Luke 4:14-21

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. ¹⁵ He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.  ¹⁷ 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 preach good news to the poor.

        He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight

        for the blind, to release the oppressed, ¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s

        favor.”

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹ and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

In the name of Jesus, dear friends,

 

            Sometime during your life you have probably heard someone say, or you may have said, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.”  Is that true?  Well, based on the Bible we may have to say that it is true.  St. Paul, speaking to that Philippian jailer after the earthquake that jarred open all the gates on the jail cells, said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16).  Paul also wrote to the Roman Christians that “Faith (believing) comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).  Each of us probably has the word of Christ in our homes, a Bible.  Every time we read the good news of Jesus in the Bible, we will grow in our Christian faith.  So, it’s true, I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.  But the Bible also says that we should gather together around that word of Christ: “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.  But let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see The Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).  It’s what God’s people have always done.  The Bible implies that there is safety in numbers when Peter warns, “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  Predatory animals track down the loner for their meals.

 

            Often closely connected to the statement / excuse, “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian” is the statement, “We just do the same thing every Sunday.  It’s just another Sunday; just another church service.”  Is that true?  Do we do the same old thing every Sunday?  Is it just another Sunday and just another church service?  I suppose it is.  Every Sunday we come together, we sing our hymns and songs, we hear Scripture lessons, we listen to a sermon that explains one of those lessons and applies it to our lives, we offer our prayers, we offer our money.  I suppose you could say it’s the same thing every week.  It is just another Sunday; just another church service.

 

            Jesus apparently didn’t have that view of “church”, though.  In our lesson, St. Luke wrote that it was Jesus’ custom to be at “church” (synagogue) every Sabbath (rest day; Saturday for the Jews).    Our lesson records a “special” Sabbath church service in Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown.  Jesus, by this time well known in Galilee and Judea as a Rabbi (Bible teacher), was in church that day and was asked to do what we often ask our young men studying for the pastoral ministry at our Seminary to do:  lead our worship and preach a sermon here in their home church.  When Jesus “went to church” in Nazareth, was it…

Just Another “Sunday”; Just Another Church Service?

Let’s see, by observing that:

1.      Poor, blind, oppressed, captive sinners were there;

2.      The Savior came to them with good news;

3.      They left with peace, hope and strength.

 

Jesus was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah to read from.  He read

from what we call

 the 61^st chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy (no chapter and verse divisions then).  That lesson tells us what kinds of people were at that church service, because Jesus’ first words of his sermon were, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  The words they heard from Jesus’ mouth and the life Jesus was living and death he would die were all fulfillments of scripture prophecies.  These things promised for centuries were all coming true in Jesus.  The Nazareth people listening to Jesus that day fit the description of those to whom and for whom the promised Savior would come.  That section of Isaiah’s prophecy says, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Lk. 4:18,19).

 

            Poor people were in that church service.  Not necessarily monetarily poor people, though there certainly may have been some; maybe wealthy people, too.  The “poor” spoken of are the “poor” Jesus would speak of in his sermon we call his “sermon on the mount”.  There he said, “Blessed are the POOR in spirit, for they will inherit the kingdom of God” (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20).  The “price of admission” into heaven is big.  God demands a sinless, perfect life to gain entrance.  At that church service in Nazareth were people who knew they couldn’t afford the price of admission into God’s heavenly home.  They were indeed poor. 

 

            Another way of thinking of their poverty was in terms of vision.  Jesus, through Isaiah had said, “I have come to give sight to the blind.”  They were blind in that they couldn’t see that God’s commands were good for them.  They were also blind as Adam and Eve had been blinded.  Their view of God was very clouded.  They saw him only as their condemning judge whom they feared meeting.  Since in their blindness they wandered ungodly paths they became oppressed, burdened, as they felt guilt over their sin and continual struggle with consequences of sins.  The result of such oppression is captivity.  They felt like prisoners trapped in awful situations.  And beyond that, they found themselves in the vicious cycle of sin, doing things they knew they shouldn’t and failing to do the good they knew they should do.  That’s who was in church that day in Nazareth.

 

            That’s who’s in church here today!  Poor, blind, oppressed, captive sinners!  You and I!  When each of us compares our lives to the holy live described and demanded by God for entrance into life eternal, we realize how poor in spirit we are.  We see the harsh and hurtful words spoken in our families.  We reflect on the immoral and spiritually dangerous places our feet have taken us.  We see the selfish use of our time, neglecting our Savior’s word or the needs of members of our families.  And too often we view our God as the angry judge or the demanding tyrant who makes our lives miserable with rules and tragedy.  That oppresses us, for we know from his word that this isn’t true, yet we have those feelings.  We get pushed down by our guilt and by difficult situations, many of them of our own making.  The final result is the feeling of spiraling downward; there is no way out; I’m stuck; a prisoner; a captive.  And sometimes we’ll just keep the spiral going as we trap ourselves into certain sins.  Such people are here in this church service this Sunday; you and I.  With the apostle Paul we scream, “Oh, what a wretched person I am!  Who will save me from this body of death?”  (Romans 7).

 

            Jesus will.  Just as in Nazareth, the Anointed one of God, the Savior, comes with good news.  The beautiful accomplishments of the Anointed One, prophesied by Isaiah, were coming true in that church service in Nazareth.  That day those things were being fulfilled.  Jesus came to those poor, blind, oppressed, captive sinners with the good news that he was the One God had designated to keep the promise made to Adam and Eve to destroy the deadly work of the devil in the garden of Eden and to restore life and joy to God’s people.  He, Jesus, was living the perfect life God demanded of mankind.  He was journeying to a humiliating death on a cross at which time he would be the captive oppressed with the sin and guilt of the world as God the Judge poured out his just anger.  He would rise triumphant, free from the grip of death, to break death’s grip on them.

