Encountering Jesus

There are still a few weeks remaining in the Epiphany season. As we come to this part of the season, we notice a sad change in the tone of the Gospel for the day. Epiphany begins as the magi rejoice in the star as it leads them to the new born king. The Gospel for First Sunday after Epiphany gives an account of the witness of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit at Jesus’ Baptism: “This is my beloved Son.” Last week, we have the joyful epiphany of Jesus to the disciples and the servants as Jesus rescues a wedding from social embarrassment by converting more than a hundred gallons of water into wine. So far everything is great. Jesus is a smash hit.

Something changed when Jesus returned to Nazareth. Today’s Gospel informs us that many people became angry when Jesus revealed Himself. The people in Nazareth were so angry that they were ready to toss Jesus over a cliff. Normally, tossing someone over a cliff was a prelude to stoning. The stones did more damage to the victim when they were thrown down from a height. That, and the wild scavengers could come and feast on the body without endangering the town after the victim was dead. What did Jesus do that made the gentle-folk of Nazareth want to kill Him?

The context of today’s Gospel tells us that the events in today’s Gospel happened a short time after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and then tempted in the wilderness. Although He has a following, He has not yet officially called anyone to be an Apostle. On the other hand, He has been authorized to read and teach in the synagogues. So Jesus returned to Nazareth as the young rabbi who was causing quite a stir in the rest of Galilee. It was very natural for the synagogue ruler to invite this young rabbi to teach on the Sabbath.

According to the lectionary, the reading for the day was from Isaiah 61. [Isaiah 61:1,2a] The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor. If you examine the context of these words in Isaiah, you will notice that even though Isaiah ministered over 700 years before Jesus was even born, He still followed Jesus’ instructions to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins. Isaiah has just finished an account of the many sins of Israel. He has called them to repent. Then, in chapter 60, Isaiah begins a proclamation of forgiveness. The captives and the prisoners in this prophecy are not just the captives and prisoners of the political enemies of Israel, but they are also the captives and prisoners of sin. So the words that Jesus read that day were from the middle of that great proclamation of the forgiveness of sin that Isaiah proclaimed to all of Israel. So, the people gathered in that synagogue were waiting for Jesus to explain this prophecy that the Holy Spirit gave to Isaiah over 700 years ago.

[Jesus] rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Basically, Jesus pointed to Himself as the fulfillment of this prophecy of forgiveness. Jesus is the bearer of good news. Jesus is the binder of the broken heart. Jesus is the liberator of the captive. Jesus is the opener of the prison. Jesus is the bringer of the Year of Jubilee. Jesus identified Himself as the forgiveness that Isaiah, by the power of the Holy Spirit, spoke of in his message to Israel. Jesus identified Himself as the Kingdom of God come down to earth to save people from sin.

It is not surprising that the people in the synagogue were blown away by Jesus’ words. You can’t just walk into the synagogue and claim to be the fulfillment of prophecy. If you make a false claim be the fulfillment of prophecy, you have just committed blasphemy. Blasphemy is a stoning offense. It is not surprising that the people in the synagogue were astonished at what Jesus said.

As bewildered as the people are, Jesus has not finished His sermon. His teaching about prophecy was not complete. Prophecy is not only fulfilled, but it is also rejected. All the prophets of the Bible had two characteristics: 1). they spoke the truth that God gave to them; 2). their audience rejected the truth that God gave to them. In fact, most of the prophets died because they spoke the truth of God’s Word to the people.

Jesus gave two examples: Elijah and Elisha. Elijah stayed with a Gentile widow during a great famine. Elisha healed a general of the Gentile Syrians who were the sworn enemies of Israel.. In both cases Israel rejected the prophets of God, and in both cases God sent His prophets to bless Gentiles.

After Jesus taught about rejection, the people of Nazareth demonstrated His teaching. Instead of recognizing their own hardness of heart and repenting, they acted to kill Jesus. That is when they tried to throw Him from the cliff.

Let’s just stop for a moment and think about this. Jesus preached a two part sermon. In the first part of the sermon, He claimed to be the Kingdom of God come down to earth. In the second part of the sermon, He spoke of the historical rejection of the prophets. Which part made the people angry enough to kill?

Anyone who lied about fulfilling prophecy deserved to die by stoning. The people who heard Jesus’ sermon should have investigated Him based on His claim to be the fulfillment of the prophecy. If Jesus can provide evidence that He really is the fulfillment of the prophecy, then the people should fall on their faces and worship Him. If Jesus can’t do that, then stoning is the correct response. Never the less, at Jesus’ claim to fulfill the prophets, the people only got bewildered.

On the other hand, when Jesus reminded them of the well documented sins of their ancestors, they were ready to kill Him. The very scrolls in that synagogue held the record that what Jesus said was the truth. The facts of this rejection were regularly taught in all the synagogues.

The failure of the people of Nazareth was that they didn’t care that Jesus might have committed blasphemy. Instead, they were angry that Jesus had told them the truth about their own sin.

This problem is not restricted to Nazareth. It is part of our sinful nature to be quite tolerant of people who make some really outrageous claims for their spirituality. On the other hand, we are ready to go nuclear when someone points out the obvious truth of our own sin, especially if that sin is one of our favorite things. Our sinful nature wants to reject the very Word of God when we hear the clear proclamation of our deepest, darkest, most favorite sin.

It is a very sad thing to reject God’s message of sin in our lives. Rejecting God’s message of sin means that we also reject God’s message of salvation. As the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to write to Timothy, [1 Timothy 1:15] “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” If we say that we are not sinners, then we are saying that Jesus is not for us. The true heart of the Gospel message is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and you qualify.

Jesus was telling the truth when He claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophets. All we need do is think back to His baptism. There the Spirit descended on Jesus in the form of a dove as an exact fulfillment of the words of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me.” God the Father also witnessed to Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophets as He said to Jesus, [Luke 3:22] “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Jesus wants to give us the gifts that He purchased for us with His holy life, His suffering, and His death. He wants to give the gifts that He authenticated with His resurrection from the dead. He wants to tell us how His death on the cross has freed us from our captivity, opened our eyes to His salvation, and liberated us from sin’s oppression.

He comes to us as He came to the people of Nazareth in their synagogue. He has given us His teachings in the words of the Bible. He has promised that when we hear His words, the Holy Spirit will work in us to establish and strengthen our belief in Him. He has promised to put the very name of God on us in Holy Baptism. He has promised to come to us in His very body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar. The gifts that Jesus offered to the people in Nazareth will be ours.

Jesus truly is the fulfillment of God’s promises. He is the Anointed One, the Christ, the Messiah. He has preached the Good News of the Kingdom of God. He has shown us the light of His salvation. With His life, suffering, and death on the cross, He has freed those oppressed by sin. With His resurrection, He offers the Lord’s favor to us. He gives these things to us through the Holy Spirit’s gift of faith. God has promised all these things to us and today they are fulfilled in our hearing. Amen

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Encountering Jesus

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