Tag Archives: Nazareth

Hometown Prophet!

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“Hometown Prophet!”

Mark 6:1-6 (6:4) – July 4, 2021

            I suspect you have heard of the saying “local boy makes good.” This is an old-fashioned newspaper type of story that used to be common in print journalism. And not only print! It’s a common trope or plot line in movies and television shows, too.

            I am sure you know kids from the neighborhood who moved away after high school or college, who have become quite successful in whatever craft or trade they may have taken up. Their parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles can’t wait to boast about their young person, all grown up and doing wonderful things in the world of adults.

The Gospel reading from Mark today talks about a “local boy makes good,” too. The Rabbi Jesus and His group of disciples come into the town where Jesus grew up. And, what a complicated home-coming this is for Jesus!

Let’s imagine how a small town of today might approach this situation. “The town sign maker is yawning; he stayed up late last night finishing the banner that is now draped across the entry gate to town that says “Welcome to Nazareth, home of Jesus.” The City Council members on the front row [of the synagogue] are all abuzz. They can’t wait to show Jesus the drawings for his Ministry Center to be built on some prime real estate just south of town. They’ve made him a website and set up a blog and a twitter account for him.”[1]

But, wait a minute. That is not quite right. Mark’s Gospel reading doesn’t work that way. Sure, some of the people in Nazareth might be looking forward to having their hometown boy come back to preach in their hometown synagogue, but that is by no means the majority opinion.

            Can’t you hear the grumbling and mumbling going on? Is Jesus getting too big for His britches, putting on airs?  “Isn’t this the son of Mary sitting over there?  And aren’t those his brothers standing there, Judas, Joses, and Simon?  Aren’t those his sisters?  He is just that common kid from Nazareth.  You know, the kid who grazed our donkeys; who watered our animals, who drew water from the well for us to drink. There is nothing too special about him.” [2]

            Can you remember learning to do something you were not able to do when you were younger? I can remember teaching my children to tie their shoes, in kindergarten. One day they were struggling with that skill, and the next day, no problem! Other skills, too – like riding a bike, or driving a car, or learning to knit, or how to hit a baseball. These are things that take some time. We need to learn and grow in order to be able to accomplish these skills and abilities.

            Perhaps the townspeople in Nazareth weren’t used to that idea – the concept of learning and growing, and taking time to accomplish different skills and abilities. Mark’s Gospel clearly says that a number of townsfolk took offense at Jesus. Some commentaries particularly mention this word. In Greek, it is “skandalon,” from which we get the word “scandal.” Can you imagine being scandalized by a young man from your hometown or neighborhood actually preaching, teaching, and even doing miracles? I cannot imagine it – it’s  a little beyond me, but Mark says it’s so, right here in chapter 6.     

            Some people very much want to go home. After traveling, sometimes wandering, the concept of “home” – wherever or whatever that is – becomes  a yearning deep within the heart. One of my commentators said, “Jesus went home, but home didn’t take him in. My inclination in such a scenario would be to feel sorry for myself. Poor me, they don’t understand me, the real me, the me I have become. They still see the goofy kid I was instead of the man I have become. Because there is within us the desire to go home. Or maybe better, there is within us the desire to be home, to be welcomed home, to feel at home.”[3]

            Isn’t that a deep, heartfelt need within each of us? Don’t we all – in some sense – desire to be at home? Think of home, talk about home, wish for home, even when far, far away?

            A pastor acquaintance of mine was remembering about her family’s high school exchange student from Kenya, a number of years back. At the high school talent show, the student did not tell anyone what she was going to sing. Lo and behold, she sang “This Land Is Your Land,” using all descriptions of Kenya – far away though she was. She picked that song and believed that song was written especially for Kenya! [4]

            There are hometowns all over this country, in fact, all over this world. People sometimes have an incredible connection to their hometown. True, some people in Jesus’ hometown didn’t believe He could do all of the preaching, teaching and miracles! Instead, they remembered Jesus when he was a young child— when he hadn’t yet learned how to teach, preach, and heal people. They couldn’t believe God had given Jesus the power to speak and to heal others.

            This neighborhood, where this church sits, is diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. People around here have hometowns all over this world! Not just from Chicago, or Illinois, or even the United States. We all want a country that feels like home, which means we need people, all the people – of the people, by the people, and for the people – to show us the way to go home. Show us the way to be home, a heavenly home for all God’s children. No matter where they were born. [5]

Please God, we can all have eyes open and hearts ready to receive all God has to offer us, today, including a deep, true sense of home – a heavenly home with God. Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

(Thanks to Illustrated Ministries for their lesson for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost from Mark 6, from their 2020 Summer Children’s series.)

[1] “Following a Hometown Boy,” Alyce M. McKenzie, Edgy Exegesis, Patheos, 2012.

[2] “Offended by the Nice Little Kid from Nazareth,” Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/your-bone-flesh/sixth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b-lectionary-planning-notes/sixth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-b-preaching-notes

[4] Thanks to Rev. Elizabeth Mae Magill for this wonderful story!

[5] Ibid, www.umcdiscipleship.org

Proclaim the Gospel!

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“Proclaim the Gospel!”

Luke 4-18 word cloud

Luke 4:14-21 – June 26, 2016

The primary season is over. You all know what that means. The presidential primaries have been going on for months, and they are finally over. Some people in the United States have followed the debates, listened to the various candidates, and discussed the various political positions, pro and con. What’s more, we are also going to elect congressional representatives, and state and local officials, too. Campaigning will begin in earnest this fall.

All of this campaigning has a purpose. The various candidates all try to have their position distilled down to a simple message. What they stand for. What they will strive to do.

I want us to look at the Gospel passage for today, from Luke. This is the very beginning of the public ministry of Rabbi Jesus. We can draw some parallels between this passage and the political campaign going on in our country, right now.

Sure, this was the very beginning. Jesus was just starting to make a name for Himself as an itinerant rabbi. And, He came to His hometown, the place where He grew up. Maybe where the butcher and baker down the street were good friends with His parents from way back. Maybe the real estate agent across the square sold His parents their house some years before, the house where His mother Mary still lives. In other words—I suspect everyone in that village was there in the synagogue that day to hear what the Rabbi Jesus—their hometown boy!—had to say.

Jesus already had generated some buzz in the greater Nazareth area. “Have you heard the latest about that Jesus? The one who says He is a Rabbi? The one who was baptized in the River Jordan by that Baptizer fellow? And, there was something about the heavens cracking open, a dove flying out of a clear blue sky—and a voice from heaven! I’m not saying all this was for real or not, but that is what people are saying about this Jesus. You know, the guy from our town.”

Jesus had hardly started to do His public ministry, and people were already talking about Him and what had happened in His life. Even in Nazareth, the town where He had grown up.

I am fascinated by this particular reading, where Jesus preaches His first sermon. It is quite a bit like political campaigns. The various candidates all try to have their position distilled down to a simple message. What they stand for. What they will strive to do. Just so, with Jesus.

Let’s read from our passage from the Gospel of Luke, again. “Jesus 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.’”

There we have it. Jesus distilled His message down. His position, what He stands for, and what He will strive to do. Jesus is here to proclaim good news. Or, in the word from middle English, God-spell. What we today know as Gospel. Proclaim the good news, indeed!

This is what we are told in the sentence for this week from the United Church of Christ’s Statement of Mission. “Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are called and commit ourselves: To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our suffering world.”
If we say this passage from Luke is Jesus’s basic position statement for His overall ministry, how does that work for us? Jesus said He would proclaim: 1) good news to the poor, 2) freedom for the prisoners, 3) recovery of sight for the blind, and 4) to set the oppressed free.

My first thought is, I’m not poor! Or, a prisoner, or blind, or oppressed, either. I am not any of those things. What kind of stuff is Jesus saying here?

I live a fairly comfortable life in a small condo in Evanston. Seriously, what is Jesus bringing up? Does He have some kind of secret message? If these are the types of people Jesus says He is going to preach and minister to, I am not sure I would be comfortable with it. All that talk about the poor and blind, grief-stricken and oppressed, that is giving me some hesitation about following this new Rabbi Jesus.

But, let’s take a closer, deeper look. Here Jesus is addressing the poor. Could that be the poor in spirit, as well as poor, materially speaking? Next up, He addresses the prisoners. Perhaps, prisoners of sin? Then, speaking to the blind; blind to the love and gifts of God in their lives? And, Jesus came for the oppressed. Oppressed by anxiety, doubt, fear, anger, self-loathing, self-pity, self-righteousness. (I could go on, but I think you all have the idea.)

That is why Jesus has come to earth. That is His message, His purpose statement, distilled down to the pure essence. He has come to preach the Good News. The Gospel. The year of the Lord’s favor.

One of the commentators I consulted said it another way: “This Spirit inspired message is one of justice and mercy, of righteousness and freedom. This is a prophetic ministry, and when Jesus finishes reading the passage He sat down, and with every eye in the congregation focused on Him, He told them: ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ In other words: I’m the one Isaiah spoke of. I’m going to do these very things.” [1]

Jesus is correct. He does do these things. That is why He came. That is the Good News, the distilled message of hope, love and promise from God. Moreover, He has come to bring that message to us—to each and every one of us, no matter what.

Jesus’s message is Good News! However, for us to really hear it, we need to become aware of our poverty, our captivity, our blindness, and what we are oppressed by. This is news “that we are not who we want to be, can be, and should be…and we never will be. Jesus comes bringing good news to those in need, and those who don’t see and admit their need want nothing to do with him.” [2]

What is more, Jesus tells us to do these things, too. We are to proclaim the Good News just as much as He proclaims it. We are sent in the same way that He is sent.

I would like everyone to turn to the back page of the bulletin. Look at the listing of the church staff. Who heads the list? We do. We all do! We are ALL ministers, every one of us sitting here today. Yes, and those in other places right now, too. Ministering, carrying the Good News of the Gospel wherever they are, too.

I loved the way the commentator David Lose put it: “This, in a sense, is what the Body of Christ and community of faith is – God’s hands delivering the promise of good news to all who come in need. Afraid? We may ask those around us. Come here to find courage. Lonely? Come join our community. Ill? Come here – or better, let us come to you – to care for you. Isolated? We will visit you. Discouraged? Let us gather together and encourage one another.”

Good News for all people, just as the angels said at Christ’s birth. Remember the Christmas narrative from Luke chapter 2? This is why Jesus was born to us. This is why He came into the world. How much better news could there possibly be?

What about you? Are you going to accept Jesus Christ’s offer of Good News today? Remember the words of the angel to the shepherds: “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”  Ministering, carrying the Good News of the Gospel to each of us, to all the people, today.

[1] http://www.bobcornwall.com/2016/01/the-charismatic-messiah-lectionary.html

[2]  “Jesus’ Inaugural Address,” David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2013.  http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=1771

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my regular blog for 2016: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and my other blog,  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!)