Maybe the hardest moment for this pastor, for any person of faith, is when someone, in their pain, cries out to God-and to us who represent that God-asking where God was in a moment of personal loss or sudden tragedy or overwhelming disaster. How do we face that turmoil and rage? How do we deal with that? Especially if it is a moment where we too want to know 'why'. The best we have to offer is that Jesus is ever faithful and God's love is there for the long game.
It was while preparing for Sunday's sermon that I realized for the first time that Jesus is PROVOKING that response here.
One of the dangers of 'knowing your Bible' is that we can be too comfortable in assuming we know its stories. But God always has a way of pushing the envelope.
In the passage for this Sunday, the story, as I 'know it', goes like this. Jesus is in Nazareth and declares himself and his purpose, what he is here for, in fulfillment of a prophecy from Isaiah. This past Sunday, I called it his vision and mission statements. Then, because he is in Nazareth, where everybody knew him as a little kid, 'the carpenter's son', their reaction to him is tepid (I like that word better than 'lukewarm') because 'a prophet has no honor in his hometown'. Hard to see the 'Called of the Lord' in the person whose diapers you used to change.
But there is a cutting edge here. Jesus stands up after delivering his mission statement and says, "Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." The people are initially amazed at the gracious words that come out of his mouth and they spoke well of him. "This is the son of Joseph", perhaps with the subtext that he has done well for himself.
But then Jesus pushes on them. He expects them to tell him "Doctor, cure yourself!" The expectation Jesus declares, "Do here what you did in Capernaum." Do the miracle stuff. You talked the talk Jesus, now walk the walk. Impress us son of Joseph.
Here is where Jesus presses into the space of disaster and God's response. "Remember Elijah? There was famine in the land, severe famine and God chose to feed only ONE widow, the widow of Zarephath in Sidon (outside the borders of the Promised Land). Remember Elisha? There are many people in this nation who were struck with leprosy but God chose to heal only Naaman, the general of the king of Damascus, whose actually been invading and pillaging the Promised Land."
Is Jesus actually saying that as God did not feed the starving, that as God did not heal the terminally ill amongst his own people, just those foreigners, so now God will not perform miracles, through Jesus, in his 'hometown' of Nazareth? God picked them, but not you. Without explanation.
I want to know 'why'. I want Jesus to tell them (and me) why there was only the widow in Zarephath (yes, another woman unnamed in the Bible) and why only the general from Damascus. I want to know WHY some but not others receive God's power. But Jesus declines to elaborate.
This angers the crowd to the point of murderous intent. They take hold of Jesus to throw him over a cliff. But Jesus, being the Son of God, "passes through their midst" and goes on his way. Then, as if to add insult to injury, read beyond verse 30 and see that Jesus goes on to Capernaum and continues the miracles the people of Nazareth did not receive.
So bad things happen. Sometimes God intervenes, sometimes not. It can feel personal, selective, maybe even intentional? To the point that if Jesus were to show his face, we might take a swing at Him? But the constant is that Jesus is still there with us. He may not tell us why.
But what the bible tells us here is that Jesus is ever faithful and God's love is there for the long game.
Pastor Peter
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