Luke's story of Jesus' appearance in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth is a little more enigmatic than it appears from a quick reading. Luke had previously written that Jesus regularly attended synagogue worship and his reputation as a teacher was growing. When he showed up in Nazareth, people seemed glad to see him. You will recall from last Sunday, that he read the appointed lesson from the prophet Isaiah: "The spirit of the Lord has been given me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to those held captive, to give to those of clouded sight, new vision, to free the spirits of the oppressed, to proclaim God's time of favor." This in and of itself would not have upset his listeners. After all it was the assigned lesson and the one anyone would be expected to read. Even as Jesus began to interpret and to expound on the meaning of the passage, Luke tells us that he had the admiration of all. To exclaim "is this not Joseph the carpenter's son" was not necessarily a put down. It could have just as well been an expression of pride. "My goodness, one of us who grew up right here in our rural small town shows great promise to become a renowned rabbi."
The sentiment towards Jesus seemed to have turned negative when Capernaum was mentioned, a town across the lake in a region that had a relatively large population of non-Jews. In some way the question of the inclusion of outsiders, of non-synagogue members appeared to have come up. Jesus replied first by telling the story of the prophet Elijah who had been saved from starvation because a foreign widow in desperate straights herself, was willing to share her food with Elijah and because she trusted that the God Elijah believed in, would support her and her son. Jesus followed this story by reminding people of the Syrian official named Naaman who had faith in the healing power of Israel’s God and who ultimately was cured of his leprosy because he trusted God in a seemingly ordinary and everyday observance, namely that all he had to do to be cured was wash in the Jordan River.
When Jesus mentioned the signs of God's grace going outside the expected norm, the indications of God's era of reconciliation among those outside the boundaries of national and religious borders, that his neighbors become enraged, and sought to silence him. The great southern preacher Fred Craddock is fond of saying that "Jesus does not go elsewhere because he is rejected in his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus is rejected in Nazareth because he goes elsewhere."
God's message of new beginnings is meant for us here just as it was for the faithful members in good standing in the synagogue at Nazareth, but God's message of reconciliation and healing is also meant for those outside the definitions of any of our communities. As a corollary to this insight is the assertion that outsiders can often teach us much about trust and forgiveness.
It was a sad outcome in Nazareth that day, for Jesus really wanted the people to be excited and to gain hope in the message he brought. However, the problem was that they wanted to keep and apportion most of God's grace for themselves. That is inevitably something we struggle with and why I suspect Luke weaves this incident into the Gospel. We want to keep God's wisdom and love right here, and the Holy Sprit is always nudging us to open the doors of our minds, to look outside, to be aware of what strangers and people we consider different from ourselves have to tell. Because Jesus preached at Capernaum or because Jesus offered signs of God's healing to others, never implied that Jesus did not care about his own people or us gathered here. Rather, it is those very signs around us that hold promise to enrich our own community life.
I wonder if later that evening some of the members of the synagogue began to reflect on the day and to have second thoughts. "What he was really saying? Didn’t it complement the lessons of the prophets? Why did we act so rashly; what were we thinking? He really was telling us good news and we just didn't pick up on it. We were so threatened and set in our ways, we couldn't accept it. "
Sometimes, things we violently reject at first, don't appear so bad on second look, and we gradually come around. A few of us have the habit of automatically say no just to give ourselves space to think. I'd like to think that some of the members of Jesus' synagogue changed their minds and understood the good news Jesus had offered. For Jesus also taught that God does not accept no as a final answer. The Gospel has a way of changing nos into yeses. Perhaps we may see that as part of the good news that comes out of the lesson for today.
And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.
