Contrast - Luke 6:17-26 - Sixth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 6:17-26 NIV

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

²⁰ Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.
²² Blessed are you when people hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
        because of the Son of Man.

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

²⁴ “But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
²⁵ Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
²⁶ Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Contrast

First, a little background prior to the words of the Gospel reading above…

Jesus has just prayed the entire night, prior to this passage.

Luke 6:12 NIV

¹² One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.

After praying all night, Jesus chose the disciples and went into action.

This entire action of Jesus, both gives us a Gospel of Love and an example of how we too should handle the decisions of life.  Stop and pray before taking action. Stop and pray especially before those big, life changing decisions.

This Gospel lesson is often titled the “Sermon on the Plain.”

As Jesus comes down the mountain to the plain, He sits down, once again, to teach. I find it an interesting example. First of the Grace of God and also as an example. As Jesus sits down to teach, He humbles Himself. He comes to the same level of the people. He makes His teaching comfortable, and possibly more acceptable than if He hovered over top of His disciples. Just a thought…

Some other perspective to offer at this point, is that this total sermon or teaching of Jesus is in five parts. This reading deals with the first part. This part deals with “Blessings and Woes.”

There is a contrast going on here:

Poor/Rich

Hungry/Full

Weeping/Laughing

Rejected/Accepted

All of these contrasts also point to a higher contrast…

Life Now/Life Future (think eternity with God)

You see this is spiritual stuff here. Here, God hears and fulfills your longings in the coming Kingdom. But that fulfillment won’t be easy. That fulfillment will bring the death of Jesus.

I mentioned in last weeks “Pointing to Jesus,” how when God calls, and we see His glory, like Simon saw at the catch of fish… His response was first fear in the face of God in Jesus and then when accepted by Jesus, Simon’s response changed to one of great joy at the prospect of following Jesus… God… into eternity.

Well, that joy is one thing. But that joy doesn’t mean easy. Our call will not be easy. Once again, we see the example Jesus gives to us. Yes, we see the Gospel of God’s saving action in Jesus, but the call is not easy. Jesus’ call and our call too will bring pain, sacrifice and death. It won’t be easy.

Jesus knew how it was to be poor. He grew up poor. Jesus grew up in a little town with just enough to live on. Jesus grew up as a working man.

What about us? What about how we grow up?

You see, poverty can make us want and need God.

Wealth can make us hardened to our need for God. Wealth can cause us to think we have all that we need and that we can take care of it all on our own.

But the poor, the simple hearted, know how to love neighbor, rather than love wealth. When we are poor and simple hearted, we know how much we need God and each other. We pray and pitch in together out of love for one another.

What about the wealthy, in riches or even good life?

The rich and/or wealthy in circumstance, find no need for God, and by this, will have nothing in the coming Kingdom of God. They can’t see the need. They can’t understand what it’s like to be poor. Nor do they really care about the poor, the unemployed, the persecuted, the addicted, the immigrant, the … whatever. The rich and wealthy think that what has happened to them is a result of what they have done, not, what God has given them. So, they look inward, they focus inward and fail to see or even know the need of neighbor.

The danger for the rich?

They may think they have all they need and they may think they don’t need the gift of God, because, they think they already have everything.

It’s not bad or sinful to be rich and wealthy, but it’s sinful when you think that your wealth is only the result of what you have done.

Luther once said, “Rich folks’ children seldom turn out well. They are complacent, arrogant, and conceited, and think they need to learn nothing because they have enough to live on anyway.”

So how do we deal with wealth? We are all both rich and poor in some way. We all are hungry and full, we all weep and laugh, we all are rejected and accepted.

It points me to Contrast…

In our wealth, rejoice in what God has done for you. Rejoice and love your neighbor, who may be living in contrast to your position in life. Reach out to them in love. Reach out to them in compassion. Reach out to them in action and caring. Don’t look away or persecute your neighbor out of pride in what you have done or achieved. It’s not about you. You are not to pile on pain on pain out of your advantage in life.

When we are poor or hungry or weeping or rejected, look to Jesus’ message…

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.

You are blessed by God. Jesus knows what it’s like and loves you more than anything.

It may not be easy. It won’t be easy to be a disciple of Jesus. But it wasn’t easy for Jesus either. Follow Jesus, “Point to Jesus”, walk with Him and reach out to Him. Jesus IS God. And, in love, reach out to all those God gives to you in love as well.

There is another contrast here as well. Jesus suffered and died and he rose again. And you as well will die and Jesus will raise you up on the last day.

