Way Bigger – Luke 4:14-21

A text – Luke 4:14-21

¹⁴ Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region. ¹⁵ He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶ When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “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 set free those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

A reflection:

Jesus travels through Galilee to his hometown. Reports of his behavior, his teaching, and at least one healing have spread wherever he has been. Now he is in Nazareth. On the Sabbath day he goes to the synagogue, and he reads from the scroll of Isaiah words that apply to the ministry he is just beginning. They sum up what he will be and do for the coming years – all the things his mother spoke of in her beloved speech, the Magnificat, to Elizabeth, her cousin, when they were both expecting. He brings good news to the poor, proclaims release to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. He is going to be living out God’s love for the world, just as Isaiah had written. He probably even reads loudly the word ME whenever it appears in the passage. He is introducing his ministry.

He reads the words up front and then sits down. The people are quiet. Then he says that Isaiah’s words have been fulfilled in their hearing. Now, these folks were always waiting and watching for Scripture to be fulfilled. “Here it is, happening in front of you,” Jesus is telling them. “A prophesy fulfilled. It’s me. I’m the guy who is doing this. Right now.”

For a few moments, people sit in wonder. “That would be great,” they are probably thinking. “Our own friend, neighborhood kid, Mary and Joseph’s son. Yeah, that’s great.” And then the people of Nazareth ask him to do some signs like the miracles they have been hearing about. Jesus has just said he will bring God’s grace and good news to the whole world. So why wouldn’t Jesus do some signs for the hometown folks? Instead Jesus makes a point of talking about other times God has sent good news and miracles to non-Hebrew folks. The opposite of his hometown friends. Foreign folks! God is pouring love out on Gentiles, Jesus teaches. The people grow furious.

Is this story about the people of Nazareth thinking they own Jesus and so they are due privileged status with him? Jesus is rejecting that idea.  Is this about the Jews in general claiming a Messiah only if he helps only them? Jesus is saying no: that he is sent to the whole world, not just to the Jews, and that God loves everyone on earth, not just the Jews. This is a message that drives the Jewish religious leaders crazy. They don’t want this reality – a God who loves Gentiles, lepers, poor people, those with unclean spirits, everyone they as Jewish leaders have deemed unclean and cast out. They really do not want to have been wrong about all these things all these years. It’s beyond comprehension.

Nobody wants to know he has been wrong for a very long time about anything.  If we can identify at all with the townspeople here, this story can be a gentle reminder to hold our beliefs lightly and be willing to see things from a different angle. “Try on a bigger, more beautiful vision of God,” Jesus is saying, even to us. Think of God as a loving and doting parent, no matter how the child has behaved. Even you. Think of God as loving you so much that, even if you feel unlovable, God is bigger than that. Way bigger.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being bigger and more loving than humans can even imagine you to be. Help us to remember that, when we have judged others as being unlovable, you have still always loved them. Help us to accept your love for them, and also for us. Amen.