Luke 4:21-30<\/p>\n\n\n\n
January 28, 2001<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joy and I met at a small church-related college just outside of Boston. Every year there was an event called Christian Life Week. The college would invite a speaker on campus, who would preach several times and have discussions with students\u2014all aimed at deepening faith and creating a mood of religious revival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was at one of these small church-related colleges that this college got more than they bargained for. They invited a speaker whom none of them had heard before, but he had the reputation for being dynamic and exciting. On the first night of the special week, the campus chapel was filled with the faithful. Of course, the \u201cAnimal House\u201d types and other rowdy students stayed away; this was, after all, an occasion for religious insiders, for those who are truly Christian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The speaker began by opening the Bible and reading a passage of Scripture. When he had finished, he closed the Bible and then suddenly flung it across the stage and out an open window. The students sat in stunned silence. Were their eyes playing tricks on them? Did the preacher really throw the Bible out the window? The preacher looked at them and said, \u201cThere goes your <\/em>God,\u201d and proceeded to preach a sermon on the difference between worshipping the Bible and worshipping God who comes to us through the Scriptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a way, Jesus performance in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth was similarly shocking. He comes home and preaches from a text in Isaiah about good news being preached to the poor and release being given to the captives. Jesus\u2019 main point was, \u201cToday, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.\u201d People were getting excited because this means the reign of God will end Roman oppression, economic deprivation, social disruption, and illnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like any hometown crowd everywhere, the people were proud of their local success hero. The congregation responded warmly, enthusiastically. \u201cGood sermon!\u201d \u201cBeautiful words!\u201d They said, \u201cLook at what one of us can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But then, a question began to stir among them. If Isaiah\u2019s prophecy has really been fulfilled today, how come nothing happened? How come Jesus didn\u2019t perform any of those mighty deeds we have heard he did in Capernaum?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was then that Jesus threw the Bible out the window\u2014or at least their understanding of the Scriptures. They thought that Isaiah\u2019s words were only for them, for Israel, for Nazareth, for the hometown folks. But Jesus proceeded to throw that understanding of the<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bible out the window by saying that God\u2019s care for the poor, the oppressed, the outsiders has always been there as much as he has for the insiders. In fact, when insiders try to restrict God\u2019s grace to themselves, they cut themselves off from that very grace they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, the people found Jesus\u2019 sermon meaningful. They chirped about what a good preacher Jesus is and that they were amazed at the eloquent words that came out of his mouth. After all, he is Joseph\u2019s son\u2014a family that they knew very well. But then it turned ugly. They sat in stunned silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The people liked the message about how God brings good news, release, freedom, and healing to the people. This message is familiar and one that Israel has come to love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What turns out to be offensive is the discovery, as lived out in Jesus\u2019 ministry, that this embrace of the people of God includes those Israel has left out\u2014the poor, women, sinners, Gentiles. What turns the congregation ugly in Nazareth is Jesus\u2019 reminder that God\u2019s work on behalf of outsiders is biblical too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus gives two examples of God\u2019s saving work outside of Israel\u2019s borders. First, he tells of Elijah and the widow in Zarephath in Sidon found in 1 Kings17. There was a severe famine over the land. The Lord commanded Elijah to go to Zarephath where he would find a widow who will feed him. At first the widow was only gathering some sticks to bake a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a jug so that she and her son might eat what little they still had before they die. But Elijah told the widow that the Lord will make the jar of meal not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. When the widow did this, she and her household ate for many days. Then on top of this, when the widow\u2019s son became ill and died, Elijah pleaded with God and revived the widow\u2019s son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus was reminding the people that God\u2019s work on behalf of outsiders is biblical. The woman was a widow and a Gentile\u2014the kind of people whom the hometown crowd thought to belong outside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next Jesus mentioned how Naaman, a leper, a Gentile, and a general in the Syrian army, was cleansed during the prophet of Elisha found in 2 Kings 5. After hearing from a Hebrew slave maiden that Elisha can cure his leprosy, Naaman set out to go to Israel. The King of Israel first thought that Naaman was coming to pick a fight with him. But then Elisha intervened and told Naaman to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman first didn\u2019t believe why the Jordan was any better than the rivers back home. He resisted. But with some encouragement from his servants, he did it and his flesh was restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In both of these examples, Jesus was reminding the people that God\u2019s work on behalf of outsiders is biblical. In the rest of his ministry, Jesus will act out this commitment to outsiders time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What finally did happen at that little college\u2019s Christian Life Week? The students that night steamed in outrage and left the service crying blasphemy. Word spread around the campus about what had happened, and the next night the religious regulars stayed away, but the \u201ctax collectors and sinners\u201d drew near. The place was packed with fraternity types, those who would never think of themselves as religious and the curious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The preacher chose to preach that night on forgiveness, and when it was done, he engaged the students in dialogue. One in the audience, intrigued but skeptical, said, \u201cI heard what you said tonight, but how can a person know\u2014really know\u2014they are forgiven?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The speaker looked directly at the questioner and said firmly, \u201cI tell you, in the name of Jesus, you are forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRight, right,\u201d responded the student. \u201cI heard you say that. But my question is \u201cHow can you really know that for a fact?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI tell you,\u201d repeated the speaker, in an even more forceful voice, \u201cin the name of Jesus, you are forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you catch my question,\u201d protested the student. \u201cI want to know how you can really know, I mean know for sure, that you\u2019re forgiven.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now the third time the speaker looked him in the eye and said, \u201cI tell you, in the name of Jesus, you are forgiven.