Author: Pastor Horton

Date: January 26, 2025

Passage: Luke 4:16-30

“Forward!” that is the motto here for the State of Wisconsin.  And it’s a good one.  Cities have mottos.  Where I first served in rural Minnesota there were some unique ones out there, like “Home of the Rollie Bollies.”  And “The smallest polka town in America.”  And where I served, in Morton, MN, it was known as “The Oldest Story in North America.”  A bold claim, but one evolution made as rainbow granite deposits supposedly were some of the older rocks.  We know they all dated back to creation.  States have mottos.  Alaska’s is “North to the Future.”  New York’s “Ever Upward.”  And Virginia?  Perhaps said in Latin by John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln, jumping onto the stage at Ford’s Theater, and injuring his leg “Thus Always to Tyrants.”  History has viewed his opinion differently regarding Lincoln.

Did you know that today in our reading Jesus shares with us God’s Motto of Mercy?  It was a motto he first shared with his hometown city of Nazareth.  There before the watching eyes of the synagogue worshipers he proclaimed: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

To better understand the scene, it might help to review the setting taking place in the synagogue.  You might not remember these worship houses from the Old Testament accounts, but they seem to be everywhere in the New Testaments.  There’s a reason for that.  You may remember that back in the days of Moses, the children of Israel were to have one focal point of worship, that is the Tabernacle.  It was a specific tented areas that could be taken down and reassembled as Israel moved through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  It housed, among other things, the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments inside.  And it was where God spoke to his people.  It was used for some 400 years until Solomon built the Temple, a permanent house of worship in Jerusalem. 

Based off the Tabernacle design, the Temple was then to be the sole location for Israel to make their sacrifices to the Lord as it stood at the heart of the nation’s worship.  There the people would pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the big festivals throughout the year.  There the morning and evening sacrifices were made.  There blood was shed for sin each and every day.  But now make another 400-year jump forward…

And the Babylonian captivity had begun.  The children of Israel had been sinfully defiant towards God and despite plenty of warning, God allowed for his people to be conquered, uprooted, and in some cases killed or scattered.  The Temple was pillaged and destroyed, and the once vibrant worship life there grew silent.  But not all was lost, for the people repented.  They realized the prized possession they had when it came to the Word of God and wanted to be in the Word and wanted their families to gather together in the Word.  And so they began to meet, as we are this morning, in a local building set aside specifically for worship.  Wherever the Jews went on planet earth, they build synagogues for this purpose.  It is why when we heard of Jesus’ life and times, and also the missionary work of Paul in Acts, there seemed to be a synagogue in every town.

That basic structure from Tabernacle to Temple to synagogue has carried over into Christianity as well.  The apostles used the worship forms in the early Christian church that were familiar to the people.  We still today have tent-like churches, and an elevated altar area which focuses our attention on the Word of God (and in our case a large cross where the ultimate sacrifice once for all took place).  Even portions of the service, the readings, message, and music have some similarities.  But we don’t come to worship today for the architecture, or for the traditions, or even exclusively for the community, but we come to be connected to Jesus and hear from him as he proclaims a Motto of God’s Mercy. 

That’s what he did that day in the synagogue in Nazareth.  “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Did you notice in our reading?  Where do followers of Jesus follow him?  To his Father’s house!  To church!  According to our reading “as was his custom!”  His sheep want to hear their Good Shepherd’s voice.  We want to be fed by him who is the Word made flesh and a fulfillment of God’s gospel promises. 

And how would this be received in Nazareth?  We’re told in this intense scene, “He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.”  The worship practice then involved seven scheduled readings (we have three), the first to be read by a priest (if you had one there) then by a Levite (if you had one there) and then by five reputable men of the town who were at least 30 years old.  They would then allow for discussion from the congregational floor so that not just anyone could say anything.  Jesus, a hometown boy, now of proper age to read, carried with him growing excitement over his words and his miracles.  He is asked to participate.  He reads from Isaiah, sits down, and begins to speak.  The Jews read God’s Word standing up to show respect and then would comment from a chair to show humility – that their commentary wasn’t on par with God’s message. 

What would Jesus say?  He would proclaim fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in himself.  As true God it was why he was here on earth – to live under the law for us as a substitute.  It was where he was going, resolutely to suffer, to die, to rise and to save.  All of Scripture was built upon him, and as true God he could perfectly fulfill it.

Nazareth’s reaction?  Stunned.  Impressed.  The listeners spoke well of him…at first.  But then something changed causing that great-gospel-motto to ring hollow in their hearts.  Human reasoning invaded and corrupted God’s truth.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  They had known Jesus through the years.  Maybe he played with their children or was hanging around his father’s shop in his youth.  Him?  Isaiah the inspired prophet was talking about him?  Countless Jews through thousands of years were waiting for…Joey’s kid in this po-dunk hill town?  A young man we know?  How could that possibly be?  And then… things got complicated.

Knowing their hearts and the troubling condition they were in spiritually, Jesus addresses it.  “Do you need to see the same miracles in Capernaum in order to believe it?”  If Nazareth was a state, it might be Missouri, the “Show Me State.”  A slogan that supposedly came from a no-nonsense politician who didn’t want to hear someone talk the talk but walk the walk.  Or, Nazareth’s town motto might be the very quote Jesus speaks in our reading: “’Physician, heal yourself,’ and then, once you are proven, we may choose to believe you.”

What a mess!  It’s no wonder Jesus gives examples and holds up God’s great acts of mercy shown to non-Jews outside of the nation of Isarael.  To “a widow in Zarephath in Sidon.”  And to “Na’aman the Syrian.”  They had nothing special they offered God.  They didn’t choose faith in God.  And yet out of pure mercy and grace Jesus highlights the heart of God.  It is he who gives truth.  He who gives faith.  It is he who saves apart from ourselves.

This remains a good and necessary reminder for you and me today, worshipping in God’s house just like those folks from Nazareth.  Seeing can get in the way of believing.  Doubts and questions and ultimately fears can creep into our minds and hearts of faith.  Virgin birth?  Six day creation?  Jesus as God?  Great acts in lowly sacramental elements?  These are big truths we are asked to simply hear and believe.  They challenge our human reasoning.  As one pastor put it, “What if faith is simply faith and does not require proof?”  God does not need to answer to our intellect how and why he acts to save.  But rejoice because he graciously and mercifully saves us through Jesus. Rejoice that this message of forgiveness is for all.  Rejoice that he wants you and your family and hometown in heaven with him. 

Listen to Jesus who says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” “Blessed are you…for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  Thanks be to God for his Motto of Mercy proclaimed by Jesus today!  Lord keep us in your word.  Keep our faith and our connection to you living and active and growing.  Keep us from all doubt and unbelief.  Keep us humble.  Keep us believing.  Keep us looking for opportunities to share this message with others.  And keep this motto in our ears, in our hearts, and in our lives until home in heaven with you.  Amen.