The Downtown Presbyterian Church

Sermons

Is This A Hard Word?

Luke 4:21-30

Rev. Kenneth M. Locke

February 1, 2004

So tell me, how do you think you would have reacted to Jesus if you had been there at Nazareth that day? Would you have been part of the lynch mob? Would Jesus’ message have been a hard word for you? Or do you think you would have been touched by the grace and love of the message?

It must have been quite a sight: Sabbath day, everyone in their best clothes, anxious for a glimpse of the local boy who’s made good coming home to speak. Sort of like John Kerry coming back to speak at his old High School.

Jesus is there, looking good, shaking hands. He stands up and reads the scroll. Fine voice, mighty fine voice. And he reads the great passage of liberation, the great passage foretelling the beginning of the end for the Roman oppressors, how God is going to restore Israel to it’s rightful boundaries and create fair tax laws and let all the freedom fighters out of jail.

Then he sits down to speak. He clears his throat. Everyone’s staring, transfixed, waiting to hear his words. And he says, “The time has come! I am the one! The Kingdom of God is coming and it’s on a roll. Nothing’s going stop us. The Scripture has been fulfilled.”

Chaos! Women swooning, old men weeping - everyone is hugging and dancing. “Yes, that’s our Jesus. Joseph’s boy! Taught him how to play ball. Always knew he’d end up being a servant of the living God.”

Jesus hushes the crowd. They’re waiting, expectant. “Now doubtless you want me to do for you what I did in Capernaum. Multiply a little bread, walk on some water, heal Nazareth like I healed all those other towns. But you know what? I can’t do that here because you don’t get it.

“God’s love isn’t just for us! Remember how in Elijah’s time during the drought people were dying all over the place, but God only sent Elijah to a foreigner, a widow in Sidon.

“And remember how in Elisha’s time there were lots of good Jews with leprosy, but God only healed Naaman, a foreigner from Syria.

“God’s love doesn’t have territorial boundaries. God’s love isn’t just for those who worship properly and follow the laws well and interpret the Bible like we do. It’s for everyone. Even those Romans we all hate!”

And the crowd rose up as one, and tried to kill him.

Would you have been part of that crowd? Would the inclusive nature of God’s love have offended you so badly you would have started stoning the messenger?

For three weeks in a row I’ve had to unclog one of the toilets downstairs during our Sunday breakfast. Twice it was pretty nasty. I had to get the plunger and plunge it and then get the mop and mop up the water. If Jesus had appeared to me right then and said “You know Ken, God loves people who deliberately clog the toilet and God wants you to love them too,” I think I’d have taken a swing at him.

Is God’s love good news? When you come face-to-face with the person who seduced your daughter, who sold drugs to your son, who split up your parents’ marriage, who stole your work and robbed you of a pay raise, is God’s inclusive love good news, or is it a hard word? Would you try and kill the messenger, or rejoice?

I guess it depends on whether or not we know how unworthy we are of God’s love. I guess it depends on whether or not we’ve ever really come face-to-face with our own sinfulness, been convicted of our sins. It depends on whether or not we’ve ever come to realize how sinful we are.

When we can look at the person who’s not only upset our apple cart but who’s also stomped the apples, slaughtered the horses and burned the cart, when we can look at the person who’s ruined our life and thank God that God’s love extends to them, it’s because we know we’ve done things just as hideous and abhorrent to God and still God’s love extends to us.

Is Jesus’ message of God’s universal love good news for us? Or is it a hard word? I guess that depends. But either way, it’s the message we need to hear.

Those with ears to hear, let them listen. Amen.