This is a contrast that is spiritual, yet as real as the resurrection is real. There are too many witnesses to deny the resurrection of Jesus. Believe! Trust in God and delight in God’s Law, that you may turn to Jesus for forgiveness… today… tomorrow… and forever.

That’s the blessing, that’s the contrast, that’s the Gospel God gives to all who turn to Him. How could we NOT do anything else?

I leave you with this YouTube Music Video that reminds me of this Gospel Passage…

Blessed Are You

Blessed Are You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XSViv4a9eQ

New Beginning - Luke 5:1-11 - Fifth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 5:1-11 NIV

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

New Beginning

In Adam’s sin, he lost the command of the animal kingdom. In Jesus glory and holiness, He shows command once again of not only the animal kingdom, but of everything, just like it was at the Creation. Here we witness a great catch of fish. Something awesome and new is beginning to take shape, with the coming of God into our world in the flesh of Jesus. This is a new beginning.

Here, in this Gospel passage, God in Jesus, includes us. God includes us, just as God included us in the Creation story recorded in Genesis. In fact, God includes us, His people, throughout all of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and throughout all space and time. God calls us. It’s been happening all along. God calls us to be with Him, act out our lives in His presence, and to be in Communion with Him. God wants communion with His creation. Always has and always will. What a gift of love God has given each and all of us to be with Him and in Him!

Let’s look at a few Old Testament calls…

God calls Moses… excerpts from Exodus 3

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

…¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God calls Gideon while under persecution from the Midianites to save the Israelites… Excerpts from Judges 6

¹¹ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. ¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

¹³ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

¹⁶ The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

God calls Isaiah to prophesy… Excerpts from Isaiah 6

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God calls people, like Moses, Gideon, and Isaiah, from their usual occupations, their usual places, their usual situations in life, TO, God’s mission. God calls you and I as well as all disciples into God’s mission for us. A call to proclaim the saving Gospel of God’s forgiveness and desire to bring each of us and all of us, away from ourselves and to Him in eternity.

And, as shown in the Gospel text above, Jesus Word… the Word that existed before creation, comes to us and makes us want to try again, to be in communion with God. As we see God, we fall in awesome fear at His presence with us, and see how great God is. Yet, God comes to us! That’s amazing!

And in our amazement, and in the presence of God who comes to us, here in this passage of Scripture, Jesus creates in us a great desire to do His will. Jesus creates in the disciples then and disciples today a desire to cast nets to the other side. Jesus creates in us a desire and need to go out into the deep waters.

We see Jesus, we see God, we fall to our knees and can’t help ourselves but to want to be and stay with God, now and into eternity, joyfully doing what God calls us to do.

Jesus displays heavenly power, but tells Simon, “Do not be afraid.” Wow! How can Simon not help but to be afraid, knowing of his own sinfulness, but in the presence of God in Man, and Simon is aware of God in this moment. You see, for Simon, and us as well, we can’t help but to marvel at how Jesus reveals that He IS God!

Jesus comes to us and makes us His friend. Jesus loves us so much that His love takes hold and doesn’t let go of us.

See as the disciple John sees in this Gospel account, God is love. God is an eternal love. God is in love with His created.

Jesus isn’t a flash of thunder and lightning that comes and goes. Jesus’ love comes as love that gets in your heart and melts all your sinfulness, and brings to life, in you, the love He gives you to give to all the people God gives to you in your own world, in this space of yours and this time of yours. Jesus brings His love into your world and calls you to give that love to all in your world.

Jesus once again sits to teach. In this passage, Jesus teaches from a fishing boat, in the water. Reminds me of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters in the Creation. Something New is happening here.

And then it takes place. Jesus tells Simon to do something. Jesus calls Simon and makes Simon part of God’s Mission.

Jesus gives Simon something “real” to do. Go out deeper into the water and cast nets to the opposite side of the boat.

As Simon responds to Jesus’ call and instruction. What happens?

Simon catches so many fish that the huge number of fish and the command of Jesus puts Simon into fear and astonishment and a sense of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of Jesus and His power.

This is real stuff here. The fish were talking about in this passage of Scripture, don’t represent Christian converts, NO, these are real fish, in real time. This stuff is real!

In the presence of the power of Jesus, we feel small and unworthy. Yes, we feel our sinfulness. Yet, this humiliation turns into and becomes our hope. Hope in Jesus.

Jesus calls us to cast our nets, to go deep, not because we know anything, or are qualified. Jesus sees us differently than we see each other and ourselves. Jesus sees us and loves us, even in our sinfulness.

