Sermon 3rd February 2019 (from 31st January 2016)
Text Luke 4:21-30 – Including the excluded
We have just celebrated Australia Day – a day when
we like to show our patriotic side.
I saw many cars flying the Australian Flag like
they were an important diplomatic car.
The Australian culture is an interesting culture
that is constantly changing because of our multicultural influx.
But nevertheless we have that Ocker Aussie nature
that people love to exhibit.
Throw another Shrimp on the Barbie.
G’day Mate.
Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi,Oi.
The great Australian mateship.
Grabbing the Esky and heading off to the beach or
to the cricket.
Heading off to the beach to get an Aussie Golden
Tan – although these days it’s not highly recommended.
Grabbing a VB for that hard earned thirst.
And as the old jingle stated – we’ve got football,
meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars.
But another trait that Australians have been noted
for is what is known as the Tall Poppy Syndrome.
You can see this at present in tennis players like
Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.
We loved and supported them when they first began
but once they started carrying on and mouthing off we started to lose our
support of them.
We love it when the little Aussie Battler makes
good – we love barracking for the underdog.
But they better not get too high and mighty or
we’ll knock them down faster than it took them to rise to the top.
Jesus too experienced this Tall Poppy Syndrome
when he arrived in his hometown.
He was given the prestigious honour of reading the
Holy Scriptures on that Sabbath day and was invited to speak to the
congregation.
Jesus announced that the Scriptures were actually
speaking about him.
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the
gracious words that came from his mouth (Luke 4:22).
But then it all changes when he explains what
God’s mission is.
Jesus seems to have gotten too big for his boots
and they start to bring him down.
Isn’t this Joseph’s son
Matthew’s gospel goes even further into this
account;
“He’s just the carpenter’s son, and we know Mary, his
mother, and his brothers—James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. All his sisters live
right here among us. Where did he learn all these things?” And they were deeply
offended and refused to believe in him. (Matthew 13:55)
If we look closely at what Jesus was saying he was
not big noting himself or trying to raise his profile.
When he said that this reading was being fulfilled
today it wasn’t to elevate his status.
He was actually elevating the status of the
underdog.
It was never Jesus’ intention to claim status for
himself, as Paul reminds us in Philippians:
Though he was God, he did not think of equality
with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges
and he took the humble position of a servant (Philippians 2:6,7).
In the 3 examples that he cites, Jesus shows God’s
care for the underdog.
Firstly – Doctor cure yourself (Luke 4:23).
Jesus is most likely looking ahead to the
crucifixion.
In the Garden of Gethsemane he will show his
anguish at what is about to happen:
“My soul is crushed with grief to the point of
death. My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away
from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (Matthew 26:38,39)
Then when on the cross he is taunted:
He saved others, but he can't save himself! He's
the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe
in him. (Matthew 27:42)
Jesus wasn’t thinking about himself – he was
thinking about those he came to save.
He didn’t come to “cure himself”.
If the cup of suffering had been taken away from
him or if he had come down from the cross – maybe he would have “cured himself”
and gained some respect for a little while longer – but we would have been lost
in our sins forever.
Likewise we are sometimes going to be challenged
to make sacrifices for the saving of others.
Maybe you’ve been challenged in a call to ministry
but have looked at what this means to you rather than what it might mean for
others.
God will always provide for you even when it seems
you have nothing to give.
And then there are the other 2 examples that Jesus
cited where God goes looking for the outsider – the underdog – rather than
operating with an inner circle.
There were many widows in Israel in the time of
Elijah, when there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent
to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.
The widow of Zarephath symbolises brokenness and
despair.
She represents so many in our society today.
She was down to her last meal.
She was going to feed her son the last meal and
wait to die.
Who does she represent in society today?
How many in our society have lost hope and are
turning to solutions that provide relief even if it may mean death?
So many turn to drugs, alcohol, sex and other
behaviours that do not support a healthy lifestyle.
We are sent, like Elijah, to them to bring hope
through the Good News.
It’s much easier to mix among our own but Elijah
was sent to a people not his own.
There were also many lepers in Israel in the time
of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the
Syrian."
Naaman didn’t deserve to be healed.
He thought he was too good and important to be
told what to do by a servant rather than have the prophet Elisha come out to
him.
There would have been others much more
appreciative of the healing than Naaman.
Likewise there are many in our society that don’t
deserve God’s love.
But let us remember – no one deserves God’s love.
None of us deserve God’s love – and that’s the
Good News.
God loves us in spite of our unworthiness – that’s
grace.
Likewise we are called to go and reach out to the
unworthy – to the underdog – to those society has written off and forgotten.
It’s easy and comfortable to stay in our own
surroundings but Jesus shows that it will be in the outside world where our
message will be received.
But let us not forget that those closest to us
also need to hear about Jesus even as Jesus went to his home town.
And note that it was his hometown that rejected
him.
We too will face rejection but that must not stop
us from going to where God’s word needs to be heard, just as it didn’t stop
Jesus.
Jeremiah had doubts to:
Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak,
for I am only a boy. (Jeremiah 1:6).
But God reassured Jeremiah:
Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to
all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do not be
afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, (Jeremiah 1:7,8)
What is it that is stopping you?
Jesus teaching is about God being on the side of
the “other” - those not like us.
And at the heart of Jesus reaching out to “the
other” is his love for all people.
As Paul said – if we don’t have love then the
words and works we do are nothing.
The same love that saw God give up his one and
only Son for us needs to be at the heart of all we do and say.
The love that saw Jesus refuse to “heal himself”
and come down from the cross needs to be at the heart of all we do to – to
“love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34,35).
To go the extra mile when we’d rather stop.
(Matthew 5:41)
To give away the extra tunic when we’d rather feel
secure having a second one for ourselves just in case. (Luke 3:11)
God didn’t hold back – he gave his one and only
Son.
Jesus didn’t hold back – he gave his entire life.
And we too, knowing that our eternal life is
secure should think about those for whom that is not the case.
Jesus’ hometown was enraged when Jesus suggested
God’s love extended to the outcast and foreigners.
Let us embrace that opportunity which God places
before us and remember that we too were once foreigners and outcasts to God but
his love never failed but came to us while we were still sinners.
God’s love includes the excluded just as God’s
love now includes us through our Baptism.
Just as Jesus passed through his opposition who
wanted to throw him off the cliff, let us push through all that opposes God’s
love from reaching out and making the excluded become included into God’s love
and grace.
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