My intention before this week was to continue our discussion about the gifts given us by the Holy Spirit and our call to exercise them to draw others into a right relationship with God through Christ. As such, had you asked me last week, I would have said I would be preaching on our 1st Corinthians reading and spending a bit of time on hesed, the Hebrew word which is translated into agape in Greek and love in English. Paul is reminding us that we are called to be committed to exercising our gifts for the purpose of bringing people into a right relationship with God. We probably would have reflected on God’s commitment to Israel, despite Israel’s determination to dive Him to break the covenant He has created with them, much in the way you and I do the same when we sin against Him despite our own baptismal covenant.
But,
conversations being what they were, it is clear that there is a bit of
misunderstanding regarding the exercise of our gifts. Specifically, I have had too many
conversations where Adventers are evaluating the exercise, or potential
exercise, of their gifts on their own or the secular world’s standards, rather
than God’s. So, today, I hope to
disabuse you of that shared misunderstanding and spend a few moments reminding
you of the freedom we have to exercise those gifts. So, let’s turn to Luke . . .
Just to remind
you where we are in the narrative, Jesus has returned to Nazareth after some
serious miraculous healings and exorcisms in Capernaum. He has been given the scroll from Isaiah,
opened it to the passage that says God has called the prophet to open the eyes
of the blind, to proclaim release to the prisoners, to announcer the year of
Jubilee, and all those wonderful callings with which most of us are
familiar. Jesus, in a stunning proclamation
to His hometown synagogue, informs them that the teaching has been fulfilled in
their hearing.
To be sure, it
is an arrogant statement, were it not true.
Imagine, if you will, how well that sentence would be received by those
who knew you growing up, were you to go back home, worship in the church of
your youth with the congregation that knew you when. How do you think they would respond? It is for that reason, by the way, that wise
bishops in our church strongly advise clergy not to explore calls in
their sending parishes. You can well
imagine. What if I tried to go home and
be the priest at the local church? Y’all
only know part of my total depravity.
They know a lot more. What would
be the impact on my teaching? My
admonishments? My authority? That’s right, lot’s of laughter. Or maybe some grumbling.
Right away, Luke
notes the response to His teaching. All
spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that he spoke. They are a bit too impressed. They began to wonder how the hometown boy
became this way. I mean. . . He is Joseph’s
son, after all. He was trained in
carpentry, not in rabbinic studies. It’s
a head-scratcher, to be sure.
Jesus, for His
part, understands the hearts of those questioning. Who does He think He is to think God
called Him to do these things? Why
should I listen to Him, He is just Joseph’s boy? It’s not like He is one of the great teachers
or even a student of the great teachers.
So Jesus quotes a proverb about healing Himself and then speaks to the
underlying desire of all of them. They
want Him to do the same things in Nazareth that He is reported to have done at
Capernaum.
Understand the
problem here. Jesus grew up in a big village
in an out of the way region of the least desired province in the empire. I often teach Robert because he is so quick
to pick on his own home state, but think of a small town in Tennessee. It probably sits at the crossroads of a
couple rural roads. It has a post
office. Maybe a gas station. One of those flashing lights at the place
where the two rural roads cross. It
might have a handimart for urgent groceries, but it is really far too small for
one of the big grocery chains. They have
to go to civilization to do real shopping.
If you grew up in such a place, you understand this mindset on a
fundamental level. Those of us in big
cities look on such places as beneath us.
They lack the accoutrements of life that we think we need to
survive. But they are real
communities. People know one another
really well. Children can romp through
the woods or field or streams with nary a care.
Everybody looks after everybody.
And everybody knows one another’s business.
Capernaum, by
contrast, would be that next size up. It
sits at the mouth of the Jordan on the Sea of Galilee. Fishing is a big industry there. Because of its location, a number of traders
are often passing through on their way to other places. It has a grocery store. It has a mechanic. It has a school. It has three or four stoplights. It even has . . . gasp, Gentiles living
there. Because of the ability to make
money, outside business owners set up shop.
They may run their businesses or hire others to run it for them. It’s not Nashville, but it’s a couple steps
up from the crossroad village.
