Loving God, sometimes we find your forgiveness hard to handle, and we find ourselves preferring judgment to your grace. Help us to know the depth of your love and forgiveness for us, and teach us to see others as you do; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

When today's gospel begins, the people in Jesus' home town of Nazareth are amazed at his gracious words and are praising him (Lk. 4:22). However, within the space of a few short sentences, the people go from amazement to rage. What is it about Jesus that gets them so upset? As far as we can tell, all Jesus does is speak to them the words of their own Scriptures. Why should this be so upsetting?

It would seem that the truth that is in the Scriptures doesn't mesh very well with the people's pre-conceived notions about God. In their minds, things should go something like this: First of all, given that Jesus grew up in Nazareth and has done such amazing miracles in other places, he should give them a little demonstration. He should show them some special consideration because this is his hometown. Secondly, Jesus should be giving them a little pep talk. He should be telling them how courageous they are to be good, pious Jews living in the midst of such pagans. They are such a distance from Jerusalem and yet are still there, meeting in their synagogue. Good for them! And finally, Jesus should be condemning those pagan Gentiles who are all around them.

However, instead Jesus talks all about people who are outsiders. He talks about the favour that God showed to the widow at Zarephath and to Naaman the Syrian - both of whom are Gentiles. He talks about how prophets never find much favour in their hometowns. Jesus uses their own Scriptures to show them how God reaches out, even to Gentiles and pagans, and blesses them.

Well, this is where the people lose it. What's all this about God showing favour to pagans? Aren't the Jews God's chosen people? Shouldn't God be showing them some favour? What's the use of being a good Jew if God prefers pagans? And we could add: What's the use of being a good Christian if God is just going to forgive sinners? And then, blinded by rage, they try to hurl Jesus off the cliff. "But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way" (Lk. 4:30).

Jesus does not live up to the expectations of the people, and neither does the God whom Jesus proclaims. Yet, the rage comes because Jesus seems so opposite to their expectations. Not only does he not condemn the pagan Gentiles, but he speaks about God blessing them and caring for them. The people just can't seem to handle a God who is gracious even to pagans and outsiders. Can we?

Isn't that the real question today? Can we actually handle a gracious God? Do we really want a God who is gracious to sinners outside our church doors? (Stoffregen) Can we handle God's grace, or only when it is for us alone?

I keep thinking of some of the parables that Jesus told about the "lost ones." For example, if we are one of the 99 sheep who have been left behind so that the shepherd can go and look for the one lost one, are we going to be rejoicing with the shepherd, or upset that we have been neglected? In the same way, what if we happen to be the older brother? What if we have been faithful and then our brother the prodigal comes home and gets all of the special treatment? Are we going to be rejoicing, or angry with our father (Lk. 15)?

This brings us again to the question, "What's the use of being a good Christian if God is going to go and forgive sinners?" Put a little more crassly, if the thief on the cross can repent at the last minute, why bother to live a good life?

Perhaps we could rephrase the question like this: Why would we want to live according to God's Word? Why would we want to do good and to choose right over wrong? Is it for our own personal benefit? Do we expect that if we do something good for God, then God will do something good for us? Is it to earn our way in? Do we figure that if we do enough good things, then God will have to let us into heaven? Or, is it perhaps because we have understood the truth that is Jesus Christ? Have we experienced the truth of God's love for us and of God's forgiveness? Do we want to respond by living our lives in love for God and for other people?

Scripturally speaking, the best reason to live according to God's Word is this last one. God has loved us first, and we respond in love. Besides, God's commands are for our own health and salvation! The other approaches are based, not on the Scriptures, but on how we think that God should work. We would prefer to earn our way in and to have a brownie point system. However, this assumes that we are quite good enough to save ourselves - thank you very much! We think that we can do a few nice things for God every now and then - maybe with a little help from Jesus - and that this should be sufficient to take us to heaven. However, we forget that the depth and the ugliness of human sinfulness is so great that it gave rise to Jesus' suffering and death on the cross. Jesus came, not just to give us a "little bit of help," but in order to save us because we cannot save ourselves.

The truth is that we only get angry over God's grace to other people when we believe that we are somehow better and more deserving than they are. However, when we understand our own status as forgiven sinners, we are not so likely to complain about God's forgiveness of others. At the same time, when we respond in love, we come to share God's concern for the outsiders - the lost ones - the ones who are in need.

From God's perspective, Jesus came not just for a select "in" group, but for all people. God's concern is always for those who are on the outside - for those who do not yet know that they are loved and saved and forgiven. This is simply part of the way God works, which so often seems to be different from what we would prefer God to do.

You know, most people probably don't realize it, but the second reading that we heard today also has to do with an "in" group and an "out" group. There is good reason that Paul emphasizes the gift of love as the greatest of all gifts. You see, even with the gifts of the Spirit, people were comparing themselves to one another. It seems that the people who had been given the gift of speaking in tongues were especially lacking in the love department. Instead, they were full of pride, proclaiming that they were better or more faithful or more holy than those who were not able to speak in tongues. Paul finds this to be so disturbing that 3 whole chapters in 1 Corinthians are devoted to spiritual gifts, with chapter 13 right in the middle of them.

Paul makes it clear that all of the spiritual gifts are needed and that the greatest of all gifts is love. He also makes it clear that speaking in tongues doesn't do anybody any good if there's nobody present who can interpret what is being said (1 Cor. 14:5). Paul makes it clear that none of us are justified in thinking ourselves better than another -- especially if our gifts are only benefiting ourselves.

And so, can we handle a gracious God? Can we handle a God who forgives sinners and pays special attention to the lost ones? This is going to depend on our encounter with the truth of Jesus Christ. Once we see that we are one of those forgiven sinners, God's grace is not difficult to handle at all. And once we know how deeply we are loved, we will want others to know that same love. "And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). Amen.

Epiphany 4(C) Luke 4:21-30

January 28, 2007 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

? 2007 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved