I Tell You the Truth

Luke 4: 16-30

Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen.  The sermon text for the third Sunday after Epiphany is the Gospel reading Luke 4.  Have you ever disagreed with anything that Jesus said or did?  We can explore that question in our Gospel reading for today. Our reading takes place during our Lord’s ministry in Galilee.  During that time the Lord preached God’s Word and He performed many miracles.  The news about Him and His activities spread throughout the countryside.  It was His custom to go into the village synagogues to teach the people.  The synagogues were places where the people assembled for worship and study of God’s Word.  In our Gospel reading Luke gives us an account of Jesus preaching in a synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth. The people in His hometown had heard stories about Jesus and they were eager to hear Him speak to them.  They marveled at what He said at first but eventually the crowd at the synagogue became angry and turned against the Lord. The people became angry with Jesus because He did not do what they wanted Him to do.  The people refused to listen to Jesus because He did not say what they wanted to hear. 

First, they wanted Jesus to perform a miracle for them.  Jesus had grown up in their town so when they had heard that He had done miraculous signs in other villages they wanted Him to do those miracles for them. The Lord came to Nazareth, but He did not perform a miracle for the people.  He didn’t want them to think that He was only a miracle worker.  He wanted them to know that He came to rescue the world from sin and death.  He wanted them to know that He was the promised Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. He came to preach God’s Word to them and to reveal to them that He is the Savior. 

Second, the crowd wanted Jesus to teach them what they wanted to hear.  The crowd wanted Jesus to tell them that they were saved and part of God’s Kingdom because they were Jewish.  Instead Jesus told them that salvation is given to both Jews and Gentiles through Him.  He told them that He was ushering in the Kingdom God and that the words of Isaiah were speaking about Him.  He then retold two accounts from the Old Testament about Elijah and Elisha.  They were both examples of how God’s grace extended to all people.   He told them that God’s plan of salvation included the Gentiles. 

The crowd wanted a miracle.  Jesus did not give it to them.  The crowd wanted Him to say that God’s salvation would only come to them.  Jesus told them that God’s salvation was to be given to all the people of the earth.  The crowd became angry when Jesus did not do what they wanted Him to do. They became enraged when He did not tell them what they wanted to hear.

How do you react when God’s Word does not match what you think?  Sometimes, we want the Lord to do some sort of miracle in our own life to make things easier for us.  Sometimes, we want the Lord to lift one of our burdens and we want Him to do it right now. Yet we know that the Lord does not always do that, at least not right away.  How do we react when God does not do what we want Him to do?  Do we get discouraged?  Do we start to doubt God?  Do we get angry with the Lord like the people in our text?  Jesus does not always say what we want Him to say either.  We hear the Word of God each Sunday in church. We read the Bible throughout the week. Yet we don’t always want to hear what Christ says to us.  Our Lord tells us to forgive each other.  Yet, due to our sinful nature we often want to hold on to our grudges.  The Lord calls upon us to serve each other.  Yet there are times when we only think of ourselves.  Christ tells us to be a Christian witness.  Yet we will be tempted to follow along with the sinful ways of the world. Jesus calls upon us to do what is right and in doing so take up our cross.  Yet we don’t want any cross to be put on us even if it is for our good.  It has been revealed to us that we are completely dependent on the Lord yet in our pride, we want to be self-sufficient in all things. How do we react when the Lord does not say what we want to hear?  Do we ignore the Lord?  Do we pick and chose what Bible passages we like and the ones that we don’t like?  Do we get angry with Jesus like the crowd of people in our text?

In our Old Testament reading Ezra, the priest, read the Word of God to the people of Israel.  The people had just returned to the Promised Land after a long exile.  It had been several years since many of them had heard the Word of the Lord.  He read it to them from early morning to midday. The people reacted with sorrow upon hearing God’s Law as they realized how sinful they were.  When they heard God’s Word, they were brought to repentance. Ezra then told them not to be sorrowful but to have great joy because God had forgiven them.  The people of the Old Testament heard the Word of God, and their hearts were turned to Him.  The people hated their sin, and they were grateful to God for His grace. 

Jesus Christ walked into the synagogue in Nazareth because He had an important message for the people. He gives that same message to us. Jesus words tell us that the Kingdom of God is present.  Jesus quoted Isaiah because those words described Him, and they described His work. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”   The spiritually poor are made rich in Christ, those captive to sin are set free, those who are spiritually blind are able to see God for who He is.  He is our Creator and Redeemer.  He showed His love for us when He sent His Son into the word to be our Savior.  The year of the Lord’s favor is found in Jesus. 

The Lord does not always do what we want Him to do, like perform a miracle in our life or lift a burden. Does that mean that the Gospel message is not true?  Of course not.  We are reminded that Christ came to do what was most important.  He sacrificed Himself on the cross to bring us redemption. Christ does indeed do miracles for us. His greatest miracle is His resurrection from the dead because it assures us of God’s great love for us. The Lord Jesus came to bring us into right relation with God.  He came to forgive us, save us from sin and death, restore us, and give us eternal life. If Jesus gives us these things through His death and resurrection, He will also give to us what we need in this life. For all blessings come from Him. That would include strengthening our faith, refining us, and lifting our burdens when the time is right.

Christ does not always say what we want to hear.  Let us be thankful for that.  Because the message that He gives to us brings us to saving faith.  The Words of the Law bring us to repentance.  The Good News of Jesus Christ gives us salvation. When the Lord speaks to us it is good indeed.  Jesus does not always do what we want Him to do.  Let us also be thankful for that.  For the Lord’s actions are always for our good.  When we reflect on what He has done for us at the cross, what He does now, and in the future, we will find that it is glorious.  Let us listen to what the Lord has to say to us.  Let us marvel at what He does for us.  May the Spirit of God strengthen our faith, renew our hearts and open our eyes so that we can see the true glory of God. Amen.