Why Believe? ~ Luke 4:21-30 ~ Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

One Saturday afternoon, the big-box bookstore where I worked EXPLODED in outrage...

Some anonymous person (or persons) blanketed our store with yellow pamphlets, which explained what a person must do to go to heaven.  You could call it “hell, fire, and brimstone” evangelism.

Even more outrageous was the fact that they hid them—inside the books whose readers they believed to be in the eyes of God’s wrath.  For days, we endured angry complaints from customers, and my co-workers were even more outraged.

When I walked into the lunch room, one of my co-workers looked at me and said, “we should burn all the churches and make religion illegal.” 

Even though I was a Christian, I wasn’t happy about what these people did.  My faith is built on grace and forgiveness, not fear and judgment and threats of hell.  So I can understand why so many people were angry.  The hypocrisy and self-righteousness of some Christians is a big turn-off to non-believers.

But what is it about Christianity in general—and faith in Jesus Christ—that brings out downright hostility in some people?

Today’s Gospel lesson may give us some insights into that question.  In it, Jesus’ townspeople—people he’d known for most of his life—dragged him out of town to throw him off a cliff.  And yet, the story begins with everyone speaking well of him.  So what made them turn so sharply against him?

The answer to that question can be found in Jesus’ own words.  He tells them very plainly that he’s been sent “to bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed”—in other towns, no less; not at home.”

This doesn’t sit too well with the townsfolk—because they’re not thinking about what “the Lord has anointed him” to do.  They’re thinking only about what they can get from him; what he owes them as their “hometown boy.”

Their little town of Nazareth was not exactly the best place to live as a faithful follower of God.  In fact, their town was very much a cesspool of sin and pagan idolatry.  On top of that, they were surrounded by hostile nations that constantly threatened their safety.  So, they expected Jesus to stay in town, drive out the sinners, raise up an army, and maybe even make Nazareth into “another Jerusalem,” the holiest city of God.  Yet Jesus makes it very clear that this is none of his concern.  His concern was for the least and the lost.  So they had no love for Jesus.  Jesus was unacceptable.

And there are times for all of us we can find Jesus just as hard to accept—and that will always be when Jesus fails to meet our expectations. 

It’s easy to treat our faith as a kind of bargain-deal with God.  We’ll believe and trust God if God meets our expectations.  If we pray, our prayers should be answered.  If we obey, we should be blessed.  God should never allow good people to suffer.  God should protect the innocent and punish the guilty.  God should be fair.  Yet we all know from bitter experience that this is not the way it goes.

So what happens to our relationship with Jesus—when he disappoints us?  When he’s not fair?

What do we do with our questions, our disappointments, or even our outrage? 

You take the unbeliever, and ask them why they do not believe, and these will be their reasons.  Simply put, if God were real, the world would not be in the state that it is in.  A loving God would never permit war and poverty and injustice. 

They take all of these as proof undeniable that belief in God is a lie—and something to be treated as devious and dangerous. 

But what about us, who do believe, and yet struggle with these same questions?  These same doubts?

We cannot sit in judgment of the unbeliever for their questions and doubts—because we struggle with them just the same.  Yet we cannot sit in judgment of God either... 

Today’s Gospel shows us that when we set the terms of our believing in Jesus Christ, we will be disappointed.  Jesus doesn’t exist to do our bidding.  We can’t treat our love for Jesus as a reward we give to him for giving to us what we want and what we deserve. 

We must love Jesus for who he is—and this is what the townspeople in Nazareth failed to do.  They didn’t hear grace in Jesus’ words when he said that he was sent to serve the least, the last, and the lost.  Yet he would have shown them this very same grace had they just given him the chance. 

He would have shown them the love he shows us—that is not based in our deserving, or upon our meeting his expectations.  Jesus loves us simply because we are his—which means that we cannot make our earthly blessings and prosperity the yardstick to measure his love.  The cross is sign of his love—the love that saves us from death and the devil.  This same love he shows us within suffering and even in spite of suffering, as he delivers us through life’s absolute worst. 

We’ll never understand the mysteries of God, as to why bad things happen to good people, and why some of our prayers get answered and others don’t.  But we cannot allow our disappointments to blind us to the reality of God’s gracious love for us in Jesus Christ. 

So if you’re struggling to hold onto your faith; if you’re wondering if you’re being here is of any use at all; if doubts about God’s love and care have you at the edge of unbelief, don’t walk away from Christ.  Don’t let the despair win.  Bring to Jesus every question, every doubt, every disappointment you feel, knowing that he will never reject you for not being able to accept what is unacceptable in your life and in this world.  Remember the cross that he carried for you; and the life he gave for you.  You belong to him.  Your life is his treasure—and he has a plan to show you this love, and not on your terms, but on his.  And his plan is the best—because his is the plan that will deliver you from death and darkness into everlasting life.