Spiritual Hiccups - Ticking Off the Congregation

Jesus' visit to his hometown of Nazareth is narrated somewhat differently in the different gospels.  And for my money, Luke's account is the most striking.  Not only does Jesus explicitly identify himself with prophecies of a new age, of good news for the poor, captive, oppressed, and the coming of God's Jubilee, but he seems to go out of his way to upset and alienate the hometown folks.

In other gospel accounts, the good people of Nazareth are at first impressed but then remember that Jesus comes from no special background and has exhibited no remarkable qualities to date, and so they "took offense."  But in Luke, while everyone is speaking well of him, Jesus gives offense.  He starts talking about prophets not being accepted in their hometowns and then reminds everyone of times when God's saving power was offered to Gentiles and not to those in Israel.  If Jesus wanted to be run out of town, he could not have done any better.

I don't know for certain why Luke chooses to tell this story so differently, but I suspect that his understanding of Jesus fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy, bringing good news to the poor and release to the captives, carries with it an inherently offensive message for many.  This is perhaps even more so for "religious folks."

Religious people often anticipate and expect some sort of blessing from God for their religiousness.  But the Kingdom that Jesus proclaims often seems to offer blessings to those outside the mainstream.  Isaiah's prophecy speaks of the poor, the captive, the blind, the oppressed, and (in the Jubilee year) all those in debt and who have lost the family land over the years.  According to Luke and Jesus, God's new day is about blessings showered on those in need, whom the world has not blessed, and this carries with it an inevitable offense to those who assumed they'd figured out the formula for God's blessing.  And Jesus doesn't wait for the Jerusalem congregation to figure this out on their own.  He goes ahead and smacks them over the head with it.  (Jesus would have made a terrible pastor.)

Years ago, my wife wrote something she heard Bono (of U2 fame) say at a Washington, DC prayer breakfast.  Bono quoted someone, but I don't know who.  All it says on my refrigerator is, "Don't ask God to bless what you are doing.  Get involved in what God is doing.  It is already blessed." 

Sometimes I think that many church folks, much like the good people of Nazareth, presume that we, as well as what we are doing, are somehow already blessed by God.  Maybe that's why Jesus launches a preemptive strike that day in Nazareth.  And I wonder what he would say if he stopped by one of our congregations and read a little Isaiah to us one Sunday.

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