Those who know
Jesus expect Him to do more for His hometown than He did in the big city of
Capernaum. He is one of them, after all,
and He owes them more. Those of you who
read that now famous book, Hillbilly Elegy, understand the attitude
better. But despite expecting more, they
do not trust Jesus to be who others think He may be. Capernaum is beginning to think He is at
least a prophet, like John the Baptizer, as He does incredible work. The more faithful in Capernaum might even
wonder if He is the Anointed One of God, the Messiah, because of some of those
miracles. But those in Nazareth are blinded
by the fact that Jesus is one of them.
They know Him. They watched Him
grow up. He may speak well. He may be the most gracious fella they know. But He is only Joseph’s son. He’s not really THAT important.
So, Jesus gives
them a spiritual bloody nose. They are
like ancient Israel in that they expected God’s grace. Maybe the better word is that ancient Israel
demanded God’s grace or felt they were owed God’s grace. Israel knew that Yahweh had sworn the
covenant with their ancestors. They
lived in a world that believed what happened on earth was mirrored in the
heavens and vice versa. Most of the rest
of the ANE was certain that temples existed to help strengthen their god, and
that their gods needed the temple to survive in order to get power and be
able to fight the other gods in the heavens.
Over time, Israel forgot the terms of the covenant. God had given their ancestors warning signs
for when God was displeased. He would
try and get their attention through droughts, pestilences, famines, and
war. If Israel failed to see or
understand the warning signs, He promised the Land would disgorge them. Good, I see the nods. Understand, everyone in this synagogue with
Jesus is on this side of the Exile.
Their ancestors were kicked off the Land for their transgressions. We might say this is a bit of family history
that stings.
Jesus goes to two
specific examples in history. Elijah,
the great prophet of Israel who battled the priests of Ba’al, the great prophet
who became the second person in their history not to die by being carried up in
the chariots of fire, the great prophet whom some think Jesus might be, that
prophet was sent not to Israel during a drought, but to Sidon, a Gentile
land. A drought had come over the Land
for 3 years and 6 months; yet, Israel forgets the significance. The prophet goes to Sidon, as God directs,
and ends up staying with a widow and her son.
If you have ever heard the story of the widow whose jars of flour and
water never run out, this is that story.
If you have ever heard the story of Elijah laying on the son of the widow
and interceding with God to raise the widow’s son to life, this is that
story. Those is Jesus’ audience know it
well. God instructs His prophet to go
stay with a Gentile widow. And God cares
for her as He does any daughter of Israel, even raising her son from the dead,
even as Israel suffers from the drought He has caused to get their attention.
The second story
should be well know to each of you as well.
Israel has been getting beat in battles by their enemies—another, more
serious, sign from God that they are not keeping the covenant. This time, Syria is beating them up on the
battlefield. Naaman is a famous general
from Syria. Think of our generals Schwarzkopf
or McCarthur. He fights to win. And he has been punishing Israel on the
battlefield.
The story is
great to read, and I commend it to each one of you. I’ll also cheat and remind you that the real
heroes of the story are the little Israelite girl and the nameless attendant of
Naaman. Naaman has a big problem. He’s a leper.
The disease makes him an outcast in society, even in cultures outside of
Israel. Luckily for him, he has captured
a little Israelite girl and brought her home as a spoil of war, a slave for him
and his wife. That little Israelite girl
is able to put all her suffering behind her.
Her family has likely been killed.
Now she is a slave of Gentile dogs.
If any girl ever had reason to think God had abandoned her, it is that
little girl. Yet, she tells Naaman and
his wife that the prophet Elisha, Elijah’s successor, could heal him by God’s power.
Over time, the
little girls words sink in. Naaman goes
to his king for a letter of introduction.
The Syrian king pens a letter “asking” the king to see that Naaman is
cured of his leprosy. For his part, the
king of Israel is convinced his counterpart just wants another excuse to beat
him on the battlefield. He complains
that there is nothing he can do to heal Naaman.
At that point, a letter arrives from the prophet instructing the king to
send Naaman to him.
Naaman arrives as
instructed. Elisha, for his part, does
not even bother coming out of his house.
He tells the general to go wash in the Jordan seven times to be
cured. Naaman is incensed. Why should he bathe in a filthy river in
Israel? Why won’t this prophet even both
to come out and speak to him? Doesn’t
the prophet know who he is?