So… we look at Jesus and want nothing more than Him and Him alone.

We rejoice at Jesus command to “Come with me.”

Why?

Because responding to Jesus’ “Come with me.” doesn’t depend on us or our goodness, our qualification, or even our effort. But what God sees through the eyes of Jesus is His children. The very children that God has loved all along. The very children that God wants to spend eternity with.

Our response, along with the response of all disciples throughout all time?

We respond with a hearty YES! A yes in joy and laughter. And we follow Jesus to do His works to God’s mission in this world to love God and love all those God gives to us, telling all those God gives to us in our real world, here and now, how God loves them so much that He comes to us to forgive us and give us everlasting life with Himself, through Himself, as a gracious gift… today… tomorrow… and forever! Thanks be to God!

Point all the world to Jesus, so all may follow!

Let us pray,

Lord, I realize my sin in Your Holy presence. Save me I pray. But, while I’m in my sin, and hear Your call, I can’t help but to answer you out of fear, and out of joy. For some reason You have come to me, so I answer. Keep me always in Your presence, as Your child. --- Amen

I leave you this time with a short video clip from “The Chosen,” depicting the scene of this Gospel passage and reflection. Enjoy, and hear your call!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGCkovAUWM

 

How Well Do You Know Him? - Luke 4:31-44 - Fourth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 4:31-44 NIV

³¹ Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. ³² They were amazed at his teaching, because his words had authority.

³³ In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ³⁴ “Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

³⁵ “Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.

³⁶ All the people were amazed and said to each other, “What words these are! With authority and power he gives orders to impure spirits and they come out!” ³⁷ And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

³⁸ Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. ³⁹ So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.

⁴⁰ At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. ⁴¹ Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.

⁴² At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.” ⁴⁴ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

How Well Do You Know Him?

Well? How well do you really know Jesus? Tell me from your heart.

Here is Jesus once again, do what was the usual for Him. In today’s language; Jesus was going to church, just like he loved to do. Yes, Jesus was in church with the people. What an example for us. We, too, need to attend church… no excuses. Jesus set the example for us to follow.

Jesus’ main activity was teaching and worship on the Sabbath. The message from this passage of Scripture is brief and to the point. So, let’s learn, listen and see. Let’s at least see and acknowledge the Power of God in Jesus as much as the demons do here and now.

Jesus silenced the demons. Jesus wanted the people of His day then and His day now to learn for themselves, what the demons already knew… Jesus IS God.

On this Sabbath, when Jesus taught the people, the people were amazed at Jesus’ words and authority. Jesus main task, at this time, and forever, was to tell the Gospel or Good News to the people present with Him in the synagogue. The result of Jesus telling this Gospel, spreads beyond His time then, to our time today, thanks to the recording of Jesus’ actions in the Bible. But, for this passage of Scripture, Jesus was reaching out to the Jews.

So, what’s the big deal, when we read about a demon possessed man? Notice how the man was possessed by a demon. One demon it seems. But as the demon speaks to Jesus, it changes to the plural. And, notice how the demon or demons know Jesus. Even the demons know Jesus as the “Holy One of God.”

Pronouncing an opponent’s name, in this case, for the demons, Jesus, was an attempt to gain advantage over the opponent… Jesus.

But Jesus is possessed as well. Yes, Jesus is possessed by something way more powerful than just some name calling demons. Jesus has Power in His Word. In fact, Jesus is the Word from the very beginning of time. And in Jesus Word is All power.

And Jesus’ Word is simple. “Come out of him!” And that’s exactly what happens, right then and there. Amazing, to the people then and amazing as well today. At the Word of Jesus come forth the Power to heal everything from God. Not just to heal in the physical, present sense; but to heal for all time and into eternity.

But this eternal healing of Jesus, doesn’t just stop at this point. Jesus goes on from here, laying His hands on the sick, showing that Jesus was God in power. Even power to heal the mother-in-law of Jesus’ own disciple, Simon.

But what about today? Does Jesus heal today?

Sure, but it’s more than what we expect. We may see people healed physically. We may see people healed spiritually. But this passage of Scripture points us beyond all of this as well. This is a testament to the power of Jesus that goes beyond the ordinary. This is a testament to the authority and power of how Jesus comes to us in the midst of our evil, sinful selves and brings eternal healing. Healing beyond the physical needs of this world in illness and death, to a healing that draws us to believe in the God in Jesus. Healing that draws us into His arms, falling from our sinful lives, into Jesus own perfection and sanctified life in and with God.

