Monday, February 1, 2010

Luke 4:20-32 January 31, 2010

Pastor Waldschmidt Luke 4:20-32
THIS PREACHER (JESUS) IS GOOD!
I. He says what needs to be said. II.His message has authority.
A couple of Sundays ago my cousin came to visit here at church. We talked for a while by the pastors’ office and as we were walking toward the church, he asked me if I was preaching that day. “No”, I said, Pastor Spaude was preaching …but don’t worry he’s good too!” As the words left my mouth I knew I was in trouble. They just sort of shriveled on the end of my tongue. That of course raised a smile and an eyebrow from my cousin. I tried to quickly say that I didn’t mean that I thought I was a good preacher but it just sort of came out that way. The more I talked the worse it got and then I turned and Pastor Spaude was right there and had heard the whole conversation. He laughed and said, “There’s no way you are getting out of that one.” I don’t fancy myself as Martin Luther or Elijah back from the dead in the pulpit. I’m just happy the Lord uses dust and ashes like me. But in God’s Word today we do hear a preacher who is good! It is our Lord Jesus. As we look at God’s Word we’ll see that this preacher is good. I. He says what people need to hear. II. His message has authority.

There are several nerve wracking experiences that a seminary student goes through. One is preaching for the Seminary chapel services in front of all the other students and professors. Another one is preaching in your home congregation. Last week in our Gospel lesson we heard how Jesus went into the synagogue and read from Isaiah the prophet, "The Spirit of the Sovereign 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." After Jesus had read these words talking about the Messiah, God's word tells us, "Then he rolled up the scrolled, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him and he began by saying to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Seminary students don’t have too much to worry about because congregations are always generous and full of compliments. Last week in our Gospel lesson we heard the sermon and today we hear the reaction of the people in Nazareth to Jesus sermon there. “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips."
It seems the people are all full of compliments but Jesus sort of pops the hood of the people’s hearts so we can tell what’s going on in their hearts. "Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: "Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard you did in Capernaum." The people were clearly expecting a different kind of Messiah. They were thinking in terms of a Messiah who would fill their stomachs and get rid of their enemies and do a few neat tricks for them. But Jesus says what needed to be said. Jesus points out that he was not an earthly Savior who was only going to do nice things here on earth for certain people. Jesus is the physician who heals souls. "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Elijah's time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine in the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed- only Naaman the Syrian." The people of Nazareth were thinking that somehow they deserved for Jesus to do his miracles among them- that somehow they had a right to have Jesus help them. Yet Jesus points out that God s help is not something that anyone has a right to and is not something that anyone deserves. It comes only by God s grace. Though God could have healed every leper in Israel and made sure there were no hungry mouths in Israel, God in his grace helped Naaman and the widow at Zarapeth. Though Jesus certainly has the power to heal every physical disease, he points out the God had something more important in mind when he sent Jesus. Jesus would be the physician who heals souls. We always need to remember that God s help is not something that we deserve but it is something that comes to us because of God s grace. That message from Jesus was wildly unpopular. “All of the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”
There is a temptation for pastors today to steer clear of the things people don’t like to talk about and to say what people want them to say. There were examples of this is Israel’s history. In the prophet Amos’ time there was a man named Amaziah who told the people that things were great when God’s prophets had said clearly that God’s judgment was coming because of their sin. A king named Balak once hired a prophet named Balaam to try to curse Israel-to say what he wanted him to say. But as Balaam wound up to curse Israel like the king wanted, all that came out were blessings. This preacher is good! He can’t be bribed and tells the people what they need to hear instead of what they thought they wanted to hear.
Jesus wasn’t afraid to say what needed to be said. Maybe you can ask that about your pastors. Especially if the sinful nature part of you never gets riled up at all during the sermons or if never feel that pinch of the law, you might want to ask if your pastors are saying what needs to be said or if you are listening.
Jesus is a great preacher. He says what needs to be said. He points out the damage we have done to ourselves and others by our sins by our nasty words and thoughts. God’s Word points out the times we have pierced ourselves through with many sorrows with chasing after the things of this world. He talked about sin and then he provided the remedy. The Great Physician saved our souls from dying forever in hell by dying himself and taking all of our sins upon himself at the cross. The people were overlooking one of the greatest miracles that God had been doing in their midst for almost thirty years. For almost 30 years the Lord Jesus had lived a holy perfect life in this sin filled world. That s a miracle Jesus did for them and for you and for me. In a miracle of his love he gave us his holy perfect life and took the record of our sins upon himself. The people of Nazareth called for a miracle and they were missing one of the greatest miracles the great physician did.
Maybe you remember the old “Gunsmoke” show. It seemed like when Marshall Dillon spoke not only Festus, his deputy, but even the bad guys stood up and took notice. Maybe that was because of his height or maybe his voice or most likely because of the gun in his holster that he used to subdue the bad guys. We don’t have an audio recording of Jesus voice. We don’t have any u tube videos of him so that we would know what he looks like. He didn’t walk around with a six shooter to subdue the bad guys. Yet his words had authority.
With the rejection of Jesus by the people of Nazareth, the hub of Jesus ministry now moves a little closer to the Sea of Galilee, to the town of Capernaum. Capernaum is the hometown of Peter, James and John and some of the other disciples. “Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.” The people of Capernaum had been used to listening to the Pharisees and elders like the one in the temple with the tax collector who prayed, “God I thank you that I am not like other men” and then in self righteousness sneered “or even like this tax collector.” The spiritual teachers of Capernaum could quote from saying after saying of the rabbis, but yet they missed what God was saying on the pages of His Word. Now Jesus came preaching and teaching about the Kingdom of God- about how God had now sent the promised Messiah and the people recognized his teaching as having authority behind it- the authority of the Word of God. Jesus the Word of God made flesh speaks with authority on the Word of God because He is the one who wrote the Bible.
Jesus’ words have authority for you too. When guilt over something you’ve down bears down on you, Jesus the teacher whose message has authority says to you, “I have come to seek and to save what was lost.” When you or your family is facing illness and even death wondering what will tomorrow bring, Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms…. I am going there to prepare a place for you.” When our lives seems to be going nowhere and lacking direction Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
Pray for your pastors that they might always be good preachers. Good preacher- not in the sense of being able to hold forth in an oration like Cicero, but good preachers in the sense that they share what Jesus, the great preacher, the Savior, said with you. Jesus is a good preacher, saying what needs to be said. His message had authority. Amen.

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