Hometown Danger - Reflections of Luke 4:14-21, Epiphany 3, Year C

I suppose it is inevitable that the lectionary collectors would pair this famous story of Jesus’ inaugural sermon in his home town of Nazareth with Ezra’s Torah reading by the Watergate in 5th century BCE Jerusalem. Both involve reading from scripture in a formal setting of worship, but after that, the results are wildly different. Ezra’s reading invokes tears of joy at hearing the text read and interpreted, but in that Nazareth synagogue, the result of reading and Jesus’s interpretation leads to near murder some 500 years later, when the hearers are enraged at what that hometown boy suggests is the meaning of that oral text. I assume that you modern preachers are hoping for the former kind of response to your sermon rather than the latter! 

The central question for today is: why are those Nazareans so angry at Jesus, when not two minutes before their rage explodes, they were “amazed at his graceful words?” (Luke 4:22). We need to establish the context of that fateful Scripture reading on that Sabbath day. “Jesus returned to Galilee (after a successful ministry in the Jordan countryside) in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14). Luke rarely fails to point to the influence of God’s spirit as the motivator of Jesus’ movements and actions. The Spirit descended upon him at his baptism (Luke 3:22) and as he “returned from the Jordan,” he was “filled with the Holy Spirit,” which led him “into the desert” for his satanic temptation (4:1). During that ministry around the Jordan, “he was teaching (a characteristic element of his ministry) in their synagogues and was praised by everyone” (4:15). Note the universal acclaim for Jesus, which will be in stark contrast with his reception at Nazareth. 

In Nazareth, where he had been raised, as was his custom (Jesus was a regular synagogue attendee), “he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read” (4:16). Was it common for the local boy to get to read from the sacred text, or was it more likely the case that news of his ministry had reached those “who knew him when,” and they were anxious to hear from the one who was making good? We cannot know for certain, but Luke makes it all too plain what happens. 

He was given the scroll of Isaiah, unrolled it, and found the place where it is written: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me. He has sent me with the commission to announce good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind; to send off the oppressed with liberty, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (4:18-19). Luke has Jesus read an amalgam of Isaianic texts: the LXX (Septuagint) of Is.61:1; 58:6, and 61:2, leaving out “to heal the broken-hearted,” replacing “call” with “proclaim.” Jesus then rolls up the scroll, hands it back to the attendant (something like the modern Jewish functionary chazzan), and sits down. Note that Jesus himself chose the text for the day; it was not an assigned reading. All in the synagogue “gazed at him closely,” apparently rapt in attention. Then seated, Jesus says, “Today this Scripture is being fulfilled.” The buzz in the synagogue grew louder, all “amazed at his graceful (NRSV “gracious”) words, muttering “Is he not Joseph’s son?” (4:22). One can imagine the general approbation for the local boy who has become so significant in the wider community. 

But Jesus cannot leave well enough alone, for he has more to say. First, he tells them that he imagines they will quote to him a well-known proverb: “Physician, heal yourself!” They will expect him to do the actions of healing they have heard about that he did in Capernaum (Luke slips a bit here narratively, since Jesus does not go to Capernaum until 4:31.) Then he concludes his sermon on the Isaiah text by reminding his neighbors that when Elijah was active in Israel, though there were many widows in Israel, the prophet was not sent to any of them, but instead helped a widow of Sarepta, (that is Zarephath in Hebrew), a place near Sidon on the Phoenician coast, marking the widow as a Gentile. And sharpening his point, he continues by reminding them that when the prophet Elisha was active in the land, though their were many Israelite lepers in the land, the prophet was only sent to Naaman, the Syrian, another obvious Gentile (2 Kings 5). And with those biblical references ringing in their ears, the appreciation of Jesus turns to rage (4:28). Why exactly? 

The prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2:32, referring to Is.3:6, made it all too plain that the ministry of Jesus would extend to all nations. The local Nazarean Jews had of course heard nothing of this, and their xenophobia made Jesus’s biblical references painful to hear. What Jesus had said made it certain that this new prophet, like those before him, would be for all and not only for them. They could accept and applaud a prophet who vowed to minister to the poor and oppressed, but not one who imagined that those poor and oppressed necessarily included all nations. The locals are having none of that, so “they drove him out of town,” and “took him up to the edge of the mountain on which Nazareth was built, and intended to hurl him off,” presumably to his death (4:29). But, mysteriously, “passing right through them, Jesus went on his way” (4:30).  

This will not be the last time that Luke emphasizes the difficulty that many Jews have with this particular element of Jesus’s teaching; in Acts 13:44-52 Jews reject the gospel because it is meant for all. Indeed, one of Luke’s most significant teachings is that claim that Paul and finally Peter, too, announce that Gentiles are welcome in the realm of God inaugurated by Jesus of Nazareth. But the rage of the Nazarean hearers of Jesus’ first sermon will be matched by many as the gospel message makes its way into the wider Mediterranean world. Even today, a prophetic preacher, attempting to call into question modern actions she thinks antithetical to her understanding of that Gospel, can expect no little rage in response. Preaching remains at times a most dangerous act, especially for those who face weekly those among whom one lives.