The Challenge
Luke 4: 14-21
January 21,
2007
14-21 Then Jesus,
filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report
about him spread
through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues
and was praised by everyone.
When he came to Nazareth, where he had been
brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his
custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was
written:
“The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to
the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed
on him. Then he began to say to them,
“Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.”
What a powerful story, Luke
the evangelist shares with us this morning.
The young man has returned back to his home village. This is the same
young man who as a boy probably ran through the streets playing with his
friends. This is the same young man that many watch grow up in their
community. On the Sabbath day, he did what all were supposed to do. He
went to the synagogue to learn more about ones faith. While he was
worshipping in the synagogue someone handed him the scroll to read. It was
opened to the words of Isaiah. At that moment Jesus
challenged his home community and his home synagogue to be about
God’s business. He challenged them to move
from the norm to a mission ministry lifestyle.
Our family had been appointed to serve another congregation in
Northeastern North Carolina and we had only been in that community for a
few weeks when I met a person who used to be a member of the church that
we were serving. We had the polite introductions and the small talk for a
few moments. Then that person said: “May I ask you a question?” I thought:
“well I have just met you so it can not be to tough of a question so I
said: “yes ma’am!” She then asked this question. She said: “Jesus
said: “the poor will always be with you” and my question is “why worry
about them?” My next thought was: “Lord, what have you gotten me into?” We
had an interesting conversation that day. It is one that has stayed with
me over the years because that person would tell you that she was a
faithful follower of Jesus of Nazareth and
that she did not need to worry about the poor. That thought is one that
continues to throw challenges at me when I read this passage.
Through Isaiah God proclaimed that the people
of God were and are to care about others. The
people of God are to see past their own needs
and desires and discover how to change and make other persons lives
better. Jesus that day was challenging his
hometown folks to do more than just help themselves. He was challenging
them to see past their own needs and see the needs of all of
God’s created children.
Those words ring true for the Church today. We are called to look out
these windows and past these grounds and discover those in this world who
are hurting. We are called to be more than just a place where we meet our
own needs. We are called to step out on faith and go into a world and make
a difference in that world.
John Wesley was an interesting disciple of Jesus
of Nazareth. He struggled early in his ministry due to relationships and
ideas that kept him from a personal relationship with Jesus. Even after
his heart was “strangely warmed, he held onto some of those ideas.” Mr.
Whitfield was about to leave London and urged Wesley to come to Bristol
and take over for him. He was urging Wesley to go into the streets and
preach the saving words of Christ to the
people. Wesley did not want to do it. His brother Charles did not want
him to do it. Their society at Fetter Lane decided to draw lots to
discover what God would have him do. That
proved to be risky for Mr. Wesley. The lots were drawn and he was sent to
meet Whitfield and to begin this new ministry.
He wrote in his journal on March 29, 1739 these words: “I left London and
in the evening expounded to a small company at Basingstoke.” The on March
31 – a Saturday, he wrote: In the evening I reached Bristol and met Mr.
Whitfield there. I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this
strange way of preaching in the fields, in which he set me an example on
Sunday; I had been all my life (till very lately) so tenacious of every
point relating to decency and order that I should have thought the saving
of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.” Then on
Monday, April 2, Mr. Wesley entered these words into his journal. “At four
in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the
highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in
a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand folks.”
First, I am willing to guess that Mr. Wesley did like most of us preachers
in his count. Let us say, that optimism knows no limits when a preacher
looks out at the crowd. Even if he over estimated by half, he was still
preaching to about 1500 persons who had been neglected by the Church of
his day. We need to dig a little deeper into Wesley’s words. He wrote that
he had done the vilest act. For him to step out of the inner wall of a
church building and into the streets to proclaim God’s
word was “morally despicable or abhorrent”
to quote Mr. Webster’s dictionary. Wesley was acting out of the norm. He
was doing something that went against all of his upbringing and training
as a minister of the Gospel. It was repelling to him. Yet, he was willing
to set aside his repulsive feelings and go out and do what
God was directing him to do in that place and
in that country called England.
He was open and willing to
change for the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth.
The scripture that he used that afternoon was: The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he
hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Against all of his inner
emotions Wesley entered into that street at 4pm to proclaim the good news
of Jesus of Nazareth to all persons. He knew
some would be willing to listen and to truly hear the words that he was
about to proclaim. He knew that there would be some there in the middle of
that community who would make fun of him. He also knew that there might
only be a handful who might stay behind and engage him in conversation
about the message. That handful would present to him the opportunity to
make disciples for Jesus of Nazareth. At 4pm
on the 2nd. Of April, he took a giant leap forward willing to
risk it all so that others would and could become disciples of
Jesus.
The words Luke has Jesus
reading to the people in the synagogue challenged the peers of Jesus that
day. They now challenge his Church today. I am not saying that he is
challenging us to go out into the streets and become street preachers
today. But, he is challenging us to use all the tools that we have at hand
to step out and witness for him. He is challenging us to use our
computers, our cell phones, our IPODS or I phones or our movies or our
sports to reach others for Christ. He is
challenging us to use the mediums that are in the world today. We are
called to use them for the proclamation of the gospel and for making
disciples.
When I was just entering
pastoral ministry, I had an older pastor tell me this story. I am not sure
it is true but it is a great story with a great point. He said: “one day a
fellow walked up to the pastor of the Methodist Church in this rural
section of Eastern North Carolina and started a conversation with him.”
During the conversation, the man confessed to the pastor that he had made
moonshine for many years. He also confessed that he had grown to realize
that he was doing more damage than good in his community. He wanted to do
something good for the community. He wanted to give a considerable sum of
money to that Church if they would have it. The pastor looked at the man
and said: “Yes, they would be glad to receive the money and he went on to
say to the man that: “It had done the work of the devil long enough. It
was now time to allow God to have that money
and do good with it.”
It is now time! It is time for
the Church of Jesus of Nazareth to stop
looking inward and to start looking outward. It is time for the church to
take bold steps forward and risk it all for the gospel of
Jesus. It is time that we open our eyes and
that we see past our own needs and discover the needs of others. It is
time that we venture outside of these walls and go forth into the
communities of this world to offer the good news to everyone. In order for
us to do that, we will need to be creative in our witnessing. We will need
to discover ways to reach a high tech world.
Each year at Christmas time,
we have folks deliver presents and food to over thirty families. There are
times when we go into their homes that we are shocked. We discover that
they have a brand new 42-inch high definition flat screen television and
we wonder: “Why are we here?” The fact is that television unfortunately
has become their complete hope in life. Somehow, some way for a brief
moment that television helps them to meet what they perceive to be their
basic needs in life. The fact remains that television meets that need for
a brief moment and then their hearts and souls start crying out for more.
The Church has the answer to
those cries. The church has the power to bring about change in lives. The
church has God the creator waiting on us to
move out into the world and set the captives free, feed the hungry
spiritually and physically and offer God’s
saving grace to all.
The challenge has been thrown
down to you and me! Jesus stands before us
calling to us. He is asking us to pick up that challenge and to leave the
comfort zones of our spiritual lives and go into the world to offer change
and renewal to the world. He is calling us to be more than ministers to
ourselves. He is calling us to go out and minister to those outside of
these walls and to make disciples for him.
I have one question for all of
us today. “Am I willing as a child of God to
go out into the world and share the gospel story with others?”
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