After a lot of
ranting and raving, one of the attendants gets through to Naaman. He reminds Naaman of all the wealth he
brought to purchase the healing from the God of Israel and of the fact that
Naaman would move mount to be healed.
Eventually, Naaman relents from his anger and pride, bathes in the
river, and is miraculously cured of his leprosy. Jesus tells this story reminding them that
God did not work with the lepers in Israel!
What should the
response of those in Nazareth have been?
Jesus is using two stories, very well known to them, to point out
examples of hardness of heart and how God is willing to work with anyone who
will turn to Him in faith. Those with
whom Jesus grew up should see themselves as Israel and Capernaum as the Gentile
lands. Yet they miss the point. In fact, they become enraged at His gracious
words. They carry Him up to the brow of
the hill, Luke writes, intending to hurl Him off the cliff. We miss the significance of this action,
other than the threat of trying to kill Jesus.
The people of Nazareth are wanting to treat their own son as a false
prophet. So blind are they to what
Isaiah just instructed them, so deaf are they to Jesus’ gracious words, they
miss the healing that God offers. Luke
finishes the story telling us that Jesus passed through their midst and went on
their way. It is a horrible judgment. Salvation was in their midst, and they
rejected Him!
Why my focus on
this story? Since Christmas, I have had
a number of conversations with Adventers regarding the exercise of their
gifts. If you have missed a lot of church
recently due to the pandemic and Comcast, we have been talking a great deal
about how our baptism not only cleanses us from our sins, but that it ensures
us that the Holy Spirit will give us whatever we need to glorify God in our
lives. The problem, of course, our hardness
of heart or blindness of eyes or deafness of ears, is that we too often judge
the exercise of those gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the world’s
wisdom. Father, I have tried to share
my faith when people asked, but it made no difference. Father, I have invited people to church, but
they never come. Father, we feed hungry
people week in and week out, but they are always hungry. Father, I tell people we aren’t like that
idiot in Mt. Juliet or those Christians who hate immigrants or think science is
a tool of the Devil, but it makes no difference. Too many Adventers use the excuse that they
think they are faithfully exercising their gifts as God calls them, but the
results of their exercise of those gifts are not what they think they should
be.
It is, of
course, understandable. We invite people
to church, assuming success is that they will come. We feed hungry people, assuming success is
that they will get through their hard times quickly and be able to take care of
themselves. Whenever we do anything, we
judge it by the world’s standard of productivity. And, yet, the Gospel news is that we are
called only to the faithful obedience of God’s calls on our lives and faithful
exercise of those gifts He has given us.
That’s it! That’s all we do; that’s
all God asks of us. He takes care of the
results. He is the One playing the “long
game” of salvation in peoples’ lives. It
may take twenty testimonies before someone understands that God, may in fact,
love them. Was the work of the first
nineteen people worthless? Unproductive? More importantly, do we think God thinks our
work is unproductive or worthless? Not
if He called us to it! Even more
amazing, we can try our best, screw everything up, and know that God can redeem
our worst mistakes! How do we know all
this?
Look at our story
today. Who is the One responsible for
doing God’s will in the pericope? That’s
right, Jesus. Would any of us here
describe Jesus’ work as successful? I
hear the snorting laughter. By worldly
standards, you snorters are correct.
Jesus’ audience ignores His gracious words and instructive
teaching. Their hearts are so hard they
determine to treat Him as a false prophet and kill Him. Sound familiar? Yet, in the end, how would we describe Jesus’
ministry on earth? It is not enough to
say that it is the most successful ministry in all salvation history, but those
present at His Crucifixion and death assume it to be a horrible failure. Thankfully, and mercifully, their opinions do
not matter. Only God’s does. To demonstrate God’s pleasure at His work, to
reinforce His love and power and grace for hardhearted human beings like us,
God raised Him on the Third Day and promised each and every one of us who
believe in Him, that we will share in that glorious eternal life. If God can redeem faithful obedience even
from death, what can He do with our misspoken words? Our well-meaning but failed applications of
our gifts and talents? Of our too-numerous-to-count
failures? Knowing that, and trusting
Him, brothers and sisters, you and I are freed from the world’s judgments on
the faithful exercise of our gifts and reminded that our Father in heaven will
ensure that nothing He purposes, nothing to which we are called in His Name,
will ever be a waste or failure.
In Christ’s Peace,
Brian†
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