passes through the midst of them and goes on his way (Lk. 4:30).

    It is perhaps hard for us to grasp at first why they got so angry that they actually wanted to kill Jesus.  At least part of the story is the hatred that some of them had in their hearts for Gentiles.  I’m not sure there are any groups that we could name today that would arouse a similar level of hatred in us.  However, perhaps we can understand why they found the things that Jesus was saying so difficult to hear.

    Imagine for just a moment that we are the people in the synagogue.  We have all come with our own burdens and desires for healing.  We have heard about Jesus’ preaching and healing in some of the other synagogues in the area, and we are hoping that he might do something extra special here.  After all, this is his hometown, and we are his own people.  Shouldn’t that merit some consideration?

    And then we hear the Scripture reading that talks about good news to the poor and release to the captives and freedom for the oppressed and the year of the Lord’s favour.  It all sounds wonderful and we are waiting to see it happen.  However, then Jesus pretty much says to us, “Don’t expect to see that here.  Prophets are never accepted in their hometowns.  The place I need to be is out there - out there with the people who need me the most.  I’ll be out there with the people who aren’t allowed into the synagogue and the people who are denied entry to the Temple.  I’ll be out there with the sinners and the tax collectors, the blind and the lame, and maybe even Gentiles.  I’ll be with all those who are treated like outsiders, and you can come with me if you’d like.”  That’s what made them angry.

    Had they come to synagogue every week and studied the Scriptures for nothing?  Hadn’t they lived as good people?  Hadn’t they lived according to the Torah - according to the Law?  But here’s Jesus telling them that he will be spending his time with the outcasts.  They will not be receiving any special favours.  His mission is to the poor and the blind and the oppressed.  He will not be spending his time in Nazareth.

    While it is true that Jesus came for all people, some simply don’t want to be in a group that includes outcasts and the poor and the needy.  Even today, many people prefer just “me and Jesus” without being bothered about all of those needy people out there.  Yet, the mission that Jesus outlined using the words of Isaiah was his mission while he was living on this earth and continues to be the mission of his church.  Good news to the poor - freedom for the oppressed - sight for those who have been blinded - release for the captives - all by the power of the Spirit of the Lord!

    And then there is “the year of the Lord’s favor”, which many interpret as the year of jubilee that is described in Leviticus (25:8-55).  In the year of jubilee, which was to be every 50th year, all slaves were to be released.  Property was to be returned to the ancestral owner, and so those who had fallen into financial difficulty and had been forced to sell either their property or themselves would be able to return to their family and to their land.  It was to be a year of liberty and celebration, and it was a reminder to all the people that the land belongs to God, just as the people belong to God.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Lk. 4:18-19).

Now, just as then, Jesus says to us: “I’m going to be out there with those who need me the most.  I’ll be there with all those who are treated as outsiders, and you can come with me if you’d like.  For I continue to be at work in the world, setting the captives free.”  Amen.

Epiphany 2 (NL 3)                                Luke 4:14-30
January 15, 2017
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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