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This morning I begin a new series of messages, titled What Jesus Did.
You will remember, I’m sure, the popularity of the WWJD bracelets a while back. I had a couple of those bracelets, although I don’t know what happened to them. Maybe it’s a reminder of the shortcomings of making anything related to Jesus into a trend, as trends come and go. WWJD stood for What Would Jesus Do, a phrase popularized in the Charles Sheldon novel, In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? The phrase, central to the novel, did not originate with Sheldon, however. Charles Spurgeon, a well-known minister in 19thcentury London, used the phrase in a sermon several years earlier, but what might be the first known use goes all the way back to the early 15thcentury. That use of the phrase was in a book by Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ. The book is a classic of theology, and I read it in seminary, but I’ll confess that I don’t remember much about it.
I think it is a good sentiment, certainly, askingwhat would Jesus do? But perhaps the best way to discover what Jesus would dois to study what he did. And Jesus did a lot.
So let’s start at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Let’s turn to Luke’s gospel, chapter 4. In chapter 4 of Luke’s gospel, Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth, where he attends the synagogue, and reads from the Scriptures. Follow along as I read from Luke 4:14-22 –
14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 Then 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.
21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
This was the first sermon of Jesus. First sermons are not always memorable. Mine wasn’t, I’m sure. In fact, I have no recollection of what I said in my first sermon. It was sometime in my high school years and was probably more of a brief devotional. Maybe my first realsermon was the summer after my high school graduation, at West Middletown Christian Church, in West Middletown, Pennsylvania. I think there were 15 people there, including myself. About all I remember was that it was not a memorable sermon.
The first sermon of Jesus, however, was very memorable, as it provoked quite a reaction. At first, the reaction was very positive, and then, well, much less so. If you read ahead in chapter 4, you find that the reaction of the people changed very, very dramatically. After the comment of verse 22 – all spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips, the attitude of the crowd changes to one of anger. They were so angry at Jesus that they took him to the edge of town and were going to throw him over the edge of a cliff. They got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff(Luke 4:29).
What in the world caused such a drastic change in the reaction of those who heard Jesus’s sermon? Why did the people in that synagogue turn so quickly from praise and admiration to taking Jesus out to the edge of town to throw him over a cliff? The worst that might happen this morning is I might bore you, but that would hardly make you want to throw me off a cliff.
What Jesus did was to put down several markers in this sermon. They were markers of what would be the cornerstones – the markers – of his ministry.
So let’s take a look and see what they are, and we will see what angered the crowd.
Jesus came to announce the arrival of the kingdom of God, which was good news.
Mark’s gospel, in 2:14-15, provides us with a bit more detail about Jesus in Galilee during this time. Mark tells us that Jesus went around proclaiming the kingdom of God is near. In Luke’s gospel, we are given more of the details of the values of God’s kingdom, as the passage Jesus chose from Isaiah tells us of those values. Isaiah spoke of the kingdom of God as having good news for the poor, freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, and that it promised to release the oppressed.
When Jesus said, after he read from the book Isaiah, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing, that was very exciting for people. It was exactly what they wanted to hear. The time of waiting on the arrival of God’s kingdom and God’s messiah was what they had longed for; it was their hope, for century after century. And it was good news that Jesus brought! The word for gospel – euangelion– literally means good news.
It’s an interesting list of people that Isaiah mentioned, and that Jesus quoted – the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. Jesus had good news for them! The poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed were people who were left behind by society. Those were the people, among many others, who welcomed and loved Jesus. They welcomed and loved Jesus because he stood up for them, and they were not used to having someone who was on their side. There were no social safety nets at that time in history for people who were in need. There were no government benefits for the poor and the hungry. There were no medical benefits for the blind. The was no mercy for the prisoners. And there was no justice for the oppressed. The early church, in keeping with the spirit of Jesus, had as its first ministry, the serving of food for a good reason. There were a lot of poor and hungry people! Throughout the history of the church, these are the people – the poor, the prisoners, the blind, the oppressed, and many others – who have been served by the ministry of the church.
That is the way the church lives the values of the kingdom of God – we go where we find people who are left behind by society. It’s why we are involved with the community ministries that help people who are struggling. It’s why we are helping with ministries that provide food to people. It’s why we go to the Diersen Center in Louisville and before that we went to the Luther Luckett prison in LaGrange. And the oppressedis a rather broad category, but in our time, it is a reminder to stand with those who have faced prejudice and have been ostracized by society and – in some instances – from the church as well.
Last fall, at Light Up Shelbyville, Tanya, Nick, and I were walking down Main Street, enjoying the festivities. We walked past a booth sponsored by one of the churches here in town, and as we walked past, one of the members of the church presented a tract to me and said, I’ve got some bad news for you brother! I took the tract to read later, but didn’t respond, although I have since thought that perhaps I should have. Why would he say he had some bad news? The gospel is good news!
