Sermon 1.31.2016

Luke 4:21-30 ANATOMY OF A FAILED RELATIONSHIP Ok, ... this is one of those neat situations where the Gospel for this Sunday picks RIGHT up where we left off last Sunday. In fact, the 1st verse of today's reading is even the last vs from last week... vs 21 where Jesus says: today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And if you were here last week, you may remember that I tried to really key in on the FOREVER-NESS of the "TODAY" in that statement. That in faith, it is **always** "today" in terms of our relationship with Jesus. That the forgiveness of sins and relationship with the Father that Jesus offers & promises... is and can be a FOREVER TODAY CERTAINTY; that when you gather with your fellow believers around WORD & TABLE, TODAY the scriptures are *ALWAYS* fulfilled in your life /your hearing too... Well, that sounds OK. In fact, from the way Luke tells the story, it also sounded OK to the people in that synagogue in Nazareth 2,000 years ago... and then something happened. The whole thing comes unraveled. And this group of people from Jesus' home town... these people who no doubt were part of his extended family... cousins... playmates from his youth... go from being amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips in vs 22 to... complete fury in vs 28, to the point of trying to throw him off a cliff in vs 29. **WHAT HAPPENED**??? ANATOMY OF A FAILED RELATIONSHIP Ok, Anatomy of a failed relationship. Relationships fail far too often; it's tragic, but the most tragic of all failed relationships is the one with the Savior of the world. The people in today's story couldn't be more naturally close to Jesus; And yet they end up throwing him out of their lives. This is the most tragic of ALL failed relationships. As people of faith this morning, we owe it to ourselves to take a deep look at this story, and see how it may apply to us in our lives. Everyone tracking?? --THE RELATIONSHIP FAILS WHEN WE, LIKE THEY, TRY TO DEFINE JESUS. Look with me at vs 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. And the point is... NO... he's not Joseph's son. Luke has already told his readers whose son this is back in chapter 1: The angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. He's not Joseph's son. This whole thing tumbles out of control because they try to define WHO JESUS IS. You know I said a moment ago that we're "people of faith," but maybe that's jumping to conclusions. Maybe you're here this morning because you just like pipe organ music; or because your husband or your wife is the believer in the family; or maybe you just enjoy the weekly social time, or you think it's important to give your kids a good moral foundation. And like a LOT of people out there, maybe you're ok with Jesus at a certain level... you see him as a good man, a social reformer, a good moral teacher, maybe even a prophet... who lived and died a long time ago, and that's it. It won't work. Jesus made far too many claims about himself. Defining him as simply a good man and stopping there won't work. C.S. Lewis said it best... the dust covered wandering rabbi from Nazareth was either a LIAR... who made so many audacious claims about himself that absolutely nothing he said can be trusted, and we should despise him.... or he was a LUNATIC... whose audacious claims simply prove that we should pity him, ... or the audacious claims he made are true... and he's LORD, and we should worship him. In the story the relationship fails because the people want to define him their own way. Isn't this Joseph's son. How do you define Jesus? Liar, lunatic, or LORD. Those are your choices. --THE RELATIONSHIP FAILS WHEN WE, LIKE THEY, TRY TO MANIPULATE HIM. In the story their statement Isn't this Joseph's son leads to vs 23 Jesus said to them surely you will quote this proverb to me Physician heal yourself. And YOU will tell ME do here in your hometown what we have heard you did in Capernaum. You will tell ME. IOW, the people are thinking he's our guy. All those cool things we heard of him doing in other places, he's gonna do EVEN MORE HERE, cuz we're HOME. This will be his base of operations. Nazareth's ship has come in. We'll televise his weekly show; we'll set up concession stands and sell Jesus of Nazareth coffee mugs & t-shirts. He's our guy! And the question is, how many times have you & I thought something similar? Jesus is my guy! I worship him & pray to him, so he'll make sure I get good grades; he'll make sure the teacher likes me. He'll help me get that promotion down at the office; all my investments will pan out; Jesus is my guy. He'll get even with those who bully me. My enemies are his enemies; people who've been unfair to me, people who've taken advantage of me, people who've gossiped about me, people who've stabbed me in the back... better look out... cuz I got Jesus in my corner.. he's my guy. At the national level, he's OUR guy. We picture him with the American flag in one hand & an M16 in the other. He hates people of other religions, and atheists, and agnostics; and of course he's gonna help my political party win the next election. That's manipulation. The people in the story think he owes them something... they think they have a natural "in" with him over and above everyone else... and can make him dance when they pull his strings. In the story the relationship fails because Jesus knows they're trying to manipulate him. YOU will tell ME to do... . Are you trying to tell Jesus to do anything? -- THE RELATIONSHIP FAILS WHEN WE, LIKE THEY, PART WAYS WITH HIM. Look with me at vs 30. Their intent was nothing short of murderous; these former friends, childhood playmates & shirt-tail relatives mean to kill him there & then.. but vs 30 says: But he walked right through the crowd and went on____ HIS WAY. That's usually the last phase of a failed relationship, isn't it? The parting of the ways? You go your way, and they go theirs? That's what's happening in this story. It's not part of our reading today, but in the very next verse in Luke chapter 4 we find Jesus some 40miles away back in Capernaum... and Luke does something very interesting at the narrative level.... he leaves the angry mob on that hillside. He never says they went in for dinner that night; he never says they caught the next episode of Downton Abbey; he never says went to work the next day, or dropped their kids off at daycare. He never mentions them again. Jesus goes on HIS WAY.... his life intersects with many others from all walks of life, ... many others come to faith in him... he dies for the sins of the world; he's resurrected 3 days later; he commissions the Apostles to go into all the world and spread the Gospel, he ascends back into heaven, and one day he'll come again to judge the living and the dead, ...but the people... at the narrative level in the story... STAY THERE, filled with anger, on that hillside. When it comes to disappointment in life, I get it. Things don't always turn out the way we want them to. When it comes to failed relationships at the human level, I get it. People can be cruel. They can be uncaring. And... I know... sometimes it's the ones who call themselves CHRISTIANS... sometimes it's people from our own church family ... who do, or say, the most callous things. And you can be hurt... and you can be unforgiving... and you can let it wreck your relationship with them. But the question has to be asked, what about your relationship with Jesus? The reading today ends at a crossroads. Jesus goes on HIS WAY. And in the story, MANY people will follow. Many people will make HIS WAY.. THEIR WAY. But not the crowd from Nazareth. In the story, they're still on that hillside. Where are you? Are you following him in a life of discipleship? Is HIS WAY YOUR WAY? Or, are you on that hillside with the angry mob from Nazareth? evidently no one from Nazareth