[Propertalk] Fwd: Outside the Box - a sermon on Luke 4:21-30

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:




-----Original Message-----
From: LKraft <LKraft at ecunet.org>
To: SERMONSHOP SERMONS topic <SERMONSHOP_SERMONS.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Thu, Jan 28, 2010 5:23 pm
Subject: Outside the Box - a sermon on Luke 4:21-30



EPIPHANY 4c                                              January 31, 2010
Luke 4:21-30                                                 Holy Trinity ELCA
                                                                        Trumbull, CT
                        Outside the Box
            Like most parents, I always thought my kids were pretty smart.  I was proud to say they exceeded the milestones set by experts well ahead of their expected time frames.  When my son, Matthew, was only three years old, he was able to point out signs for businesses as we drove down the street.  McDonald’s  and ‘Tucky-fied Chicken were two of his favorites.  It was the same at home.  He’d climb up on the chair to “help” me cook and poke at the boxes and “read” Betty Crocker and Hamburger Helper.
            Of course, he may not have really been reading at age three, but he knew that labels had meanings.  He knew that inside the box labeled McDonald’s he’d find a burger and fries and the box from ‘Tucky-fied had chicken inside.  He knew the red spoon in the corner of the box from Betty Crocker usually meant a sweet dessert was going to make the house smell good and give us something to look forward to after supper.
 
            Last week we found Jesus at the synagogue in Nazareth, the town in Galilee where he’d grown up.  Word on the streets had it that Joseph’s son was going to teach that day and the curious crowd came to find out what he had to say. They thought they had him all figured out, one way or the other.  The box some put him in said he was ONLY Joseph’s son, so they shouldn’t expect much from him.  The box others put him in said he’d worked miracles in Capernaum and maybe he’d put on a show for them here in his hometown, too.
            But Jesus was definitely working “outside the box” they put him in. 
            The prophet Isaiah was well known to the people of Israel.  His prophecies and ideals were part of their daily lives. Children heard stories about what happened to the people who didn’t believe God’s warnings brought by Isaiah. Parents probably used those stories to warn their kids what could happen to THEM if they didn’t live up to the parents’ standards. Yes, they knew what a prophet was and what could happen if one didn’t pay attention to the prophecies declared.
            A prophet, by today’s definition, is one inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to deliver a message for a specific purpose.  In addition, a prophet has the power to preach repentance to those who do not want to hear the message and to warn of God's wrath for disobedience.  So, that day in Nazareth, when Jesus identified himself as a prophet, everything spilled out of the boxes the people had packaged Jesus in, in their minds.
            “Wait a minute. Did I hear that right?”
            “What did he say? Who does he think he is?!”
            “Hold on! WE don’t need another Isaiah. We’re perfectly fine the way we are!”
            “Yeah, prophets only want to change things. They take everything that’s working just fine and mess it up.”
            The people began to talk among themselves and the more they did, the more they didn’t like what they’d heard Jesus say.  Oh, it was okay for him to come into THEIR synagogue and teach.  But he should have stuck to the way things had always been done and not go shaking up their lives.
            Stories told about prophets of old were fine and good. But a prophet among them that day could mean nothing but trouble.  They were like the little boy whose bedtime prayer sounded like this, "Dear Lord, if you can't make me a better boy, don't worry about it. I'm having a real good time like I am."
 
            You and I are often like the people of Nazareth. We welcome Jesus into our lives when we need comfort, hope and peace, a sense of well-being and a shining example to light our way.  But when Jesus begins making demands on us, challenging how we live, how we treat others, how we speak and spend our money and live our everyday lives, we draw the line.  We put Jesus in a box.  The label says, “Take out on Sundays for 1.5 hours. Show to others. Say thank you and put away again until needed.”
            But what if Jesus were prophetic in OUR lives? What could that mean to the way we live, the way we worship, even the way we think?
            Richard Wing wrote: “Jesus lived on the margins and moved the margins to include all people... he invited hostile crowds to want to edge him out of existence. 
            Today the church wants to edge Jesus out of our worship anytime the margins [he sets] are made too wide and include too many who are not like us.”
            He goes on, “Recently I was sitting at my computer, contemplating the way Jesus offended so many people so quickly in his ministry. I asked, ‘Why?’ The answer was at the top of my screen. My word processing instructions at the top read: ‘Drag the margin boundaries on the rulers.’ THAT is why he upset people so much: in his life Jesus dragged the margin boundaries of race, creed, and color to include all people. 
            He dragged the margin boundaries when he gave a common meal, which we have made a holy meal symbolic of his inclusive love for all people. Jesus was dragged to the edge of a cliff to be put out of the lives of his townspeople because no one wants the margins of daily living to be [so inclusive].  (1)
 
            We do that, too, sometimes.  There’s a congregation in our region, well probably more than one actually, but this one I know about personally, where people are literally shunned if they’re not the same as everyone else.  At a gathering some time ago, their pastor mentioned how a couple in their forties came to worship for several weeks, and people – at first – welcomed them just fine.  But as the couple continued to worship there, word got out that the women were Lesbian.  From the time that label became known, people physically turned away from the women when they were sharing the peace of the Lord.  So many people would turn their backs on the couple and refuse to acknowledge their presence, during this opportunity meant for sharing God’s grace, that the women stopped attending there.
            In this case, labels worked both ways.  The congregation members who shunned the women pasted a label on the couple that said, “unacceptable, unChristian.”  In turn, the women pasted a label on the congregation that said, “unacceptable, unChristian.” 
            Who is it that you label?  I am aware of at least one prejudice I hold, and it’s one I try repeatedly to change.  Whenever I see a person who fits within my prejudice label, my first reaction is always negative.  I have to stop and tell myself to widen my margins.  I have to remember what my seminary professor told us: Whenever you draw a [box] around yourself and your group thinking Jesus is with you, you’re wrong.  Jesus is always outside [the box] with those you exclude.
 
            Jesus’ hometown neighbors thought they knew what was inside this box they’d labeled “Joseph’s son” or “miracle worker.”  But Jesus turned all their notions upside down. Claiming the label of prophet, Jesus let them know things needed to be different.  They weren’t living up to God’s expectations.  God knew how they’d been living their lives and it was unacceptable.  Changes needed to be made, and those changes needed to begin within themselves.
            The time of judgment was upon them.  The time to be held accountable for their sins was that very day.  And that seems to be ALL the people heard.  Don’t you wonder what Jesus would have told them if they hadn’t tried to run him off the cliff? 
            Maybe he would have told them how he came to HELP them turn their lives around.  If they’d waited to hear all he had to say, maybe he would have told them that he was willing to give his life for theirs.  If they’d just stuck around and NOT tried to kill him then and there, they just might have heard the best news EVER.
            You and I can open up our boxes of expectations, fear for the future, distrust of the stranger and self-doubt and empty them into Jesus’ waiting arms.  Jesus is the savior foretold by the prophets of old.  He is the one who has given himself for our eternal salvation, our courage and strength and peace. And the good news is that this promise isn’t only yours and mine.  It is for ALL people, even the ones “outside the box.”     Amen
 
 
(1)   Richard W. Wing, Deep Joy for a Shallow World, CSS Publishing Company at www.esermons.com.
 
 
Rev. Linda J. Kraft
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Trumbull  CT   06611
office p/f 203-372-8844
home 203-881-5997
 


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