The gospel has too often been presented not as good news, but as bad news. The gospel has too often been used as a way of bludgeoning people with judgment and criticism. In this historical moment in which we are now living, some churches seem to be surprised that they are on the receiving end of criticism from the culture at large. Well, the reality is that some churches have been critical and judgmental to many people, they have failed to be open to people, and they have not stood with the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. Too often, some churches have stood with those who have either ignored those groups or have helped to perpetuate their suffering by supporting policies and practices that have made their lives even more difficult. Why, then, should those churches be surprised when the culture turns a deaf ear to what they now have to say? Instead of offering good news, they gave only bad news.
The definition of the kingdom offered by Jesus surprised a lot of people.
The words of Jesus, and his definition of God’s kingdom, was not what people expected, which is why people became so angry with Jesus. Because Jesus did not define the kingdom of God the way they expected, they took him to the edge of town, to that cliff, where they planned to cast him over, into the abyss below. In the verses following this morning’s Scripture text, Jesus expanded the definition of the kingdom to include the Gentiles. That was not what the people wanted to hear. They wanted to hear about how special they were, and that the kingdom was for them but not for others. Jesus, however, gave a far more expansive definition of the kingdom when it came to who would be welcome. Jesus put down a marker of God’s acceptance of, and love for, all people. And yet, it is what they should have known, as they were in the synagogue for worship. Worship that does not change the heart of the worshippers to welcome those who are different is not genuine worship.
Those who were considered the sinners and tax collectorsin the time of Jesus had been told for years how bad they were and how undeserving they were of God’s grace. Jesus, instead of perpetuating such attitudes or turning them away, opened his arms to them, and because he did, people came running to him.
Jesus sought to correct a lot of bad and faulty theology in his day, such as the rejection of those who were different. The religious leaders, in particular, discovered that some of their beliefs and some of their theology was, quite simply, wrong. When we read the Sermon On the Mount, for instance, Jesus says, 6 times – 6 times! – you have heard it said, but I say to you. It was his way of saying, you’ve learned the words of the law, but not the spirit of the law, and you are wrong.
Admittedly, it is very difficult to discover that what you have believed for many years is not correct. I’m not taking the side of the self-righteous religious leaders of Jesus’ time, but we all struggle to change our point of view when we learn we are wrong. Not everything we have been taught is correct, including some of what we have been taught in church. Some churches, for instance, resisted the inclusion of other ethnicities because they were told it was against God’s will. That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But when people you love and trust tell you something is God’s will – even if it is not – it is hard to admit we have accepted and believed a falsehood. I remember a friend of mine, years ago, telling me about an instance that took place in his home church, when he was a young boy. The church voted, at the conclusion of a Sunday morning worship service, to exclude African-Americans from membership in their church. He recalled standing with his parents and others in the church to vote for that policy. He was young, and he trusted those who told him such a practice was God’s will. As he grew older, he realized what he was told was wrong, and contrary to God’s will.
Sometimes, we get things wrong. We have to be humble about the reality that we can be like the scribes and Pharisees, and we can be wrong. Some churches have been so lacking in humility, pointing angry fingers of judgment at people, telling them they are not loved or welcomed by God, that it’s no wonder they aren’t getting much of a response from people now.
Jesus did not worry if people did not like what he said or did.
In his time, Jesus was a polarizing figure. He was loved, he was despised, but no one was indifferent towards him. One of the reasons why people had such strong reactions to Jesus is because he challenged them, and he challenged the status quo. Jesus was not afraid to challenge the powers of the age, which was one of the reasons why many people loved him. Jesus pointed out the ways in which people were abused and mistreated by those who held the reins of power – and in the day of Jesus, most people were abused and mistreated – which in turn guaranteed he would be despised by those who benefitted from that power.
Have you also noticed that Jesus wasn’t always diplomatic? In fact, sometimes he wasn’t diplomatic at all. My personality is very different. I don’t like to offend anyone, and generally go out of my way to try and avoid offending people. If someone came to me, wearing a plaid shirt, stripped pants, and a paisley blazer, for instance, and asked me what I thought about it, I would say, I think you are a fashion trendsetter. When, actually, I should probably say, unless you are David Pilkinton – who is the only person who could actually make that work – please do not go out in public dressed like that!
Immediately after praising Peter for correctly confessing that he was the Messiah, Jesus told Peter get behind me Satan(Mark 8:33). That’s really harsh, isn’t it? Read through chapter 23 of Matthew and, wow, talk about harsh! Jesus was really critical of the religious leaders, calling them snakes, a brood of vipers, and compared them to tombs full of dead men’s bones. Nothing diplomatic in those words, is there?
Jesus was not afraid to be criticized or to offend people. Yes, he was often very gentle, comforting, and pastoral. At other times, however, he was blunt to the point of creating a very angry response. He did so because there was so much at stake. There were so many people who were suffering and so many people who needed someone to stand up for them, and Jesus did not hesitate to be that person.
We are living in a very unique historical moment. It is a moment that has a great many challenges, but it has a great many opportunities as well. This is a moment for the church to truly be the church. It is a moment to stand on the markers that Jesus laid for the kingdom. It is a moment to stand for those who are forgotten – for the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. Those are the people – and many others as well – for whom Jesus stood. This is what Jesus did, and so must we.
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