\u201d It was then that something electric happened in the room. The word took hold in a way beyond understanding, and this student, this outsider, this one who would hang out outside the window, who would never have darkened the door of a church, sat down knowing in his heart that \u201cin the name of Jesus\u201d he was indeed forgiven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This preacher knew that if he wanted it, he already had a captivated audience of religiously inclined students who would give him their utmost attention. They would be amazed and touched by the preacher\u2019s words. But if it wasn\u2019t for his understanding that the work of God goes beyond the hometown folks to those who are outside the windows and doors of our churches, the speaker would not have be able to share God\u2019s forgiveness to those who needed it. We are reminded that God\u2019s work on behalf of outsiders is biblical too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now you can see why the people who gathered to hear Jesus\u2019 sermon in Nazareth were outraged. They didn\u2019t like what Jesus was saying about God loving the outsiders too. They were so mad at Jesus that they drove him out of town, led him to the edge of the hill and wanted to hurl him off the cliff. One minute, they loved him. Another minute, they wanted to kill him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is happening here is that when we resent the wide-ness and inclusiveness of God\u2019s love, we create barriers between God and God\u2019s own people. God\u2019s prophets not only work with outsiders over there but they also work with us over here. When we resist the idea that God cares for other people over there, it blocks us from hearing the prophetic word of God over here. That\u2019s why Jesus said, \u201cNo prophet is accepted in his home town.\u201d The jealousy or possessiveness that we have that God can only work over here with us poisons the possibility of God working among us. Jesus becomes unacceptable in his hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside My Window<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I first arrived in San Francisco, my office was upstairs on the fourth floor. Looking outside my windows, I saw the Transamerica building and was thrilled to be able to see the city\u2019s most distinguishable landmark. As a newcomer, I was fascinated about the scenery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But now that my office is on the third floor, facing Waverly Place, I see different things now. I see our neighbors hanging out their laundry on clotheslines. I can smell the aromas of rice being cooked and food being served. At times, I see the little child who for some reason taps loudly on the window of his apartment trying to catch our attention. I see shopkeepers and restaurant workers. I see people who subscribe to other faiths living and working on the same street that we have called our hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus is telling us that God brings good news, release, freedom, and healing to all people. We think that those who are not like us are outsiders and therefore offensive to our understanding of who God\u2019s people are. Jesus is saying that God\u2019s people include those whom Israel has left out\u2014the poor, women, sinners, Gentiles. Jesus reminds us that God\u2019s work with outsiders is biblical too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We like to believe that as Christians and as this church, we have Jesus in our hometown. Look, Jesus is a member of our household. We even have a picture of him here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will we have Jesus say to us, \u201cTruly, I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet\u2019s hometown?\u201d Will we become so possessive of our Jesus that we keep him contained inside our church with all of the windows and doors shut so tightly that we as his disciples are afraid to meet the people whom God also loves? When we withhold God\u2019s love for others, Jesus is saying that the blessings and mercy that we so desperately want for ourselves, we can\u2019t realize them because we are too busy trying to keep Jesus in our own house. We stop listening to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We end up rejecting Jesus as a prophet whom we really need to hear. Instead we want to drive him out of town and hurl him off the cliff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Menorahs in Windows<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me tell you a real story that we heard about when we lived in Pennsylvania. On an early morning in December several years ago, someone threw a rock through the window of a home in Newtown, Pennsylvania. It was the third day of Hanukkah, and the home belonged to the Markovitz family, who are Jews. The vandal reached into the broken window, grabbed the electric menorah inside, and smashed it to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The people in the neighborhood took this seriously, and they took it hard. They were pained that a hate crime could happen in their neighborhood, fearful that it would lead to greater violence. One of the neighbors, a Christian woman by the name of Margie Alexander, decided to do something about it. She went from home to home visiting her Christian friends and explaining what they could do to help, to show support for the Markovitz family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within a few days, on the next-to-last day of Hanukkah, twenty-five Christian homes displayed brightly burning menorahs in their windows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vandals never returned, and, as the lights burned on, barriers between people were broken down and love overcame hate, at least for a while. One Christian neighbor announced that the whole experience had changed her feeling toward those different from herself. She plans to put up a menorah next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may be dramatic or a bit blasphemous to throw the Bible out the window as the preacher did at the church-related college. But when we confess to the truth that Jesus is bringing good news to the poor, release to the captives, recover sight to the blind, give freedom to the oppressed, then we can\u2019t just keep God\u2019s grace only for the hometown folks. Jesus reminds us that God\u2019s work on behalf of outsiders is biblical too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we try to restrict God\u2019s grace to ourselves, we cut ourselves off from that very grace that we so badly want. But when we go outside our windows and doors, we discover that God has been working on behalf of outsiders as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe we should throw our Bible outside the window so that we would go outside to find it. And while we are out there, we may discover that our neighbors are more like us than we think. We may learn that they are the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed who need to hear about the love of Jesus Christ too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in the name of Jesus, you and I are all forgiven too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gracious Lord, save us from the arrogance of thinking that you act only here, that you speak only to people like us, and that your saving power is bound by the narrow range of our spiritual vision. Lead us to go toward the windows of our lives and look outside to see how you have loved your creation. Propel us to go outside and see that your work on behalf of outsiders is according to your will. To your glory and the saving grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke 4:21-30 January 28, 2001 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church of San Francisco. Joy and I met at a small church-related college justJesus\u2019 Sermon<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Chapel Preacher<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Barriers with God<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Out the Window<\/h6>\n\n\n\n