Sermon

Going Home – 24 January : Luke 4.14-21

There is a story about a father who became disturbed about the length of time his eight year old son was taking to get home from school. The father decided he would make the trip to discover for himself how long it should take a small boy to cover the distance. The father settled on 20 minutes but his son was still taking forty minutes. Finally the father decided to make the trip with his son. After the trip, the father said, "The 20 minutes I thought reasonable was right, but I failed to consider such important things as a side trip to track down a trail of ants...or the time it took to swing around a half dozen telephone poles...or how much time it took for a boy just to get acquainted with two stray dogs and brown cat.”In short," said the father, "I had forgotten what it is really like to be eight years old."

Remember when you were 8? Think back to the place you called home! Author, Thomas Wolfe said, "You can’t go home again," Was he right? And if you could and if you did what would it be like? Home, those four letters, flood some minds with warm thoughts of laughter, family dinner’s home made by the greatest cook on planet earth and a simpler time! Home for some brings harsh memories, fear, and a feeling that is somewhere between hopelessness and regret! There was a time in the Life of the Lord Jesus when he went home, to Nazareth the city of his upbringing. In Luke’s Gospel 4: 14f we learn that even for Jesus, going home can sometimes be difficult!

I. You can go home and be popular.
II. You can go home and be rejected.
III. You can go home, but there will come time to leave.

I. You can go home and be popular “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour." 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, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 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. It was this synagogue that Jesus must have frequented in the years he and His parents lived in Nazareth. Jesus went home! Familiar sights and faces greeted him!

Yet this wasn’t to be a typical homecoming. Jesus journeys to his home church, where he begins to read the word of God. They turned to one another and with faces beaming recalled Jesus in his formative years, when as a boy he would amaze the synagogue teachers and Torah readers with his insight. And now, he has returned, and isn’t it nice to see him again, how wonderful to hear him read again. To see him again in the synagogue as was his custom each Sabbath. 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. These words were refreshing, they pointed people to the hope of a messiah who would come and liberate the Jewish people from the tyranny of the Romans! Yes! It will be wonderful to be apart of a new political movement, where we will be in charge, led by the promised one! They believed Jesus was speaking of the coming messiah not himself! Family and friends will often warm to a general challenge to follow God, and to expect something from God! As long as it’s projected, futuristic, out there somewhere…no problem. You can go home and be popular! As long as your faith in God is not directly presented to those from home it’s ok and yours will be a welcome face! For Jesus, you see, you can go home and be popular! As long as your faith stays hidden, tucked away and quiet! When Jesus went home he was popular at first. Until he stepped out of his comfort zone and declared who he was!

When he did, don’t be surprised when: II. You can go home and be rejected. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ’Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ “"I tell you the truth," he continued, "No prophet is accepted in his hometown. 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. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 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." All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. Elijah was one of the greatest of Old Testament prophets. During a terrible famine he stayed at the home of widow who lived in Canaanite territory and provided, through miracles, food for her and her son. Elijah was succeeded by his servant Elisha. And while he prophesied in Israel, the commander in chief of the Syrian army arrived demanding to be cured of his leprosy. The five star general was not only a foreigner, but the Syrians were Israel’s ruthless enemy. Elisha sent him to wash seven times in the Jordan. And when the general came out of the water his leprosy was not only healed but his skin "was restored like the flesh of a young boy" (2 Kings 5:14). These stories were very familiar. But Jesus pointed out a very unexpected conclusion. There were a huge numbers of widows in Israel at the time of Elijah, but not one of them experienced a miracle. And there were hundreds of lepers wandering around the countryside and not one of them was healed. The point was obvious. The local people all thought "Oh this is Elijah, he was raised among us, what can he do? And we know Elisha. He was just Elijah’s personal servant. We wouldn’t expect a miracle from him." Scornful unbelief always prevents God’s healing power. Jesus hearers were furious at the suggestion that God cared about foreigners from among the despised Canaanites and the hated Syrian enemies of Israel. So we read All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. Jesus compared the real unbelief they had in their hearts with the unbelief in the hearts of their ancestors thousands of years earlier. Jesus tells them just like God the Father blessed non-Jews in their ancestors’ day; God would bless non-Jews through the ministry and life of Jesus. They stop liking Jesus at this point - they started hating Jesus. There are times we will hear from God things we would rather not hear - a word of correction or rebuke that reveals our own faults problems, or prejudices. We need to ask ourselves this direct question. “Is there anybody in my life that I don’t want God to bless?” In this story the people of Nazareth exhibit a mindset that Jesus ran into his whole ministry. He kept getting into conflicts with people who didn’t want God to bless non-Jews, the unfaithful sinners, the drunkards, the children the foreigners, and the outcasts, each and every time Jesus found a way to bless those others did not want blessed. I. You can go home and be popular. II. You can go home and be rejected.

Notice: III. You can go home, but there will come time to leave. All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. 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 down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” They had heard enough! Its one thing to leave a town and become successful, quite another to return and speak on behalf of God, and challenge the motives of those who believe their adhering to the will of God! What do you do when those familiar faces and places no longer want to hear what you have to say, especially if it is about God?

I believe that love, and kindness should always be a part of our personality and interaction with people. However when those in your life try to get you to compromise your faith and adopt a less expressive relationship with the Lord, then there may come the time to say goodbye, until a more opportune time. You can go home and be popular. You can go home and be rejected. You can go home, but there will come time to leave.

To place devotion to God above the acceptance of people!