Taking Sides: Luke 4:21-30 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

²¹Then [Jesus] began to say to [all in the synagogue in Nazareth,] “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” ²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. (NRSV)

Nazareth_galilian_view_flowers by StateofIsrael on Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0

 

I firmly believe that a Christian should not hate anything or anyone. But some days, I hate driving on Route 28. 

I must say that this highway has been improved dramatically over the last twenty years. And I don’t think it would really be all that bad if people didn’t drive so fast!

Some days, I think half of the drivers on that highway have a death wish. Everybody knows how dangerous this road can be. You would think that would be enough to motivate people to slow down. But no one does. “Rush hour” always lives up to its name—because when there’s more cars on the road, everybody drives faster—and more aggressively. 

So much for the wisdom of crowds.

And in today’s Gospel reading, a raging mob is attempting to hurl Jesus off a cliff. This mob comes from Jesus’s home synagogue in Nazareth—what you could essentially call Jesus’s home church.

When Jesus first stood up to read from the prophet Isaiah, the people spoke well of him. They were absolutely amazed at what a fine and godly man “Joseph’s son” had grown up to become. 

But Jesus knew these people well, and though they spoke highly of him, he knew what they were really thinking. 

Jesus says, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ Do the things you did in Capernaum.” Perform some miracles. Give us a reason to believe in you, and we will. Make us proud. Help us put Nazareth on the map.”

But Jesus has come to do God’s will, not theirs. When Jesus makes it clear that he will not be giving the people what they believed he owed them, they became enraged. They got up, drove him out of town, and attempted to hurl him over a cliff. The only miracle Jesus performs is escaping from their clutches and leaving town. 

You can compare Jesus to a young adult who leaves home for a time to either pursue higher education, join the military, work a new job, or travel the world. When that young adult returns home, they’re different. They’ve changed political parties. They’re practicing a different religion. They are now living in a way that runs contrary to the values of their kinfolk. 

Maybe the person changed; maybe this is who they were all along (which was the case for Jesus). Will they be accepted? Or will the people who’ve known and loved them now disown them? 

Living, as we are, in a time of bitter division, with people banding together into powerful factions that are moving and shaking the world we live in, today’s Gospel has something powerful to teach us when we feel compelled to take sides.

Human beings are, by nature, communal creatures. We band together in tribes as a way of protecting ourselves against common threats and advancing our common interests. And there’s nothing wrong with that. We are church together so that we can join with Jesus in feeding the hungry and healing a broken world. There’s power in numbers. People working together can do a tremendous amount of good. But they can do a whole lot of bad, too. 

The fact that a large group of people do something or believe something doesn’t make it right. When shared self-interest becomes untethered from the law of love, chaos is what you get. Evil is what you get: hyper-polarization, pollution, injustice, and war. People get “canceled.” Death threats are made. Bullets fly. Innocent people get hurled off a cliff—or crucified. 

You may gain a sense of power, purpose, and identity by taking a side or affiliating with a tribe. What happens if your tribe starts going in the wrong direction? Will you stand up for what’s right? Will you take a stand for those who can’t stand for themselves? Will the tribe hear you out? Or will they hurl you over a cliff? 

Christians don’t hurl people off cliffs. The cross shows us that Jesus is on the side of the people who get hurled off cliffs. And as much as we’d love for Jesus to fight on our side, he will be the champion of no one’s cause but God’s, and God is on the side of life, love, peace, and justice. And the only way you come over to God’s side is through repentance. The only way to be on God’s side is by dying to self and rising with Christ. 

Sometimes, God’s truth will make you angry—just like it made the people in Nazareth angry. Sinners resist God’s righteousness. That’s our nature. But could your anger be a sign that there is something you need to learn? That you need to make a change, so you can grow in grace?

Unfortunately, as long as sin remains in the world, there will still be war. But we should never seek war. God doesn’t seek the annihilation of people God created in love. That’s not who God is. God’s wrath and judgment is never about condemnation, but about redemption—which means that no matter how far you may go astray, no matter how hard people may turn against you, and no matter how chaotic you see things getting in this world, Christ is for you. Jesus’s faithfulness frees us from consuming self-interest to be devoted to the care of others. He will fight for you when you are mistreated; he will fight with you when you struggle; and he will fight you if that’s what it takes to break you free of sin. 

As Jesus declared, we are living in the age of God’s grace—and that is all we will ever need.