How’s that?

God sent Jesus into this sinful world for you and me and all. Jesus came to do what we can’t possibly do ourselves. We can’t make ourself holy before God. But… God can make us holy and He does. Through Jesus coming to us with all healing, we are given everything. We are given faith to believe in what God has done. We are forgiven, as we turn to God. God wants us! God wants to be in relationship with us and as He is One with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God, calls us, enlightens us, and gives Himself to us through our baptism and the body and blood of Jesus, as Jesus has done all that needs to be done, for us and to us.

So, how could we not believe? How could we not follow?

But there are some who won’t believe, there are some who won’t follow. But, the free gift of eternal life with God, still stands open and before each sinful person. God wants us and comes to us to give us life.

So… How well do you know Him? Even the demons know God when they see and hear Him.

Likewise, realize, how well God knows you. God knows you and loves you so much that the Father sent the Son into this world to make us One with Him. Turn around and look, see, and listen to the Powerful Word of God… today… tomorrow… and forever.

Rest assured that you can lean on God for all time. God knows you even before you knew you could be known. Yes, there is a day when we will see clearly that face of Jesus and fall into His arms free from pain, tears and death, and into eternal life with God and all those who couldn’t help but to believe and place all their hope in our Savior, Jesus. Thanks be to God!

I leave you with this YouTube Music Video that spoke to me while I was reflecting on this passage of Scripture. At this time in my life, it strikes very close to my heart.

Arms of Jesus

“Arms of Jesus”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnCqrPtblwM

Unexpected - Luke 4:16-30 - Third Sunday after the Epiphany

 

Luke 4:16-30 NIV

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

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
¹⁹     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

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!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 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 off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

Unexpected

There are things that come on unexpected. Things we really can’t foresee or foretell. Things that just don’t jive with the way we think the world should work. Things that happen way out of our own plans. There are things that come on unexpected that we are left to deal with that we would rather not deal with. Unexpected things that break into our world.

I’ll have to admit, even after a week of study of this Gospel passage, of teaching Sunday School, on this same passage, and after worship services; this reflection took on a deep and personal change from what I expected. Yes, to say the least… unexpected.

In this passage of Scripture, a group of Jesus’ hometown folks were left both amazed and hostile. Two emotions that seem to conflict with one another but really don’t. There are things that come on unexpected that maybe first shock or amaze us, but may even leave us a little, or a lot, hostile with God and the way God seems to act in our world. There are things that come on unexpected.

But first let me give you a little background into the type of service common with the Jewish Synagogue worship.

Commonly the service began with the reading of a Shema (shuh-MAH) or prayer. And Old Testament example is…

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

It kind of serves as an introduction to worship. Sets the tone and puts God first.

Then the service would continue with a reading from the Law and/or the Prophets. This would be read while standing.

Next the leader would sit down for teaching on the reading chosen. Kind of like what we think of in Christian worship as the sermon.

Finally, the service would conclude with a blessing from the priest or a layman.

So that’s just a brief explanation of what was going on in the passage of scripture from Luke above.

So, we have Jesus going to the synagogue service… What shouts out to me right off the bat is the words, “as was His custom.” With just a few words we gain insight into how seriously Jesus took “Church.” Or going to church.

This phrase… “as was His custom,” is only used twice in the New Testament. The other time it was used was at the Mount of Olives…

Luke 22:39 NIV

³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.

What was the occasion for Jesus going “as was His custom” or as interpreted here “as usual”? This was when Jesus went to pray after the Last Supper with His disciples. This was just before Jesus’ denial and the start of the night of suffering, leading to His rejection by the people, the religious leaders of the day, his crucifixion and death. Keep this thought in mind for a moment for me.

Jesus prayed. Prayer was very important to Jesus. Jesus prayed alone and in public. Yes, Jesus made a practice of prayer AND going to church.

Today, so many Christians make up shallow excuses that God can be worshipped anywhere. Well, that’s true, BUT… Going it alone in personal prayer is NOT the end of worshipping God. That’s a vital and needed time to reflect, learn and study. That’s a vital time to pray and hear God’s Word, but there’s more.

A Christian disciple NEEDS just as much, fellowship, first with God and together in unity with other disciples IN church. Together in Church, disciples need to have fellowship with other souls “in the fire,” so to speak. Yes, the fire of the Holy Spirit that binds the Church together in Word and Sacrament.