 

            That Savior, Jesus, still comes to people as they gather around his word.  He promised his disciples, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20) and that “wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am with them” (Matt. 18:20).  He comes with his good news of freedom from the clutches of sin, death and hell through the water and word of baptism, washing away the guilt of sin and replacing it with peace-giving faith in his life and death for us.  He comes to proclaim the good news to us every time we read it in our Bibles at home and together here in a worship service.  He comes with good news of forgiveness and freedom and peace through the meal of his body and blood given us with bread and wine in his supper.  He comes to serve us in every church service!  And there he also works through us to encourage each other, to correct each other and to guide.  You don’t get that sitting at home or in the woods or other places by yourself.  With Jesus at the church service, as in Nazareth, it’s not just another Sunday!  It’s not just another church service!

 

            When Jesus had served that group of people at that Sabbath day church service in Nazareth, how could they have left without God’s peace and hope and strength for the lives in a world of sin?  Sadly, some did.  Next week we will hear the continuing reading from Luke 4, in which we’ll se that some of those people didn’t consider themselves poor, blind, oppressed and captive sinners in need of a Savior.  Their question was, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  We know this guy!  We grew up with him.  Who’s he to tell us what a sorry lot of sinners we are and that he has come to save us from ourselves?  But there were also, no doubt, some people who were served by Jesus in that church service who could leave with peace, hope and strength.

 

            Jesus had told them, and was constantly showing people, that he indeed was that Anointed One of God who through his living and dying would apply to them the rich life of holiness needed for admission to God’s eternal home.  Jesus was demonstrating the power of God that breaks sin and Satan’s oppressive grip on people.  Jesus was opening their “eyes” to see almighty God not only as Judge, but also as loving and merciful Father who willingly sent his Son to suffer and die to buy them back into his family.  They could “see” him as that Father who daily watches over and does what is best for his children.  That gives peace – a calm contentment.  No fear of facing God and no fear of living for God guided by his commands.  Closely associated with such peace is hope.  This is not wishful thinking hope, like, “I hope a ten million dollar check shows up in my mailbox today”.  Rather, it is certain expectation.  It is the knowledge and certainty that life in heaven is mine; I am merely awaiting the day Jesus brings it to pass.  With such hope you can live strong.  The last words of our Old Testament lesson (Nehemiah 8:10) has Nehemiah telling the people leaving their “service”, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  Assured of forgiveness and life for Jesus sake, we have joy and hope that makes us strong to step back into our everyday lives knowing we have battles to fight against Satan, immoral and sinful ideas and attitudes in our world, and against our own sinful natures.  Joyful and hopeful in Christ, you are strong to slap that prowling lion the devil on the nose and tell him to take a hike.  You have strength to tell people intent on leading you on sinful paths that you’re not going that direction.  Because eternal victory is in your hand, you are strong to live as victorious children of God.  I pray this is how you leave “church”!  Assured of God’s love for you in Jesus, his forgiveness and your life everlasting with him, go with peace, hope and strength.  If we can leave our church service that way, then again, it has not been just another Sunday and just another church service!

 

            But you know that, don’t you?  You’re here!  I pray you will leave with peace, hope and strength!  So I’m probably “preaching to the choir” since you’re here and know this.  Let it just be a reminder that it’s so important that we continue to gather as Jesus’ holy people.  But something else that Jesus probably wants us to take from Luke’s account of the church service in Nazareth is that there are many people you and I know and love who haven’t been to a “church service” in a long time, who maybe make those statements we began the sermon with:  “I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian” and “We do the same old thing every Sunday”.  No doubt they are the people whose 2010 offering envelope boxes are still on the table in the entryway.  And of greatest concern, they are also the more than 500 members of St. Stephen’s noted in our 2009 Annual Report you recently received who did not take the opportunity last year to be served by Jesus with the assurance of forgiveness and life through his supper.  These are also people who maybe have another excuse closely related to the other two.  You’ve maybe also heard it said, “They’re just a bunch of hypocrites there in that church!”  What do you say to them in way of encouragement to come be served by Jesus?  Perhaps you start by saying, “You’re right.  You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.  You just need to believe Jesus which happens when you hear his message.  But isn’t it hard going it alone?  And you’re right, every week we hear the message, we sing our songs, we pray our prayers and offer our gifts.  Doing that together with fellow believers encourages me that I’m not alone in this bad old sinful world.  And hypocrites in the church?  You’re right on that one, too.  As a matter of fact I am probably one of the biggest hypocrites.  I leave church with the best of intentions to live for Jesus and to talk to people I care for about their need to be close to Jesus; you’re one of them.  And then during the week when I see you, I just shut up and don’t say anything.  I’m sorry.”  You can tell them that maybe we too often have a wrong idea of what Jesus’ church is.  It’s been said that “the church is not a country club for saints, but a hospital for sin-sick souls”.  Tell them that just like in Nazareth there are poor, blind, oppressed, captive sinners hear eager to hear good news of forgiveness, sight, freedom and life in Christ.  And for sure, let your actions speak.  Keep gathering together around Christ’s saving gospel in word and sacrament.  Keep letting “your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.”  Keep coming “to church”.  For you know that when Jesus is here with his good news, it’s not just another Sunday and it’s not just another church service!