Skip to main content

Luke 4:14-30: Today!

Picture a famous Torontonian leading a big rally at the ACC, under all the championship banners hanging from the rafters, extolling the virtues of the ‘greatest hockey franchise ever’ and as everyone in Toronto here is cheering about how they will win another Stanley Cup and maybe even soon - understanding the speaker to be talking about the Leafs - and the crowd is all worked up and then he yells out ‘God bless Canada’s greatest hockey team... the Montreal Canadiens!’ This would be the feelings aroused in these scriptures. And even more, it would be like Jesus extolling the virtues of the greatest country on earth, working us all up into a frenzy believing he is talking about Canada and then says ‘God bless America’ or ‘God bless Saudi Arabia’… ‘Oh you, thought I was talking about Canada?’You can see why they might get a little upset.

They came here wanting words of encouragement and wisdom. Jesus read and spoke about the scriptures and he gave them some words alright. They thought he was blessing them in the synagogue but he was telling them quite plainly that just like God could have saved Israelites in the times of Elisha and Elijah but he chose rather to save their enemies; so too today. This is why they are upset.

Jesus is – as always - concerned about people on the fringes: the poor, ill, and the marginalized; our enemies, our rivals, and others who are on the outside. Those who think they are healthy do not seek a doctor (Lk 5:31; Mt 9:12, Mk 2:17). Those who think they are saved are not looking for salvation. Jesus here foretells and more Israel’s rejection of her and our messiah and how regardless of that, Israel’s saviour is going to save her enemies and anybody else too.

Now this is offensive but honestly the people there should know this. They should be and the Pharisees would be very familiar with the fact that Israel was not chosen to be saved in place of other people; Israel was chosen to bring salvation to the entire world (Jn 3:16-17). God says to Abraham, before Israel even exists, that ALL the nations of the earth will be blessed through you (Gen 12:3). Israel was chosen by God not to be saved from the world but to bring salvation to the world and though they had not been to that point faithful in that task, still God uses the Israelite, Jesus, to save the world. God loves everyone and He wants everyone to be saved and even in this (cf. Gal 3:28, 1 Cor 12:13), as John Wesley says, He has a preferential message for the poor and the marginalized. We need to still bring and be brought that message here today.

The truth is that as John 3:17 proclaims, Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world but instead he came so that whosoever, anyone and everyone, might be saved. And this is wonderful news: salvation is not just for the privileged few. It is for any of us and especially those of us when we are in real need. As Jesus says, Luke 11:18-19:

- today good news is announced to the poor;
- today he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners;
- today, he has sent me to preach recovery of sight to the blind;
- today, he has sent me to set the oppressed free;
- today, he has sent me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

Today is the day of the Lord’s favour when we can all be rebuilt, restored, and renewed; do we believe that?
More daily blogs at
More articles, sermons, and papers at

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Resurrection and Frankenstein's Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17 and Revelation 21 3b-4)

 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!  We went to see Frankenstein the Ballet last night. If anyone knows that story. The beginning is like the book. Dr. Frankenstein makes a creation out of the parts of corpses who had had terrible things happen in their lives - and then he brings life to the new creation and it becomes whole - with a whole new lease on life. A new chance to live. No matter all the awful stuff that had happened before. Now - the book actually ends poorly after that but the ballet does not. The ballet includes a story of Giselle. This bride, who herself suffered a horrible fate, learned forgiveness and is resurrected. She meets Frankenstein's creation; they fall in love - and start off again, this time living a transformed life. Revelation 21:3b-4: God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Timothy 1:12: Learn to Suffer

2 Timothy 1:12: That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. Today’s thought on 2 Timothy 1:12 is entitled ‘Learn to Suffer’. ‘Learn to Suffer’ is motto of a Scottish Clan. Anyone know which clan? Clan Duncan. The Clan motto is ‘Learn to Suffer.’ Did you know that 2 of the early kings of Scotland were Duncans: One was Duncan I and do you know who was the other? Duncan II. Duncan I obtained the throne through murder and Duncan II lost it the same way. The Duncans would learn to suffer. The Duncans historically weren’t so good at choosing the winning side in important battles. They supported the victorious Robert the Bruce in his wars and received benefits from that. But later they supported Charles I, who was defeated, murdered and his country conquered by Cromwell’s Puritans. In supporting the losing side in this war, the Duncans would learn to suff...
Post a Comment
Read more

Poor No More! Count me in! (Mt 26:11, Mk 14:7, Jn 12:8, Dt 15:11)

Matthew 26:11 (Mark 14:7, John 12:8) Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 15:11 in saying, “the poor will always be with you”   As this is the case, Ignacio Ellacuria says, in essence, the great salvific task is to evangelize the poor so that out of their poverty they may attain the spirit necessary first to escape their indulgence and oppression, second to put an end to oppressive structures, and third to be used to inaugurate a new heaven and a new earth, where sharing trumps accumulating and where there is time to hear and enjoy God’s voice in the heart of the material world and in the heart of human history. [3]   I think that is very important. We need to evangelize the poor. We know what the word evangelize means, right? It comes from the Greek word ‘euangelion’, which means ‘good message’ or ‘good news’. [4]  We need to share the good news with the poor. Jesus, as recorded in Luke 4:18, in his very early sermon in the synagogue in his very own hometown quoted the prophet Isaia...
Post a Comment
Read more