To isolate with God in nature, or any other place alone is fine… BUT “As was his custom,” or “as usual,” Jesus, points us to how God comes to us in unity with one and each other… In Church. Going to Church IS vitally important. Don’t excuse yourself with weak excuses! Yes! Make it your custom… make church going, your usual.

But you look at this Luke passage and see the results? Why would Jesus want this!? Why would you or I want to expose ourselves to such behavior?

First off… Jesus made it perfectly clear with an Old Testament reading that He was the power of God on earth. The power of God sent in Jesus in the love of God for us… ALL of us! This was the power of God that brings good news to the poor, liberty to the oppressed and sight to the blind. This was the power of God that moves to us and in us and through us … TO… ALL people.

Yes, Jesus as God was present in that synagogue then and in our churches today. Jesus’ presence to heal the broken-hearted and give sight to the blind.

Yet, Jesus didn’t want people to be drawn to Him for only physical healing alone. No! Jesus wanted their minds AND souls set free. The gift that Jesus’ proclaimed to those gathered in the synagogue and the churches today IS that God has been and IS near to mankind, in the synagogue and in the churches today.

As we go “as our custom” or “as usual” to church, we look to God and see Jesus. Really see and hear Jesus in Word and Sacrament. God comes to us in the body and the blood of Jesus, in, with, and under the bread and the wine. God comes to us through Word, Promise and the waters of our baptism.  And it’s here, in church, that we look to God and see our neighbor’s souls. It’s here in church that we hear of Jesus’ release of the captive. It’s here in our common confession of our sin, when we give up on our own selfish will, to protect ourselves, and become glad to surrender and release our own will, TO God and TO neighbor.

So, what was the deal with these synagogue folks, these hometown folks of Jesus that upset them so much to want to kill Jesus right then and there?

Well, first off, they knew Jesus as a child. They knew Jesus, and they wanted some clear proof that Jesus was truly God. Sure, Jesus could say He was God through Old Testament scripture, BUT… where’s the proof! Come on Jesus, show us a miracle or give us a cure!

But instead, Jesus gave them examples from Elijah and Elisha, where God came to Gentiles. Gentiles… outsiders… people NOT of this synagogue. Perhaps today we might think of people outside of the wonderful Christian “like” people. Jesus gave examples of God coming to heal and save “those” other people. How disgusting!

The people were upset with Jesus’ teaching of “Grace” that reaches the Gentiles as well as the Jews… in other words… Grace that reaches all mankind.

Be careful that our own privilege as disciples, does not push away other people as intolerable. That’s selfish pride. Remember… You too are a Gentile!

And the attitude of the people went from praise to disbelief in Jesus.

“Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.

The question actually points to hostility… NOT… surprise.

Sometimes there are things that come on unexpected.

So, what’s the point? The prophets Elijah and Elisha ministered to non-Jews also. God comes to ALL of us, not just a chosen few, or the people who declare themselves to be good in the sight of God. Nope! God reaches out with His Grace and love in Jesus to ALL. Yes, all, even a dirty thief hanging on a cross next to Him, even my own sinful self as well as your own dirty sinful self.

And the people of Jesus’ hometown were angry. The people of Jesus’ hometown were filled with wrath, with the thought that the gifts and benefits of Jesus’ new ministry would go to those filthy, dirty, sinful, Gentiles too.

Yet, think back earlier in this reflection; this rejection of Jesus by His own hometown people prepared Him, and us, for the rejection of Jesus by the Sanhedrin… religious leaders, the Jewish nation. Yes, the rejection of God’s gift of the Gospel of freedom from sin and death through Jesus saving Grace.

You see, salvation is for both Jew and Gentile… for ALL mankind.

In the words of Paul… from the book of the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 28:28 NIV

²⁸ “Therefore I want you to know that God’s salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!”

There are things that come on unexpected. Things we really can’t foresee or foretell. Things that just don’t jive with the way we think the world should work. Things that happen way out of our own plans. There are things that come on unexpected that we are left to deal with that we would rather not deal with. Unexpected things that break into our world.

But, remember… Jesus will give us the Grace and love to walk right through that valley of death to something new, something great, something that will bring us the unity with God and one another in eternity, as we praise God and Jesus in love. One for another and all for God.

There are thinks that come on unexpected… yet God has it. God has it all figured out… today… tomorrow… and forever. Thanks be to God!

As I reflect on Jesus’ walking away from that wrath filled crowd, this YouTube music came to mind. It also reminds me of something much closer as well…

“Into Marvelous Light I’m Running”

Into Marvelous Light I'm Running

God bless you this week and always… Bill