How Do You React to Jesus? Luke 4:21-30 020313M
His words got an immediate reaction: “With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?” So said Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke in response to budget cuts and furloughed officers. Mayor Barrett of Milwaukee said it sounded like Clarke was auditioning for a Dirty Harry movie. The Greenfield Police Department what he was proposing was dangerous. Others said his remarks promoted vigilantism. Few people were neutral to his remarks. People either applauded him or opposed him. And that's how it is with Jesus. In fact, his ministry and message were even more controversial, because he claimed to be God, and the world's Savior. Today, let's look at how people reacted to Jesus inJesus' home town, and ask ourselves:
How Do You React to Jesus?
1. With Mere Admiration or True Acceptance?
2. With Outright Rejection or Honest Reflection?
1. Jesus had toured Galilee, coming to his home town of Nazareth. He read a lesson from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, telling of how the Messiah was going to bring freedom for the captives, recovery of sight for the blind, and how he was going to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. He then came to the "punch line;" the last verse of our lesson last week is repeated as the first verse this week: 21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." In other words, Jesus is saying he was that Messiah promised in Scripture, who came to bring freedom from sin, death, hell and Satan. The people in Nazareth reacted to that statement. The question is, how do YOU react to Jesus? Is it With Mere Admiration or True Acceptance?
The people in Nazareth seemed very pleased with Jesus' message, like others who had heard Jesus. Of them we're told, He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him (Lk 4:15).So in Nazareth, 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. It sounds good, but it's not really. They were merely admiring his "gracious words." When you and I hear of "gracious words," we're inclined to think of words that reveal the undeserved favor of God. These people just meant that they were nice sounding words--eloquent, if you will. It's as if to say, "Wow, when did this kid get so smart? We knew him from when he was knee high to a grasshopper. Can you believe it's the same person?"
How SHOULD they have responded? With admiration, yes, but also acceptance that he IS the Savior the Bible was talking about. They should have been amazed that God would favor them by having his Christ grow up under their noses, and now come back to them with true words of grace: forgiveness of sins and freedom from death and hell. But that's not what they were thinking. That's why Jesus predicted what they'd say next: 23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" 24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.In other words, "Take care of yourself and your own first. If you're as great as you claim, prove it. Show us you, the snot-nosed little kid we remember growing up, are sent by God to save us." It shows that what Jesus was and is true: prophets generally aren't accepted at home. In other words, "familiarity breeds contempt."
People still react to Jesus with mere admiration. They can quote the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." They love it when Jesus said, "Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Mt 7:1) because they think it means Jesus meant no one is ever to point out another persons sins. (That's not what he was saying, of course.) Another one you hear a lot is, "The truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32). Politicians love it, and people quote if often to prove they're not lying about something. Of course, that's not at all what Jesus meant when he said it. The entire statement is, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:31-32). He's basically saying what he's saying here in Nazareth: Jesus' teaching is the truth. HE is the truth --the one who is sent by God to free people from their sin and from death and hell. Continue in the truth about him as his disciples, and that truth will set you free from sin and death forever. People admire Jesus and they quote Jesus, but that alone is not going to save them.
What about us? We're even more familiar with Jesus than the people in Nazareth were. We can quote a lot of Jesus' words too. The question is, do we believe them? Or do we take comfort and solace in the fact that we knew Jesus. We grew up in the church. We went to a Lutheran school. We were once confirmed. But those things in themselves aren't important. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me , 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:21). What is that will? To accept that what Jesus says about himself is true. To know that Jesus became your sin when he died for you on the cross, and you became his righteousness with which you can stand before God. He is God in the flesh, your Savior from sin!
2. Jesus spoke harsh words to wake up the people of Nazareth so they would see what they were doing. How do you react to Jesus? Is it With Outright Rejection or Honest Reflection?
Jesus showed that their rejection would be to their loss, but that he would go on to others with the gospel message--even Gentiles (non Jews): 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. It's true. There probably were thousands of widows in Israel, but God through the Prophet Elijah favored one who was not of the people of Israel. If Israel didn't want God's Word, he'd find someone else who did. It was the same with people suffering from leprosy at the Prophet Elisha's time: 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian." Again, God favored a Gentile over his own people because they didn't care. The Lord doesn't force people to believe. If they don't, he takes his grace elsewhere.
The people of Nazareth weren't dumb. They knew Jesus was telling them this to their own judgment. Their admiration turned into outright rejection to the point they wanted to kill him. Their actions foreshadowed how the Jews in general reacted to Jesus when they had him crucified. Here we're told, 28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way. Their actions could have led to his death right then and there, but it wasn't the right time. In walking away through the midst of them, Jesus DID the miracle they so craved, but to their own condemnation. That, too, foreshadowed his miracle of rising from the dead after he died on the cross. John's words were fulfilled: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (Jn 1:11-12).
We might think we would never react to Jesus that way. But how DO we react when Jesus points out what we're is sinful? When he says the relationship we're in is sinful because we're living together but not married? When he says the anger, the lust or the pride in our hearts has to go? When he says that our drug, alcohol, gambling or pornography addiction is something the devil is using to drag us to hell? When he says that our gossiping is harmful and sinful. When he says that our disdain for God's Word proves we're in danger of no longer belonging to God? Do we at least want to say, "No, Lord. It's not as bad as you think?" Or would we like to tell him what we would tell anyone else pointing out our sin: "Shut up and mind your own business. Who are you to judge me?" Or will we chuck this church think and this Jesus thing if it means we have to change our sinful lives? How is that not any different than dragging Jesus out to the cliff?
Oh, friends, that's why we need to reflect on what he's telling us about ourselves and accept the truth: we deserve God's wrath forever. And we need to reflect on him: the innocent life without any sin, addictions or malice he lived for us, and how he gave that live into death and suffered God's wrath on the cross in our place. He gives us blinded captives freedom, and insight to see God's amazing love for us! That's how he wants us to react to him.
And Jesus MUST illicit a reaction. He's more controversial than any piece of legislation or sound bite from any politician. He's either the aroma of life or the stench of death! How will YOU react to Jesus? Will it be mere admiration followed by overt rejection? Or will it be true acceptance and reflection on who he really is: God's Son your Savior? May it ALWAYS be the latter! Amen.
Luke 4:21-30Sheriff David Clarke Mayor Tom Barrett Dirty Harry vigilante
“With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family. We’re partners now. Can I count on you?”
How Do You React to Jesus?
1. With Mere Admiration or True Acceptance?
2. With Outright Rejection or Honest Reflection?
21 He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him (Lk 4:15).
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" 24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged" (Mt 7:1)
"The truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:31-32).
"Not everyone who says to me , 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Mt 7:21).
25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed — only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. 30 But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (Jn 1:11-12).